Dubai: Taxi drivers are running an illegal carpooling service right under the noses of Roads and Transport Authority inspectors assigned to catch illegal private taxi operators.

While the RTA has launched an offensive against people providing illegal carpooling services in private cars and has doubled the fine from Dh2,500 to Dh5,000 this year, its own taxi drivers are providing an illegal "taxi-pooling" service to passengers in sheer violation of the rules.

This reporter, dressed like a labourer, went to Sonapur Labour camp, the hub of illegal taxi operators and discovered that taxis operated by Dubai Transport and other franchise companies being run under the Dubai Taxi Agency of the RTA, also provide an illegal taxi-pooling service. 

On asking a taxi driver from Dubai Transport to drive to Rolla in Sharjah, he refused to engage a taxi for only one person. The taxi driver said he would take at least five passengers and charge them Dh10 each.

New phenomenon

Since there is an acute shortage of taxis, he soon got five passengers for Sharjah. He charged them Dh10 each and made Dh50 for a trip, which was logged as Dh22 on his taxi meter. He made Dh28 more than the meter amount.

An official at the RTA's Taxi Agency said that the agency would look into the matter because it is a new phenomenon. He said the illegal taxi service provided in private cars is an offence by law and heavy penalties are imposed on violators.

"We are forced to pay individually instead of paying by the taxi meter," said a labourer at a Sonapur camp.

Workers said that if four or five of them hail the taxi, most of the taxi drivers agree to give them a ride only if they pay individually.

"We end up paying at least double the meter fare. For example, if the fare comes to Dh20, a taxi driver charges Dh10 individually and makes Dh40 to Dh50 depending on the number of passengers," said Guljeet Singh, a construction site supervisor living at a Sonapur labour accommodation.

"This is very common and it happens especially on Thursdays and Fridays," said Mohammad Osman, a worker who also lives in a labour accommodation in Sonapur.

He said most of the taxi drivers provide illegal taxi pooling from Al Mullah Camp junction and from Azer Al Madinah Supermarket.

He said the taxi drivers charge Dh8 to Dh10 from each passenger from Sonapur to Rolla Square in Sharjah and to Deira.

Ashraful, another labourer said: "Taxi drivers refuse to give us a ride and also misbehave if we tell them to go by the taxi meter. If we argue, they say it is a new law. They think we are labourers and don't know anything."

He said hundreds of labourers in Sonapur camps are exploited by taxi drivers because they face an acute shortage of public transport, especially on holidays because they have to go to shop or meet friends in Sharjah or Deira.

"There are hardly any public buses and private cars have been barred from providing a car pool service. They are fined by the RTA inspectors if they come here to pick up passengers," he said.

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10155918.html