lionheart

It really annoys me that a friend of mine should get fined AED 4,000 by the bloody RTA for taking a friend or colleague to work by car in exchange for petrol money. I know that this doesn't affect most readers here, but there are plenty of workers who cannot afford the cost of taxis or find their drivers totally unhelpful. Surely, car-pooling should be encouraged in order to reduce traffic congestion. Instead it seems that the RTA are afraid that people are less likely to use their precious taxis or unreliable buses and so penalise drivers who carry passengers. What does the team think?

Paidtoplease

I agree LH, it is a crazy system, rather than tackle the whole illegal taxi system in a proper way they put this blanket ruling in which makes no sense or reason. My question is how would the RTA know that petrol money is being given unless they tell them ???

Madam Medusa

yeah, p2p, i was just going to ask the same thing about how did they know...

MM, xx

Inselaffen

it is crazy that in most of the developed world they are actively encouraging car pooling yet here people get fined for it!

wouldnt have anything to do with the fact that the families that run this country also happen to own the taxi companies??

Live for now

It was something I was looking at doing, yet anoither crazy rule, how on earth did they find out?

twistopher

Are you kidding me!??? There' a law against giving someone a lift to work?!
That really is the craziest thing i've ever heard of

lionheart

It's simple really...unless you can prove that your passenger is a family member, you can get fined. No proof of any payment is required.

Paidtoplease

What about a friend ???

Madam Medusa

but that is barking...what if it's a friend you are just simply giving a lift to...this is the first time i've heard this...

MM, xx

IndieG

That is really crazy if the friend was simply providing a lift (with/without money) to a colleague. Think the RTA are really (meant to be) cracking down on private taxi services and not on peeps who are simply providing a lift (and providing this service is not their main source of livelihood).

How did the RTA know money was paid for the service? Did the 'passenger' squeal?

Paidtoplease

RTA warns residents against using illegal car lift services
By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Residents have been warned against using private cars as taxis or using car-lift services because it is illegal.

"Anyone using a private car as a taxi or offering a car-pooling service is violating the law, which came into force in 2004," said Thani Saeed Al Falasi, Director of the Licensing and Quality Control Department at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

He said that those using their private cars as illegal taxis or offer car-lift services were being penalised. However, no action is taken against passengers.

"Passengers using such illegal means of transportation should avoid it because they may be compromising on safety just to save some money," Al Falasi said.

He added that drivers of these illegal taxis are not trained to work as taxi drivers and it can be a security risk for passengers.

The Dubai Taxi Department has collected around Dh30 million in fines from illegal taxi operators from when the law was enforced in early 2004 until August this year.

The department's inspectors are on the roads round-the-clock to check for illegal taxis or car-lifts. A fine of Dh2,500 is slapped on the violator.

Some 5,390 fines were issued in 2004 on operators of illegal taxis and car-pooling services. The violations increased to 7,806 in 2005 and 7,018 violations in the first eight months of 2006 were recorded, which shows the trend is increasing and more people are operating illegal taxis despite heavy penalties.

People use illegal taxis and car-lifts because taxis are very expensive and a proper public transport system is not in place. Illegal taxis cost roughly 25 to 30 per cent of the actual taxi fare.

Al Falasi said that illegal taxis are popular because they are cheaper. "There are two kinds of illegal taxis. Some people drive around the city in their private cars and provide illegal taxi service while some people offer organised car-lifts or car-pooling services taking passengers from their homes to work on a regular basis. They charge passengers on weekly or monthly basis," he said. He clarified that both types of service are illegal.

"There are no restrictions on friends sharing a car without paying any money," he said.

He said that the department's inspectors were experienced enough to know whether passengers are using car-lift or just sharing with a friend. For illegal taxi operators, he said, the inspectors stop such cars while picking a passenger.

Illegal taxis or car-lifts are more popular with passengers coming from Sharjah to Dubai. "We don't have any problem if they bring passengers from Sharjah but we do not allow an illegal taxi to pick up passengers in Dubai," Al Falasi clarified.

IndieG

That is the key....

Dan725

First time I've heard of it. When I was in Abu Dhabi and Dubai I was a passenger with a co-worker a couple of times and got stopped by the law - never a mention. The family member thing is rubbish - the country couldn't function like that.

Sounds to me the only crazy thing here is they got caught - how on earth did the Police find that out?

lionheart

Well,if it's the first you've heard of it in Florida, then obviously I have no idea what I am talking about...times may have changed since you left.

Dan725

Er, I only left about 5 months ago (this last time around) - question still stands - how did they know? Did your friends mate say something like "Hey Officer, by the way, I'm paying this guy for a lift, please stiff him with a fine"?