The Public Transport Agency, a unit of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has launched a Smart Taxi app which allows users to book a cab with a “flip of their phone”.
The app has been launched as part of an initiative by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to transform the emirate into a smart city.
It is fully integrated with the Booking and Dispatch Centre at the Public Transport Agency, which is responsible for handling incoming taxi booking requests from the public, a statement said.
Adel Shakri, director of transportation systems, said the Smart Taxi service meant users could order a cab with a “flip of their phone”.
The user must enter their telephone number into the app, and then the app will look for the nearest taxicab and automatically direct it to them.
“This app is capable of instantly pinpointing the location of the user rendering the exercise of locating a taxicab very smooth and straightforward. Once the cab driver confirms the order, the user is directly informed about the location of the taxicab, and will also be intimated when the cab arrives at the location selected by the user,” said Shakri.
The app will cover nearly 9,000 taxicabs in Dubai including 495 cabs of the fleet of Hala Taxi.
“At the end of the trip, the user is provided with a simple 5-point template to assess the performance of the driver, and through this app it will be possible to retrieve the previous booking requests made by the user for use in processing new booking requests,” added Shakri.
Smart phone users can download the app by entering the statement (RTA Smart Taxi) in Apple Store for iPhones and the statement (Dubai Smart Taxi) in Play Store for Galaxy phones.
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