SMS for a cab in the city of Dubai

There is good news for those loitering around here waiting for a taxi.

'SMS' away.

The local Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has introduced taxi stand (rank) numbers, modeled on the Singapore taxi service system, for different locations. The passenger could send an SMS to a toll-free number 4774 mentioning the ...

The step has been taken because most taxi drivers used to face difficulty in tracking down the locations of the passengers, ultimately resulting in long and frustrating waiting, the Khaleej Times said.

Abdul Aziz Malik, CEO of Dubai Taxi, told the newspaper the authority has given rank numbers to 54 locations or taxi stands in various congested areas of the emirate.

"Every stand will have an area code. Once a passenger sends SMS, he would receive an acknowledgement message from the RTA and a taxi would pick the passenger up from the exact spot within minutes," he said. Altogether, 54 areas have been earmarked as taxi stands in the emirate.

Each stand will have an information board listing the rank numbers and respective areas, the SMS number and the toll-free booking numbers of all taxi companies operating in the emirate.

Dubai Taxi has 3,906 taxis in its fleet; the total number of cabs with the other four franchise companies is around 7,000. Around 1,200 more taxis are expected to be on Dubai roads by year-end and another 1,000 by 2009.