RTA smartphone apps most popular among motorists

Nine RTA apps designed to make driving, parking and booking a taxi, among other things, have been downloaded a total of 2 million times.

DUBAI // Nine smartphone apps designed to make things like driving, parking and booking a taxi easier have been downloaded two million times.

The Roads and Transport Authority’s Smart Drive application was by far the most popular of its offerings, with more than half of the total downloads. It provides free navigation around the UAE and live Dubai traffic updates.

The Smart Salik app, launched in September last year, ranks second with 390,000 downloads. It helps motorists to check and top up their balance to avoid fines.

“One of the main pillars of any smart city is the mobility of public transport, so we have reached an important milestone for the Smart City initiative,” said Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of the board and RTA’s executive director.

“We have transformed 173 customer services into smart services and offered them via nine smart apps. About two million downloads have been made and about 260,000 transactions processed. More than 13 million e-tickets for parking via SMS were issued from October 2014 to March 2015.”

Other apps help commuters access services faster and avoid queues at payment and registration centres. The Smart Taxi app helps residents book taxis, track the vehicles and rate the driver, other apps help motorists renew licences and get live maps and traffic updates while driving around the city.

The RTA’s initiatives were in accordance with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s Smart Government announcement in May 2013 that most government services would be made available online.

The aim is to make people’s lives easier through smart phones and for the government to reach the people instead of the other way around, Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, had tweeted.

Last week he reminded officials and government departments that he would be assessing online and mobile initiatives.

The transport agency’s apps also contain a set of questions to gauge satisfaction and indicate the happiness quotient of customers, officials said.

“Our aim is that it should be something to make the people of Dubai happy,” said Abdulla Al Madani, chief executive of the RTA’s corporate technical support services sector.”

He added: “Utilising the services should improve the experience of the customer and make them happy.”