Pink taxis outside malls
By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Pink taxis will be deployed at places frequently visited by women, said an official.

The taxis will soon be on Dubai's roads to provide a "women-only" taxi service.

"The taxis will have pink roofs, pink seats and interiors, and other features to give the vehicles a feminine touch. We will roll out pink taxis with at least 50 cars in a few months," said Ammar Bin Tamim, Director of the Dubai Taxi Department at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

He told Gulf News that some 25 female drivers, including four UAE nationals, are currently undergoing training as taxi drivers.

Bin Tamim said the taxis would be deployed at places such as shopping malls and Al Wasl Hospital the biggest maternity hospital in Dubai.

He said the taxis would be easily identifiable on roads and would only stop for female passengers. Taxis with female drivers currently only operate at Dubai International Airport to ferry female passengers and families.

"There are about 30 female drivers, including 10 nationals, working for the airport taxi service," said Bin Tamim.

He said the female taxi service had proved very successful at the airport as single female passengers felt more comfortable travelling in these taxis.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has spent Dh25 million to improve its system of taxi booking and distribution over the phone and internet.

Currently some 3,000 taxis in the department are connected to the new satellite monitoring system and offer a booking facility over the phone.

Other taxi companies, which run around 3,000 taxis altogether, will soon be linked to the system to offer a booking facility over the phone.

"With the installation of the new monitoring system, we have successfully managed to reduce the 'arrival time' of a booked taxi from 15 to 12 minutes," said Bin Tamim.

The Reservation and Distribution Department of the Public Transport Corporation received 198,485 telephone calls during July, and the total number of taxi reservations made was 112,996.

Reservations over the phone increased despite the fact the base fare for taxis booked by phone was increased in June from Dh4 to Dh6 during the day and from Dh4.50 to Dh7 at night.

Bin Tamim said Al Sufooh, which houses residential areas such as Emirates Hills and Marina Towers, topped the list of reservations with 26,861.

It was followed by Al Garhoud with 15,337 reservations and Mirdif with 10,293 reservations.

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