The new services means customers can process transactions through their smart-phones, such as booking and tracking their own taxi, without having to contact the service centre.
DUBAI – Carrying out laborious tasks has just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new package of smart services from the Roads and Transport Authority, being unveiled at Gitex, which kick-starts today and will run till October 24.
The new services means customers can now process transactions through their smart-phones, such as booking and tracking their own taxi, without having to contact the service center, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA Mattar Al Tayer said.
The move comes in implementation of the directives of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in migrating from the e-Government to the smart-Government platform, offering services 24/7.
The new services are to be unleashed in Gitex 2013, including Smart Taxi, the first of its type in the region. “This highly innovative smart application…enables clients to book taxis and directly track their path in a real time exercise. The application has a set of unique features and characteristics unprecedented in the Middle East (offering the) possibility of booking a taxi by a single click of a button”.
He added the service is accessible thanks to a user-friendly, super flexible smart phone app that has been created, covering all taxicabs in Dubai, and creates ease-of-use for all. “The Smart Taxi app can automatically pick up the address and identify the location of the passenger; which helps the public using the service to identify the address without needing to write details…in many cases, difficult to write for the elderly and new comers to Dubai.”
Among the smart service packages is the launch of version 3 of RTA apps compatible with smart phones enabling customers to carry out transactions such as the payment of traffic fines and recharging of Nol cards, Geo Tagging for Madinati service, and RTA services directory. This app is bilingual and is offered at the Apple Store or on Google Play.
And those who frequent the emirate’s metro, buses and water taxis will be able to slim down the size of their wallets by getting rid of the Nol card, using their phones to clock in and out instead.
“Among the new services to be launched is the smart Nol service, the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East. Smart phone users use their phones as a Nol card for paying public transport fares,” Al Tayer said.
RTA’s road map
Since the announcement of migrating from e-Government to smart-Government services, the RTA has begun beefing up the number of services on offer via smart phones from 17 to 72 (to be fully implemented by the end of 2014).
The RTA will also study all services provided to the public (about 208 services) out of which 156 are currently provided online. The services can be accessed on iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows 8.
