This Week in the News: Carpooling

Sometimes things here are well-intended but just need a bit more thought.

First, a short story as a segway into the news: a few weeks ago, before I got my car, I was standing on the street in the morning trying to catch a taxi to work. I had been waiting for 45 minutes, traffic was crawling past at a snail’s pace and what few taxis came by already had a fare. Just so happened that my boss, who lives nearby, was crawling along in said traffic, beeped his horn, I hopped in and that was my ride to work that day. I discovered this week that that incident could have resulted in a 5000 Dirham fine (about $1360CDN)! There's a reason carpooling has not caught on here ... it's illegal! Or should I say “smuggling of passengers”, as the RTA likes to call it. Quote from the Khaleej Times (full article is below for your reading pleasure):

Sept 2,2007
The Road and Traffic Authority in Dubai has doubled the fine imposed against motorists who illegally transport passengers without a livery permit. Residents from low-income background decried such measures saying that this is making transportation difficult for them.
Many residents of Dubai and the northern emirates benefit from these illegal taxis, as their prices are low compared to the licensed ones.
Another widely used form of transportation, which is also punishable by law, is the car pool. It is a system in which office workers with cars pick up their colleagues from their homes and drop them at work and vice versa for a fixed amount of money.

Now, luckily I did not give any money for the ride; to offer to pay for some of the gas or buy him a coffee for his troubles would most definitely have clinched the crime! In reality it is the illegal unlicensed taxis that they are targeting, citing safety concerns (but reading between the lines, is more about lost profits for Dubai Taxi, the government run taxi company and the only [legal] game in town.) None the less, some motorists only suspected of this heinous act of “passenger smuggling” have been slapped with the fine anyway read that story here

Interestingly, one of the articles I read this week (which I can’t seem to find now) quoted one of the RTA officials who listed all the areas of town where these illegal taxis are known to operate. So if I didn’t know before where to find a taxi when I need one, now I do! Gotta love the media.

This week’s news was that, presumably the RTA has realized the silliness of outlawing shared rides and announced that they will be loosening the rules. Their new initiative is to have those who are into "the carpooling practice" register up to 4 people to their vehicle and apply for a permit via a new website to be launched next month. The radio talk-shows are all abuzz, seems nobody (including the RTA) is really clear on how this will all work ...

RTA web page for car pooling service in June
By Joy Sengupta (Our staff reporter)

20 May 2008
DUBAI — The web page for the registration of car pooling service would be introduced from early next month, a senior Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) official said yesterday.
Khalid Hashim, Director of Planning and Business Development at the Public Transport Agency of the RTA, said the people who wish to go for the car pooling service could register themselves on the webpage.
Khaleej Times had reported on April 1 that those intending to go in for car pooling would have to register themselves with the RTA.
"People can log on to the RTA web site and view the registration page. They will have to fill in their details along with the details of three others working in the same organisation. There would be slots for the details of the vehicle as well. One can also come to the RTA office and get a hard copy of the registration form. Once they have done it, the RTA will issue them with a permit which allows them to go in for the car pooling service.
"The permit would be given after an investigation to avoid any impersonation. If an RTA inspector stops the car on suspicion that it is an illegal taxi, the occupants must show the permit. There will be a mechanism to verify the permit by the inspector," Hashim said.
Earlier, Issa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, had told Khaleej Times that the agency would develop a link on the RTA web site or create a completely new web site to help those who are into the car pooling practice.
There has been a rise in cases of motorists being fined for giving lifts to passengers. In some cases, the motorists were fined even when they were giving lifts to their friends.
Hashim said they had directed the inspectors not to fine motorists without proper investigation.

For a city where rush hour traffic is by all accounts, horrendous, and parking is equally bad, one would think that any policy that benefits commuters would be a good thing; happy car poolers = fewer cars on the road. Any system to make commuters happy should be simple and easy so as to encourage commuters to use it (one would think)! Nearly every other city on the planet with similar traffic challenges has already figgered this one out. But when I said that car pooling hasn’t really caught on here, it's not carpooling per say that hasn't caught on, it’s the policy-makers who haven‘t quite caught on. I'll give them an E for “effort” but I will drive myself to work.

Sept 2,2007
The Road and Traffic Authority in Dubai has doubled the fine imposed against motorists who illegally transport passengers without a livery permit. Residents from low-income background decried such measures saying that this is making transportation difficult for them.
Many residents of Dubai and the northern emirates benefit from these illegal taxis, as their prices are low compared to the licensed ones.
Another widely used form of transportation, which is also punishable by law, is the car pool. It is a system in which office workers with cars pick up their colleagues from their homes and drop them at work and vice versa for a fixed amount of money. The car pool is heavily advertised in the classified pages of the local newspapers.
These illegal systems benefit commuters who have no alternative means of transport other than expensive taxis or irregular buses. Dubai, which is revamping its public transportation system by adding hundreds of new buses, is considered better than the neighboring emirates that do not have such systems in place.
Mohammed Obaid Al-Mulla, CEO of Public Transport Agency at the authority, stated that the fine has been raised to AED5,000 from AED2,500.
“Statistics gathered from a series of field campaigns launched since 2004 up to July 2007 show that this phenomenon has several characteristics; namely: it is widely practiced and virtually covers all areas in the emirate of Dubai. However, it is noticed that passenger smuggling is habitual in certain locations well known to both smugglers and passengers, but rarely does it take place at sides of main roads. Moreover, these locations are constantly being changed to avoid reporting campaigns. In fact, it is rather difficult to assess the actual magnitude of this practice as it involves several categories of vehicles, at the top of which come private vehicles, rented cars, commercial transport vehicles and private-companies vehicles,” commented Al-Mulla.
Informed sources at the Public Transport Agency revealed that Franchise and Performance Control Section at the agency launched a new campaign aimed at heightening the awareness about passenger-smuggling in Dubai with a view to curb this phenomenon, which is inflicting heavy losses on the public transport sector.
He also noted that this practice retracts when reporting campaigns and fines are announced, but is usually matched with the entry of fresh smugglers, while those who were in the business return after a short break. He further added: “It is noted that upon streamlining of taxi activity in other emirates, taxi drivers switched their vehicles as private vehicles and deployed them in passenger-smuggling business in Dubai. More drivers are expected to engage in this practice following streamlining of transportation activities in various parts of the UAE.”
As to the losses inflicted by this practice on Dubai Taxi Agency, Al-Mulla stressed that it results in material losses to the agency as well as jeopardizes the standing of the agency as a service-providing body seeking to deliver optimum services in innovative methods in line with the best global practices applicable in this vital field. “Smuggling of passengers is viewed as an uncivilized practice incompatible with the standing of Dubai as a commercial and economic center in the region. Such a phenomenon is capable of undermining the efforts of the RTA to expand and develop the transport sector, let alone the resulting losses suffered by various service, tourist, social and other sectors,” added Al-Mulla.