Govt to regulate taxi app services

RIYADH: A special committee has been formed among several ministries to regulate the mobile taxi app service market in the Kingdom, according to Hathlool Al-Hathlool of Transportation Ministry.
The committee includes the Ministries of Transportation, Labor and Interior and the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
“All providers of mobile taxi app services should be licensed by the Ministry of Transportation,” he said. “Only licensed public taxi companies or individual taxi owners are allowed to provide these services. Those who are providing the services while not licensed, should cease doing so,” he said.
Several major global providers of mobile taxi app services are operating in the cab industry in the Kingdom. California technology company Uber is one of them. It says that its app allows people to see where the closest car is to them and then book it after agreeing on a set fare, which is paid by registered credit card in the app. Further, it says that there is no cash or even tips to the drivers involved.
The company says that apps for using taxis is gaining popularity, in particular among women. In a seminar on the use of mobile taxi app services organized last year by both Uber and Riyadh-based Taxi London, celebrating an agreement between the two parties which allows the later to use the app of the former, it was revealed that around 80 percent of riders of mobile taxi app services in Riyadh are women.
The inability of a lot of families in the capital to have their own driver, long waiting times for taxis or limousines, and lack of reliable efficient and clean public transportation were cited as factors behind this high percentage.