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RTA to give taxi drivers training guide

DUBAI - In a bid to improve the taxi services in Dubai, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) would soon provide a comprehensive training guide prepared by an elite panel of experts to the taxi drivers.

At a recent meeting with three major taxi companies, Essa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency of RTA, said with the number of complaints about refusal to take passengers and ill treatment by drivers increasing, proper training of the cab drivers was very essential. The official added that the guide would be ready in three months.

The RTA had organised meetings with top officials of Metro Taxi, Arabian Taxi and Cars Taxi.

“Franchise companies have to send drivers for intensive training courses and urge them to adopt optimum practices as Dubai is witnessing accelerated growth on all fronts coupled with an unprecedented urban expansion. This requires all parties to rise up to face the challenges and come up with effective solutions to all problems and obstacles,” said Al Dossari told Khaleej Times.

He added the Public Transport Agency, in cooperation with Dubai Taxi Agency and RTA Marketing and Corporate Communication Department, would launch simultaneous campaigns targeting various sections of the public to explain the nature and mechanism of drivers’ jobs.

“These campaigns will focus on making the people aware of the taxi business and how a taxi driver operates. The problems can be solved to a big extent if both the parties are aware about the problems faced by each other. A mutual understanding is a must,” said Dossari. “The operational problems facing cab drivers have to be identified accurately. We have also got to eliminate all negative phenomena adversely affecting the quality of services offered by taxis such as the refusal of cab drivers to transport passengers to their destinations citing traffic bottlenecks and non-feasibility of the financial returns of going to a number of areas which witness traffic jams,” added Al Dosari.

“Franchise taxi companies have to send their drivers to take part in the training courses organised by Dubai Taxi Agency,” he said.