The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is to put future taxi drivers through linguistic, psychological and behavioural tests before issuing professional permits.
Dubai’s transport authority signed an agreement with the British Council to test new recruits for “basic knowledge of the English language”, reported state news agency WAM.
Prospective drivers will also be subjected to five psychological and behavioural tests in a bid to reducing customer complaints to 1 percent per 100,000km, said Abdullah Yousef Al Ali, CEO of RTA’s Public Transport Agency, who signed the agreement along with Claire Grundy, Deputy Director of the British Council.
It is a second test for future employees who already undergo a test run by AMIDEST Company, following an agreement signed in 2015.
Al Ali said: “The RTA has managed to reduce it from 2.7 percent in the past to 1.4 percent per 100,000 km up to now. The new standards, which would attract highly efficient taxi drivers, underline the RTA’s keenness to realise its third strategic goal of ‘Bringing Happiness to People.’
“[The] taxi service in Dubai serves a broad spectrum of the community including citizens, residents, visitors and tourists. The emirate boasts of a prestigious standing as a global hub for trade, exhibitions and business, which warrants providing highest levels of taxi services.”
Grundy said: “Adopted by the British Council, APTIS system is a modern and affordable English assessment tool to assess and improve the English language proficiency of public transport staff, which contributes to shaping Dubai into a really global city.”
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