Dubai Honours 638 Taxi rivers By Installing Their Names Atop Cabs

Do you ever remember asking the name of the driver every time you hail a taxi? Well, not really! We normally address taxi drivers as sir, sadiq, bhai, boss, chief, pal, mate- and their names remain unknown forever. These are the people who safely drop us off to the airport, office, school, mall, grocery or any other destination and now RTA has launched a cool new campaign to make these faces known.

Also read: Taxi Driver Gives 12-Hour Ride From Spain To Italy To A Stranded Girl For FREE

Dubai RTA Launches #WhosYourCabbie Initiative

In an aim to make riders know their cab drivers, the RTA has recently launched an initiative called #WhosYourCabbie. As part of the campaign, some taxis in Dubai will have the name of the driver on top, to identify the person behind the wheel. This means, you can spot some Dubai taxis having names like Walid, Samir, Asif, Ahmed, Kumar, Salim, Joe, Iqbal, Afzal, George, Afzal, Adil, Shameer, or Zaman, instead of the word taxi on the top of the car.

And now, 638 Dubai taxis have the names of the drivers atop the cabs. Photos released by the RTA shows names of three drivers take the crown spot on their taxis. Instead of the word ‘TAXI’, the yellow signs read MONSUR, MAHABUBUR and MASUD.

Earlier, in April the RTA announced the campaign in an instagram post, with a touching caption, dedicated to Dubai’s taxi drivers.

“To the heroes who are with us in every journey, the heroes who kept #Dubai moving in the toughest times, and the heroes who add life to our streets every day; we’re proud of you, we know you, and we appreciate all that you do #WhosYourCabbie.”

Also read: Dubai Welcomes The Region’s First Female Public Bus Drivers

 

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A post shared by هيئة الطرق والمواصلات، دبي (@rta_dubai)

The RTA also posted a 2-minute video launching the campaign. In the video, it noted that cabbies are often addressed as Sir, boss, mister, hello, or the eponymous term ‘taxi’. But when we all became faceless citizens (wearing masks during the pandemic), taxi drivers became heroes to us all. As our city stood still, they became our lifeline.”

In the same video, a driver is heard saying: “A lot of customers ask me different questions, but they never asked my name. A passenger can also be heard saying: “I used to think ‘taxi’ is just another means of transportation.”