Instead Jaber al Braiki, an inspector with the taxi regulator TransAD, opens the door and extends his hand.

The two men shake hands and exchange smiles. Things go downhill from there for the Pakistani driver who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 33 years. Asked to produce his taxi permit, Mr Afzal pulls out a blue sheet from his wallet – a permit that expired in 2005.

The driver pleads with the inspector and tells him he has been out of the country for some time. He has to sign for a fine of Dh1,000 (US$372) and could face further punishment later.

“If it was one year [since the permit expired], I would just give him a ticket and maybe he could leave,” Mr al Braiki said. “But four years, maybe there is a reason.

“I told him to come back to the centre, because I will write a report up to them. They can ask him ‘What’s happening? Why you did not renew it?’ Then they can take further action.”

Spot inspections such as this one have become more common in the capital. Last month TransAD announced that its inspectors would be on the capital’s streets 24 hours a day, seven days a week, instead of 18 hours and five days a week beforehand.

The aim, it says, is to improve customer service and shorten waiting times for passengers in the city, where people often complain they have trouble catching a cab.

“How can you satisfy the customer? When you control the driver,” said Saeed al Romaithi, director of the regulator’s corporate services division.

In March, inspectors handed out 220 fines to drivers, 170 of them to drivers of the older gold-and-white cabs. About 80 per cent of the fines were given to drivers for refusing to pick up passengers, said Abdulla al Hameli, assistant manager of the regulator’s compliance division.

That offence can earn drivers three demerit points and a Dh500 fine for a first offence. If a driver receives nine points or more over a 12-month period his driving permit can be suspended. Other common offences are failure to wear a uniform properly and reckless driving.

Some of the drivers Mr al Braiki pulled over yesterday were not displaying their permit or were driving cars that had been involved in small accidents.

One driver operating one of the newer silver cabs that was found to be dirty and who was carrying an expired permit was fined for both offences. Since he was working for a taxi franchise, however, unlike the drivers of the older cabs, his two fines would be paid by the company.

Mr al Romaithi added that inspectors would soon be able to process fines more quickly and more accurately when they start using an automated system. Testing is expected to start in May.

Inspectors will be able to scan a bar code on taxi permits and the driver’s information will be displayed on a screen. They will be able to upload the fines in a matter of seconds by plugging the device into a laptop. The device can also take photos to be used later as evidence. Drivers have 21 days to appeal against fines.

Inspectors currently enter fines manually into TransAD’s database, which leads to mistakes about 20 per cent of the time, Mr al Romaithi said. He hoped the automated system would lead to nearly 100 per cent accuracy.

The regulator also last month created a unit to follow up more quickly on customer complaints. In the past, complaints to its call centre were forwarded to taxi companies directly. The new unit investigates the complaints by interviewing both the passenger and the driver.

The regulator said it received 300 complaints in March, most of them against drivers who refused to stop for passengers.

  
Taxi minimum put at Dh10 in Dubai

Dubai - Apr. 09: The delighted drivers might call it the great lurch forward. How else to describe a sudden tripling of minimum taxi fares?

Effective immediately, every taxi ride in Dubai will cost at least Dh10 (US$2.72) as part of a new fare structure announced yesterday. A starting fee of Dh20 has been set for journeys from Dubai to Sharjah.

The meter will always start at the usual Dh3, but any journey that does not reach Dh10 will be rounded up. The Sharjah fee will be charged when the car crosses into the emirate.

Finally, the fee for waiting time will be 50 fils per minute in addition to distance travelled. Previously, the first 10 minutes of the journey did not incur a time-related charge.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) outlined the new fees yesterday, confirming a number of changes that had been introduced informally in the past few weeks. Every taxi in Dubai is expected to be fitted with updated meters within the next two weeks. Some taxis are already charging the fees.

The chief executive of the RTA’s public transport agency, Essa al Dosari, said the minimum charges were introduced to encourage taxi drivers to stop refusing to pick up passengers for short distances and to make trips to Sharjah.

“To put an end to this phenomenon and encourage the drivers to carry passengers whatever the distance is, the meter will electronically round the amount to be Dh10 per trip,” Mr al Dosari said.

Mehmoudi Riadh, from Tunisia, said the fee increase was the wrong way to go about getting taxis to take passengers to Sharjah.

“I live in Sharjah and now this is another extra cost,” he said. “It is not good because of the current financial crisis. People need more ways of saving money. I still think it will not convince a taxi to go to Sharjah.”

But Gareth Brown from the UK was not as concerned. “I think how often I get a taxi that is less than Dh10 is very rare,” he said. “The shortest fare for me is about Dh15, so it does not really affect me.”

All taxis operating for the RTA franchise will be introducing the charges, including the Dubai Taxi Corporation’s fleet.

“Through this plan, we aim to impact the mechanism of the daily work of cab drivers and uplift their performance since RTA views them as ambassadors in dealing with passengers,” Mr al Dosari said.

He added: “Taxi drivers play a vital role in contributing to the advancement of taxi services in Dubai, and they ought to be supported to get an increment in their earnings. The decision will also greatly curb the phenomenon of drivers’ refusal to lift passengers. This will accordingly enhance customer satisfaction and address the demand for this service.”

Even if the taxi is sitting in traffic, 50 fils will be added every minute to the meter. The public transport agency hopes it will encourage drivers to pick up passengers in congested traffic. Previously, this charge would begin 10 minutes into the journey.

Mr al Dosari said the RTA’s marketing and communications department would launch a number of campaigns “to enlighten the public of future benefits of these decisions and the positive effect they will have on upgrading this sector to serve a wide spectrum of the community”.

“Since these decisions will result in increasing the averaged income of drivers, it will also encourage them to put more efforts and considerably cut the cases of refusal to lift passengers.”

Mr al Dosari said the RTA had also dispatched a delegation of representatives for the public transport agency, Dubai Taxi Corporation and all the franchise companies to Singapore last year to learn about the best practices.