Page 9 - U4SSC Case study: Urban mobility, June 2020

The RTA studied key constraints facing other countries and assessed how to best respond to this
emerging trend in mobility modes. They conducted international market reviews and identified three
potential risks that an unregulated transport sector can have on Dubai's public transportation system:

• Vehicle safety
• Driver behaviour

• Pricing control

Before this agreement, e-hailing companies operated in an unregulated manner so generating concerns
about their safety and security. Given Dubai's image as a safe and secure destination for residents and
visitors, this was negatively impacting the city’s image, along with the following challenges:

• Lack of oversight and governance of e-hailing companies' transactions and activities due to
regulatory absence. The transactional records were not shared with RTA.
• Lack of stringent checks on e-hailing drivers as individual car owners permitted them to become
drivers.

• Lack of quality control of vehicles being used by individuals to offer transport services.
• A market gap for smart, on-demand transport services offering premium vehicles catering to
customer needs.
• An increasing demand on taxis with high waiting time.

Results

The project has contributed towards Dubai's vision of becoming the world's smartest city, and given
the young population demographics of Dubai, there is great demand for digital and smart services.
This agreement has supported the development of the RTA's integrated mobility platform, which will
incorporate all modes of transport in Dubai including e-hailers into a smart, multimodal transactional
and journey planner.

The key positive impacts obtained by the project can be summarized as follows:

1. The utilization of limousine vehicles in Dubai increased from four trips per day to 12 trips per day
on average.

2. Regulated e-hailing service is being included in the RTA's integrated mobility platform (referred
to as S'hail), along with other public transport modes in Dubai; allowing for seamless integration
between all modes of transportation.

3. This pioneering regulation serves as a standard to allow additional e-hailing service providers
to operate in Dubai. Currently, around nine start-ups have obtained the RTA approvals to start
operations.

Case study: Urban mobility, June 2020 3