You will no longer be able to go for your ride app’s cheapest options in Dubai with Uber and its UAE partner Careem deciding to stop heir Uber X and Careem’s Go services.
According to separate statements from both companies, this move follows a decision made by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to end both the projects that were in their pilot stages.
An RTA spokesman, speaking to media outlets, said that both these services were introduced as short-term services and it was “done to compare and evaluate existing and new e-hailing services in the city and check on the feasibility of such technology and services in the market.”
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Last month, Careem and RTA announced the launch of their Joint Venture (JV) ‘Hala’, a taxi e-hailing service that starts operating through taxi vehicles this month.
H.E Matar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, confirmed that the launch and said, “Hala had started a trial e-hailing service for Dubai Taxis in May on 2000 vehicles whereby a great deal of rides were booked using the Careem App experiencing a substantial growth over the subsequent weeks.”
He added that the service received ratings of no less than 4 out of 5 stars with the estimated time of arrival (ETA) already reaching an average of 4.5 minutes versus previous average of 12-14 minutes, aiming to reach an ETA of 3 minutes in September. He said, almost 50% of RTA’s Taxi fleet will be bookable on the Careem App. The trial period witnessed excellent customer and drivers’ satisfaction.”
