UAE’S RAKTA Joins Forces with Careem & Hala to Launch Ras Al Khaimah’s First Taxi E-hailing Service
The feature will allow for all of Careem and Hala’s ride-hailing features to be mirrored for taxis in the emirate.
UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority (RAKTA) has forged an agreement with ride-hailing giant Careem and travel management company Hala to provide the emirate’s first taxi and limo service.
The service will help modernise the emirate’s taxi service so that riders can know trip ETAs, fare estimates, variety of payment options and to select the most convenient routes prior to the ride, along with having a detailed profile of the driver similar to ride-hailing apps Uber and Careem.
H.E. Ismail Hassan Al Balooshi, Director General of RAKTA, commented on the partnership, “This step comes from the authority’s commitment to uplift the transport sector and ensure the provision of safe, reliable and smart transport services. It is in line with the authority’s strategy of digital and smart transformation, to keep pace with the global transformation standards in the field of urban transport planning—whereby the aim is to facilitate movement of individuals around the city, reducing private car ownership.”
UAE has deployed several precautionary measures to ensure that the country’s taxi services are safe for passengers during the pandemic, including installing screens between front and backseats, contactless payment options, as well as daily sanitisation and disinfection after each use. This partnership will allow for an even wider breadth of safety measures to be practiced, in addition to the convenience of streamlining taxi hailing.
The e-hailing service will undergo its pilot phase in Ras Al Khaimah for the time being, while a larger fleet of taxis and limos will be available through the service by mid-August 2020.
