Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) said the taxicabs in the emirate have broken the 100 million barrier in the number of trips made in 2013 clocking 100.2 million trips compared to 97.4 million the previous year.

Commenting on the achievement, Adel Mohammed Shakri, the director of transportation systems, Public Transport Agency, (RTA) said: “The trips made by taxis that have broken the one hundred million barrier in 2013 had been implemented via the handling of the Dispatch Center at the Transportation Systems Department of the PTA with 7.1 million calls during the same year.

Shakri lauded the franchise companies operating taxicabs in Dubai (Dubai Taxi, Cars Taxi, Arabia Taxi, National Taxi, and Metro Taxi) and their concerted efforts and resources as well as the studious efforts made by the staff of the 'Booking and Dispatch Center' towards realizing the vision of the RTA in providing a safe and smooth transport for all.

"This achievement has been made thanks to the highly sophisticated & accurate systems in place i.e. the D8 System which is considered the backbone of taxi operation in Dubai. Moreover, the system supports the prudent drive of the Dubai Government towards the sleepless Smart Government," he stated.

"This advanced system links all customers with service providers through a host of smart communication channels; making it easy to access the service at any time, and at any place in the UAE in general and Dubai in particular," explained Shakri.

D8 system operates the fleet of the Dubai Taxi in the emirate which comprises more than 8,700 taxicabs including the all new service ‘HALA Taxi’ and enables pinpointing the positions, speeds and all data of the fleet at any time during the day.

It also generates operational reports that specify the efficiency of the taxi fleet, and controls the details of more than 18000 taxi drivers including performance reports, revenues, and shifts timetables. The system is classified among the world’s most flexible technological systems in terms of integrating and interfacing with other hi tech systems, said the top official.

"At the end of December last, a number of private limousine firms have been tentatively linked with the D8 system where Android-operated meters of these vehicles have been linked with the D8 system," remarked Shakri.

"The systems automatically computes the tariff of travelling to Sharjah and northern emirates fixed as Dh20 automatically, thus contributing to the psychological comfort of customers, and is considered an advanced & effective system for controlling revenues," he added.

Among the salient features of the D8 system is the zoning of areas in a smooth and easy manner rendering it easier for taxi drivers to comprehend areas and locations, enabling them access to the borderlines and geographical milestones on the border of each zone.

This helps the dispatch of booking and receipt of booking by cabdrivers in the nearest location to the customer, thus minimizing the rate of drivers declining booking as the system is designed to select the unengaged vehicle in the nearest location to the customer, said Shakri.

According to him, the system also lists and classifies bookings, and totals up the number of taxi trips in general, which contributes to drafting improved concepts, and renders the RTA tip top ready for the events held in the emirate.

The system can identify the most and least popular areas for taxi booking service, which contributes to distributing taxis to areas according to demand and number of riders in that area in keeping with the demand for the service.

The system, said Shakri, can also report the most and least responsive and co-operative cabbies with the 'Bookings and Dispatch Centers.'

"The drivers’ honoring mechanism known as 'Booking and Dispatch Friends Award,' which is granted to the most responsive cab drivers, depends on the system’s reports on cabbies," he stated.

"The system is linked to many means of communication such as SMS booking Service, online booking system, IVR system and smart phones application where customers can book through these media before completing the booking procedures through D8 system, starting from locating the closest vacant vehicle, directly tracking the vehicles route and following up with cab driver until the vehicle picks up the customer," he added.-TradeArabia News Service