Dubai, Aug 20 (Khaleej Times): The Public Transport Agency, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) reported that the 8 th Saher Campaign carried out by Transport Activities Monitoring Department aimed at combating unlicensed transport in Dubai in collaboration with the General HQ of Dubai Police, resulted in reporting 7,126 offences during the first half of this year.
The campaign is part of RTA's efforts to curb this illegal activity, which is mushrooming in a way that warrants concerted efforts to fend off its negative impacts on the RTA and the community.
Abdullah Al Mahri, Director of Transport Activities and Monitoring, RTA Public Transport Agency, said, "The total number of offences recorded against practitioners of this phenomenon during the first half of this year amounted to 7,126 offences. The RTA does not seek to collect fines against offenders, but rather focuses on curbing negative practices of public transport, intensifying the monitoring of violators in Dubai, and reducing the number of complaints relating to this practice.
Slapping offences is only one of the means adopted in the aftermath of awareness campaigns to uproot this negative practice.
"About 68 employees of the Transport Activities and Monitoring Department took part in the eighth edition of the campaign in addition to seven staff from other departments of the Public Transport Agency, and one individual from outside the RTA. Thus the total number of people taking part in the campaign amounted to 76 individuals divided into five site teams. The practicing of unlicensed transport activity rarely takes place on the roadside but has specific locations known to both practitioners and riders of this activity, though such locations keep changing to evade ambushing. It is difficult to quantify the actual size of this activity as it is involves the use of different types of vehicles including private cars, rented cars, commercial transport vehicles, and company cars," noted Al Mahri.
"While this practice recedes under the intensive enforcement and hefty fine measures, new comers are engaged, while some frequent violators do come again following a short spell. Some of these are ex taxi-drivers who, after the taxi business have been regularized in other emirates, had to convert their cabs into private vehicles and opted to implicate them into such unlicensed passenger transport activities in Dubai," he explained.
As for the losses inflicted by this phenomenon on the taxi sector in Dubai, Al Mahri said, "This practice has negative financial repercussions on this vital sector in Dubai; which is considered one of the key tourist cities in the region. It distorts the profile of the RTA as a service-providing entity that seeks to deliver best services through creative techniques aligned with the world's top practices and solutions of the industry. This activity is an uncivilized phenomenon in sharp contrast with the status and repute of Dubai as a regional business and economic hub, besides that it unravels RTA's efforts & keenness to broaden and upgrade the transportation sector, let alone the substantial damage inflicted by this activity on the service, tourist, and social sectors among other key sectors."
It is worth-mentioning that the Executive Council in Dubai issued a Resolution regulating the transportation of riders by vehicles in Dubai. The Resolution prohibits transporting passengers on vehicles not licensed to practice this activity against financial return, be it within Dubai or from Dubai to any other Emirate. The Resolution also prohibits providing passenger transport service through phone calls, online, smart apps or means otherwise before seeking approval from the Public Transport Agency. The Resolution prohibits promoting taxi services on unlicensed vehicles or announcing the offering of this service by hailing individuals or any other means. It also prohibits transporting passengers on taxicabs without switching on the meter at the start of each trip.