kittycat1

Aww thanks fluffy, I'm down by Lamcy Plaza so further on than you and my hours arent fixed so car pooling doesn't really work, but thank you, very sweet of you to offer. I might look at hiring now as it will be the same price as a taxi anyway.

Spugsy

Because we're paying to be in the cabs that's why - if it does happen it'll be a proper nightmare and the roads without salik will be utterly rammed and dangerous. It's a stupid idea.

Millhouse

Tolls are paid by taxis almost everywhere in the world and people suck it up. I always thought it slightly odd that they were exempt.

A toll is, in theory anyway, there to cover the cost of using the road. A taxi gets the same utility as anyone else and so should pay the same.

Take a taxi through the dartford toll and see who pays

Equally though, I can see why people are pissed off, at 20Dh / day this is quite a lot of money... I always wonder what I will do when they lift the subsidy on fuel (or DEWA).

Meow

Al Wasl Road is bad at rush hour now.

busybee2

its a long time that i have been in a dxb taxi, they always added them to our fare didnt know that it stopped after a year. it has been a couple of more years!!

busybee2

yeh all taxis everywhere pay the tolls, new york, everywhere they wouldnt be exempt.

the_red_sheep

Isn't it more likely that the fuel subsidy will be increased next year as those at the top are a little shame-faced that the UAE is the most expensive place in the region to buy petrol?

Maybe the Salik on taxis is the first of a few schemes to help pay for the increase fuel subsidy...

rowell

But is the RTA not owned by the government, so they are simply lining their own pockets, its a wonder they don't differentiate between red top cabs and other colours

Eeyore

Actually, in quite a few cities that use congestion charging (which is what Salik is), taxis - being public transport - are exempt.

In New York, you will only pay tolls to cross the rivers, you won't pay any tolls to drive around Manhattan itself. Additionally, just about every city toll system in the world only operates during peak times or gets cheaper outside peak - the main exception being Dubai, which I think may be the only congestion toll system in the world that operates at the same price all day every day.

The Dean

Lots of issues............ Salik was originally payable in taxis, if you remember, then dropped - this is just a return to the status quo.

On Spugsy's point ('we are paying to be in the taxi') - we are 'paying' in effect even if we are in our own cars - surely? They are not free, we bought them, they suffer from wear and tear, etc.

Now then - didn't the RTA monetise the Salik revenues a while back (i.e. they took an upfront lump sum in the form of a 'loan' repayable from future Salik income)?? If so - did they get their sums wrong? Have revenues been too low to meet the pre-agreed repayment schedule?

The moral dilemma - if you don't bother avoiding the toll gates in your own car, will you ask a taxi driver to do so?

Millhouse

Yes they did. And No, revenues are not too low.

Meow

FYI

http://www.zawya.com/story/Taxi_Sali...emailmarketing

Taxi rides that cross two Salik gates within half an hour will only charge the Salik fee once.

The announced Salik fee that will be added to the fare of a taxi ride will only be charged once when the taxi passes two Salik toll gates within half an hour.

"If the passenger used two gates on Skeikh Zayed Road within half an hour he will pay once and the system works in an intelligent way so that toll is automatically added on the counter without driver intervention," confirmed Essa Al Dossary, CEO of Public Transport Agency, Road and Transport Authority (RTA).

Miss Anne Thrope

Surely that's non-news? That single charge for a single journey is the case for all cars using the SZR toll-gates within a bounded time (which I thought was within an hour rather than half an hour). Indeed you are more likely to have a continuous non-stop journey in a taxi than in a private car where you might stop off for something in between the two gates (say, a massively over-priced lunch at Jones the Robber or seven hours of sheesha with your mates at Reem al Bawadi). If this included the bridge Saliks then it might be worth something but from the wording it seems clear that it doesn't and they will be charged separately as in a private car. So, dog bites man, nothing to see here, move along please....

scrubbedexpat141

Miss Anne Thrope

I can't claim credit for the Jones the Robber moniker - originates in Melbourne I believe. Don't think I'm even the first BE poster to use it...