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Passengers Travelling from Abu Dhabi to Musaffah Feel Cheated by Cabbies

ABU DHABI — As dusk falls, particularly after Maghreb prayers, finding a taxi in Abu Dhabi becomes difficult as most of the taxi drivers prefer to take customers who intend travelling to Musaffah in order to make more money and avoid city traffic snarls.

People who travel to Musaffah from Abu Dhabi complain that the drivers of old taxis charge them excessive amounts, even for shared taxis.

The drivers of old taxis (golden and white in colour) charge them Dh10 per person at night instead of Dh5 per head.

The mini-buses, too, which operate between Abu Dhabi and Musaffah take Dh5 per person at night instead of Dh2.

One Musaffah-Abu Dhabi-Musaffah trip fetches the taxi driver Dh40 as four people share a taxi.

Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, Director, Customer Service and Compliance Division at the Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars (TransAD), told Khaleej Times, “Ferrying people in shared golden and white colour taxis or silver colour taxis is not allowed and it is illegal.

“Whenever and wherever we find such taxi drivers we impose fines on them and some time we suspend their operations for a few weeks.”

A large number of people, particularly labourers living in the labour camps in Musaffah, visit the city, especially on weekends, for shopping. Since no bus services are available between Abu Dhabi and Musaffah, they have to depend on taxis.

“We are about to add more taxis to our fleet in the city. After introducing the silver taxis, we received good response from travellers,” Al Shamsi added.

“Sharing a taxi is not allowed. If a commuter needs to go to Musaffah or any place in Abu Dhabi, or even to other emirates, he is required to hire the taxi and pay by the meter. Charging more than the meter reading is illegal,” he pointed out.

“If a taxi driver allows people to share a taxi for different destinations, we fine them Dh500 on first violation and Dh1,000 for second violation and Dh2,000 for the third time.

“Violators are also awarded black points for each violation. On accumulation of nine black points, we suspend the taxi service for a week. On accumulation of more than 11 black points, we suspend the service for two weeks and the licence is revoked if the taxi driver accumulates 20 black points,” he explained.

For complaints against taxi drivers, people can approach the TransAD on its toll free number 600-535353.

anwar@khaleejtimes.com