Press Releases
14 Apr 2022
RTA carries cracks down on violators of passenger transport activities, fare evasion on public transport
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently carried out two inspection operations relating to passenger transport activity, and fare evasion on public transport means.
The first operation, which was carried out February 2021 in collaboration with the General Department of Airports Security at the General HQ of Dubai Police was related to passenger transport on unlicensed vehicles. The second operation, which took place March 2022 in collaboration with the General HQ of Dubai Police and the General Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, was meant to curb fare evasion on public transport operating in Dubai.
“The first inspection operation was made during 19-28 February 2022 year, in conjunction with the General Department of Airports Security to monitor the activity of transporting passengers on unlicensed vehicles. It resulted in the issuance of 52 violations at the Dubai Airport Terminal 2,” said Saeed Al Balushi, Director of Passenger Transport Activities Monitoring at Public Transport Agency, RTA.
“52 violations were issued comprising 41 violations for transporting passengers on unlicensed vehicles and 11 violations made at the airport. The practice of transporting passengers on unlicensed vehicles has two folds. The first relates to the use of unlicensed vehicles in lifting passengers with no social relationship between the driver and passengers, whereby the driver will earn a fee against the lifting of passengers within the emirate or to other emirates.
“The second practice relates to offering passenger transport service, whereby the lift service is promoted as though it is a public transport service either through face-to-face or via social media and various electronic platforms,” added Al Balushi.
“We have benefited from big data and business intelligence applications in both processes in analysing violations, identifying sites and the most frequent timing of violations. Accordingly, we identified the most frequent sites of violations in 2021 and matched them with the violations that took place in 2019-2020 to identify similar sites during the three years.
“The second inspection operation was coordinated with the General HQ of Dubai Police and the General Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, to foil attempts of evading the payment of public transport tariff. About 62,919 operations were carried out from 14 to 20 March2022, which resulted in the reporting 1,047 violations,” added Al Balushi.
RTA is keen to run regular inspection campaigns in conjunction with the concerned bodies to ensure effective monitoring of various passenger transport activities in Dubai, and curb violations and negative attitudes.