At the GITEX 2019, RTA Dubai announced the Personal Driver Service, which would allow residents to hire a male or female driver to take them to their destination on their own car.
The residents can order this service through DTC (Dubai Transport Corporation) app. The service will be available by the end of October at a minimum charge of Dh80 (for 2 hours).
Explaining the need of a personal driver, Dr. Yousef Al Ali, CEO of DTC, said that we all need a personal driver in a situation when we are tired, or when we do not have our personal vehicle, or when we need someone to drive our kids to school and in other circumstances. To make sure we cater to people of all ethnicities, we have drivers who speak Arabic, English, Urdu, and Hindi.
Apart from the personal driver service, people can also hire a limo or luxury car via the DTC app (Android, iPhone). Dr. Al Ali said, “We are more cost-effective than others as our limos and the technology we use is our own assets. There is no commission [that is passed on as an additional cost to the customer]. We also have promo codes for discounts and special rates for frequent users.”
Another great initiative by RTA Dubai is a virtual NOL card, which will let users pay for public transport, parking, fuel, etc.
“We are keen to familiarise the public with this initiative for buying the virtual nol card and saving it in their mobile phones where they can top-up the card directly from their credit cards, which are saved in their phones. The NFC feature has to be enabled in smartphones of riders such that they can use the virtual nol card in paying fares for metro, bus, tram, and marine transport services,” stated Mohammad Al Khayat, Director of Automated Fare Collection at RTA’s Corporate Technology Support Services Sector.
“RTA is planning to roll out the virtual nol card in the third quarter of 2020. Later on, all the existing nol card functions will be added to the virtual card. Offering this initiative couldn’t have come at a better time as Dubai is heading towards the hosting of a big event, Expo 2020.”
Source: GulfNews