More than 3,000 taxis operating illegally in Qatar
There are at least 3,000 parallel taxi operators in Qatar and the law enforcement agencies are quite capable of curbing their illegal activities, a senior Mowasalat official told a session of the UITP Middle East and North African Summit on Thursday.
These parallel operators are besides the many so-called 'limousine' operators who are also providing somewhat an extended taxi service.
Mowasalat Taxi Management Office (TMO) manager Ali Hassan al-Emadi felt such parallel operators are causing enormous losses to the authorised taxi companies, and the transport authorities would take all steps to halt such unauthorised services.
Acknowledging that the parallel taxis have considerable presence in the country, al-Emadi hoped that with the complete upgrading of Mowasalat's Unified Call Centre and also with the equipping of Mowasalat and franchisee taxis with advanced communication gadgets such operators could be eventually phased out.
"The best way to weed such operators out is not to encourage their activities. It would be possible when the availability of taxis improves across the country, especially in Doha and surroundings," the official said and added that the country would have at least 7,000 taxis by 2022, when it hosts the FIFA World Cup.
Disclosing that Mowasalat has plans to award more franchisees to improve the availability of taxis, al-Emadi said more franchisees would be awarded to newcomers only if the present service providers are unable to meet the growing needs of the population.
Once more restructuring happens in the Ministry of Transport, the regulator would not only be able to ensure better quality taxi services in the country but their availability would also improve, said the official.
While answering queries from a woman delegate who complained of cheating by a taxi driver, the official said the participant should have noted the roof colour of the taxi concerned and lodged a complaint with its operators. However, the complainant was unable to recognise the roof colour as it was late in the evening.
She also sought to know if a decision could be made to change the colours of the franchisee taxis so that they could be recognised easily by travellers. [Source: Gulf Times]
Karwa have the worst taxi driver on the world,they never turn on taxi Meter,they abusing other drivers
Agree with jmu and kiwi. Qatar has to be the most difficult place to live in the GCC. You can't exit the country easily, you can't switch jobs easily, you can't move to a different home without forfeiting a month's rent, can't get a taxi,can't hire a nanny easily, no day-cares for kids above 4 years,its exasperating!
First of all Karwa need to be weed out from this country , their driving habits, like changing lanes , not using brakes near to round about, abusing other drivers need to stopped first. In Dubai its safe and good to travel in taxi but here in Qatar that goes to Private taxis / Limo ones
Most of the mowasalat taxi drivers don't even turn on their meters.....one such guy driver actually tried to force me to give him 35qr for a 15qr trip and when i refused locked me in his taxi unill i told him that i was gonna call the cops
It's quite simple. Mowaslat has alienated it's customer base and it will have to do a lot to earn back the trust of the population. My experience of taxis in doha include never being able to hail a taxi when needed; trying the call centre and being told a taxi is available in 4 hours; being unable to prebook a taxi; driver trying to pick up another fare during my journey; driver not knowing the city at all; about half the time having to battle for the driver to turn on the meter; fare being set at wrong rate for runs within doha; erratic driving by speeding, changing lanes abruptly, undertaking and braking very hard and just generally rude behaviour complaining about traffic and my journey being too short. My illegal taxi driver turns up on time, drives carefully, is reliable and I trust him. Taxi companies here have no idea how to train/pay/manage taxi drivers in a way that is conducive to a successful business model. Nowhere does quality of service appear important to them. So I will stick with my illegal taxi driver thank you very much. And if u take that away, uber and careem will have my custom. Thanks JMU. You said what I wanted to say.
Only 3000 ??? Only in front of Lulu and Carrefour there are around 1000 taxis :)
It's quite simple. Mowaslat has alienated it's customer base and it will have to do a lot to earn back the trust of the population. My experience of taxis in doha include never being able to hail a taxi when needed; trying the call centre and being told a taxi is available in 4 hours; being unable to prebook a taxi; driver trying to pick up another fare during my journey; driver not knowing the city at all; about half the time having to battle for the driver to turn on the meter; fare being set at wrong rate for runs within doha; erratic driving by speeding, changing lanes abruptly, undertaking and braking very hard and just generally rude behaviour complaining about traffic and my journey being too short.
My illegal taxi driver turns up on time, drives carefully, is reliable and I trust him. Taxi companies here have no idea how to train/pay/manage taxi drivers in a way that is conducive to a successful business model. Nowhere does quality of service appear important to them. So I will stick with my illegal taxi driver thank you very much. And if u take that away, uber and careem will have my custom.