Dubai taxis to be available using Careem ride-booking app

About half of Dubai’s 10,000-strong taxi fleet will be available to book through Careem’s ride-hailing smartphone app from September.

Transport chiefs said the new venture – called “Hala” – will provide a faster service and take more privately owned cars off the roads to cut traffic congestion.

People will be able to rate their drivers’ performance and see routes and estimated fares in advance. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority and Careem – which was bought by rival Uber for $3.1 billion in March – announced the move yesterday.

It follows a trial of the service, which began in May, involving 2,000 cabs in Dubai.

“Launching ‘Hala’ aims to […] increase efficiency, ease finding a taxi by booking through the app and lower the estimated time of arrival,” said Matar Al Tayer, director general of the RTA. The authority said the estimated time of arrival for Dubai taxis booked through the Careem app has reached about 4.5 minutes – a much-improved performance from the 12 to 14 minutes previously.

From September, it is hoped response times will be cut further, to about three minutes.

The RTA did not provide the exact date on which the service would launch.

When Uber bought Careem this year, many customers said they were worried prices could increase. Prices for the two services are typically similar but can rise at certain times, depending on demand. Customers underlined that they wanted to see more, not less, competition.

Mudassir Sheikha, the chief executive of Careem, also welcomed the new service.

“It also means less downtime for the captains [drivers] who can optimise their time on the road through ... real-time alerts of geographical areas experiencing high demand,” he said.