The Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority (RAKTA) has today announced the official launch of Hala’s taxi e-hailing service across all major areas in the Emirate.
The launch will see 500 cabs deployed, following an initial pilot phase
Available features for riders include knowing their ride’s ETA, fare estimate and route upfront, along with their driver’s details
Customers will also have a host of payment options available to them, including cash, card, or in app payments
The Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority (RAKTA) has today announced the official launch of Hala’s taxi e-hailing service across all major areas in the Emirate, in a joint-venture similar to the one Hala shares with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
The launch follows a successful pilot phase of 50 taxis, where the average arrival time for a taxi to the customer has reached under 5 minutes – a number expected to reduce as the taxi fleet now increases to 500 taxis equipped with Careem technology, allowing them to be booked easily and from anywhere, at the touch of a button, an official press release detailed.
The service will follow the same fare pricing model as regular taxis, with no surge pricing during peak hours, Hala stated. Available features for riders include knowing their ride’s ETA, fare estimate and route upfront, along with their driver’s details. Customers will also have a host of payment options available to them, including cash, card, or in app payments. Riders will automatically collect Reward points for each trip which can be redeemed as ride credits or against partner offers.
As for the second phase of the roll out, Hala noted that each taxi driver has participated in intensive training, with an onboarding program to ensure a high competency with the booking technology, and ongoing training schedule in place for continued development.
“We believe in using technology to simplify movement, empowering our riders to travel easily wherever they may need to go. I am happy to see the beautiful progress we have been able to realise in the pilot phase of our launch, with an average customer trip rating of 4.7/5, achieved by working closely with our valued partners at RAKTA to implement a service of the highest quality,” Clemence Dutertre, CEO of Hala, said.
According to Zawya, “the app service for Hala taxis is only available for journeys that originate in the two emirates of Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah, but drivers are able to drop passengers off in other emirates.”
Careem officially launched in the Emirate this July, and has recently undergone massive layoffs following the ongoing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Ride-hailing is just one part of a five-year strategic plan by RAKTA that includes rolling out electric scooters, new bus stations and additional routes and Abra tours. As part of this plan, 300 electric scooters were deployed in Q1 2020, handled by e-mobility firms Circ and Arnab.
