Self-service kiosks will allow shoppers to hail taxis from mall

Services to be rolled out by next year, say officials

ABU DHABI // Residents will soon be able to book a taxi, report belongings left behind and register a complaint against a cabbie at self-service kiosks in malls. The Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars – TransAD – plans to roll out the kiosks in malls by next year.

It has one at its headquarters on Delma Street, two at its Mussaffah branch and one at its Al Ain office, although the taxi-booking option is not yet available.

The kiosks are not just to help customers. They will also offer services to taxi drivers and franchise taxi companies. TransAD works with seven franchisee taxi companies with 7,645 registered taxis. There are about 10,000 licensed taxi drivers in the emirate.

The drivers can use the kiosks to access training schedules, details of traffic and TransAD fines, assessment schedules and results, and print them out.

“They can instantly find out if they passed or failed, instead of waiting for three to four days,” said Saeed Al Romaithi, director of TransAD’s information and communication technology department.

“These kiosks are meant for convenience. Cabbies can also register a complaint, dispute their fines and check the status of their documents, including their Emirates ID, passport and taxi permit. “They can come here, drink some tea and leave with all the necessary documents.

“Previously, they would apply for the documents and come back for them after a few hours or the following day.”

Hamdan Al Ameri, 29, a public relations officer at National Taxi who processes an average of 70 taxi driver permits every week, praised the automated system that was tested in January.

“We’re now able to complete our transactions quickly without the hassle of waiting in line for our turn,” he said. “Permit cards take less than eight minutes to print.”

Even when fully operational, the kiosks are not designed to replace the TransAD 24- hour call centre, said Mr Al Romaithi. Residents and visitors can still call 600535353 for taxi bookings, complaints, and lost and found inquiries, or use the Abu Dhabi Taxi mobile app to book a cab.