Taxis just a click away, but who is running the show?

Dubai - Khaleej Times reveals the unseen force behind operations of Taxi Dispatch Centre in Muhaisnah

For most regular taxi users, hailing a taxi via a phone call or through the 'Smart Taxi' app on a smart phone is a service that is taken for granted.
For taxi users it is a matter of few selections on their phones, however, the taxi dispatch service hotline of Dubai 042080808, received more than 7.3 million calls from January to October 2015.
Khaleej Times got exclusive sneak peek into the back-end operations of the Taxi Dispatch Centre at the Public Transport Agency (PTA) offices in Muhaisnah, where a staff of merely 102 call centre agents managed the flood of 7.3 million calls that came to the centre.
The agents, floor supervisor, and officials revealed how the call centre handles the flood of calls.
There were 5.1 million bookings during this period, and taxis made 88,029,480 trips.
During the same period, response time to incoming calls was 22 seconds and average time for dispatching a taxi to customer 13 minutes and 42 seconds.
"We've successfully cut that down by 8 seconds and now we want to cut it down to 12 minutes," said Abdulla Mohd Al Mahri, Director of Franchising and Enforcement Department, Public Transport Agency. "The center dispatches 8,900 taxis every day", said Almahri.
Humble beginning
The dispatch centre was launched in 1995. However, it is only in 2003 that the services of the dispatch centre came under the Roads and Transport Agency (RTA).
The agents speak only in Arabic and English, and in some cases they speak Urdu. Over 90 percent of the calls that come into the centre is in English, and only 10 per cent is Arabic. "We hired an additional staff of English-speaking agents to meet the needs of the customers," said Yasser Selmi, the Senior Supervisor, Dispatch Centre, PTA.
Passengers can book five different of taxi services. They are Hala Taxi, Special Needs Taxi, Awnak (taxi service replacing non-emergency ambulance needs, in safe hands (service for women and children), and vans (for seven passengers or more).
"Except for Airport taxi, which is operated only by the Dubai Taxi, all other taxi franchises are handled by this call centre," said Selmi.
"Initially it was painful for callers as they had to wait in line for a customer service agent attended to their calls. After the launch of the new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology in October 2015, our callers can choose between five different services," said Al Mahri.
The services comprises taxi booking, late booking, change of location, suggestions and complaints and cancellation of booking.
"The IVR system has drastically cut down the waiting time for calls and most regular customers do not even interact with an agent because once the permanent address of a caller is saved, it need not be collected again," said Selmi.
On special days like New Year, Eid Al Fitr, and hot areas like Dubai Mall, Global Village, Jafaliya, Mirdiff, Meydan, and the Dubai cricket stadium, over 1,200 taxis are dispatched to these locations.
"For example, for the November 27 cricket match, 25,000 visitors attended the match in the stadium and a team was assigned a week in advance to scout the area. On the day of the event, depending on the need, more taxis are dispatched to these areas. especially to reduce traffic congestion," said Al Mahri.
Primary priority
"For a passenger, it is mostly about dialing the number and pressing on five options till the taxi reaches their doorstep. But for us, it is so much more. A customer's call is truly important to us. for agents at the call centre, the primary priority is customer satisfaction," added Al Mahri.
Apart from the agents on the floor, a quality control team and a team of supervisors are constantly monitoring the calls and recording it for discrepancies.
"Callers are now also being asked to take part in customer satisfaction surveys," added Mohammed Ibrahim, a floor supervisor at the Dispatch Centre. "There are about three shifts, and the center is fully functional 24 hours a day and seven days a week."
The agents undergo nine days of vigorous training to attend calls and learn the different services. Apart from calls to customers, they are also trained in service calls to drivers in case they cannot follow directions and cannot communicate with the passenger.
Ibrahim added: "We are trying to make the system as seamless as possible. It is a tough job, but it is an exciting one."
"Sometimes during peak traffic, the agents direct the driver to different routes with less congestion so that the driver can reach on time," he said. Speaking about cancellations of taxis, Al Mahri said that last minute cancellations are very bad for taxi drivers.
"We want to start implementing rules wherein passengers can be fined for canceling taxis in the last minute. But this is still a work in progress," he added.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com