Dubai taxis average 14 minutes to pick up customers

TAXI JOURNEY: On average, customers were picked up 14 minutes after booking a cab in Dubai during September. (Getty Images)

More than 28,000 calls a day were handled by Dubai Roads and Transport Authority's taxi booking section in September, new figures reveal.

A total of 867,397 calls were dealt with by the booking and deployment team during the month with abandoned calls reaching just over 80,000.

Essa Abdul Rahman Al-Dosari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, said that the average time for a vehicle to reach the client was about 14 minutes.

Areas of highest demand for taxis in Dubai were Emirate Hills (26,541 bookings), Warsan (15,899 bookings), Jebel Ali Gardens (14,581 bookings), Mirdiff (10,681 bookings), Safouh (9,859 bookings), Port Saeed (9,521 bookings), Palm Jumeirah (9,177 bookings), and Al Garhoud (8,629 bookings).

“Dubai Taxi Agency is applying the latest telecommunication technology to help employees receive the largest possible amount of incoming calls, and minimize the percentage of abandoned calls out of the overall calls received," he said.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Light years away from good customer service
Posted by Graham Plater, Munich, Germany on Thursday 30 October 2008 at 19:10 UAE time


Johnny M, you're right - it's not a rocket job to use technology and improve the taxi service. And the 14 minutes were calculated in light years, that's progress for you...

Did they use a 24 hour day to calculate this?
Posted by Johnny M, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 30 October 2008 at 16:05 UAE time


Agree whole-heartedly with most of the comments and would like to add this.

There are four levels of cab status in Dubai. Never turns up/absurdly late/relatively on time/absurdly early.

This is probably where the average comes from; cabs that turn up 20 minutes early forcing you to jump out the shower to answer the call from the driver that's too lazy to knock on your door.

It's not rocket science to sort this out. With the technology available today and a few more cabs, Dubai should be able to make this a really dynamic system.

1. Privatise the cab system and allow operators to set up but put the entire licensing system under the RTA's control (like black cabs in London)

2. Allow private operators to locate cab ranks near to major residential areas meaning they can reach customers quickly.

3. Use GPS positioning to tell EXACTLY where cabs are; therefore you're able to answer a customer accurately when they call rather than use the ubiquitous 'five minutes'.

It's not a rocket job...

Taxis?
Posted by Colin, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 29 October 2008 at 07:37 UAE time


Can I suggest the management of Dubai Taxis actually come to Emirates Hills and wait for their announced 14 minutes and see if a taxi turns up! I don't know where they have got this number from but as a frustrated taxi user living in the Emirates Hills area I can assure you that the wait is on average much longer than this - this is assuming of course that the taxi actually turns up which in most instances they do not!

Another suggestion to the Mgt (assuming their taxi has turned up after the 14 minute wait) is that they ask the same taxi to take them to the front of the Mall of The Emirates and witness the traffic jam caused by all the taxis queued up there waiting for their next fare.....

It is such a waste of resources that in most parts of the city one cannot get a cab whilst in other parts one cannot move due to the number of taxis clogging up the street!! Funny situation isn't it

Typo? Should read 140 minutes, not 14 minutes.
Posted by Jerry Yamate, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 29 October 2008 at 06:49 UAE time

WOW! Taxis in 14 minutes? Yeah, right ... and Salik is a huge success that has reduced traffic congestion. Sure. Keep those one liners coming guys. You're hilarious - or delusional.

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