Dubai taxis will offer free Wi-Fi in all cars by the end of the year as part of a push to create a “smart” city.
People will be able to connect their smartphones, tablets or laptops and surf the internet as soon as they enter the taxi, said a Road and Transport Authority (RTA) official. The service is already available in 155 Hala Taxis across the city.
“Connectivity is important,” said Abdulla Al Madani, the chief executive of corporate support services at the Road and Transport Authority (RTA). “Wherever we can provide free Wi-Fi and internal services, we will do.”
The authority is working through a third party service provider that hopes to generate profits from the service through advertising.
It comes off the back of new initiatives recently launched, among them Wi-Fi services on intercity buses and internet connected bus shelters to help to achieve the government's plans to become a fully fledged smart city in time for Dubai Expo 2020, where the aim is to connect the city's infrastructure to the internet and make it more accessible to its citizens via smartphones and other smart devices.
As part of this plan, the RTA also wants to open a city-wide command and control centre to integrate all of its transport offerings.
“We are integrating all [the services], like the London experience. They created a big command and control centre for the entire city during the Olympics and we are doing it for the entire transport system,” said Mr Al Madani. “Hopefully in the future it will have more proactive information for customers.”
The day to day control of the different modes of transport will continue to be managed independently, but the main control centre will look at integrating everything together to help to ease congestion, provide reliable and up to date information to users and ensure a “smoother” operation across the board.
The traffic lights across the city will eventually be able to communicate with one another to aid traffic and prevent congestion.
The command and control centre will be up and running by 2017, said Mr Al Madani, with a tender for a partner set to be issued next month. It is looking to both London and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority as a guide for traffic management and transaction systems to ensure the speediest and most efficient way to travel.
In a bid to drive up efficiency and customer satisfaction, the RTA is also rolling out credit and debt card payments for its 1,000 fleet of taxis before this summer. Customers will also be able to pay for taxi journeys with Nol cards, a pre-paid smart card already in use for Dubai’s metro and bus networks.
Currently 20 taxis in Dubai accept card and mobile payment and by the end of the year 8,000 taxis will accept payment via the Nol card.
The RTA registers close to 2 million transactions on Nol cards per day, across the metro, bus and parking services. So far, more than 7.5 million Nol cards have been issued.
Last year, more than 440 million passengers used public transport in Dubai, which includes buses, water taxis and the metro, up from 367 million in 2012. Every day, more than 1.3 million people use public transport in the city.
“The total ridership of taxis [Dubai Taxi and franchise companies fleet] amounted to 174.018 million riders last year compared to 137.390 million riders in 2012. The RTA-owned Dubai Taxi cabs alone served 72.167 million riders, and franchise companies taxicabs lifted 101.85 million riders,” said Mattar Al Tayer, the chairman and executive director at RTA this week.
The authority recently launched a journey planner mobile application called Wojhati, which it claims is the first Arabic journey planner service.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
RESULTS
4pm: Al Bastakiya Listed US$250,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Yulong Warrior, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer)
4.35pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jordan Sport, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Conditions $200,000 (Turf) 1,200m
Winner: Jungle Cat, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Kimbear, Patrick Dobbs, Doug Watson
6.20pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 $300,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Blair House, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 $400,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: North America, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 $250,000 (T) 2,410m
Winner: Hawkbill, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
