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.
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.
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.”
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.”
The new initiative will give riders a chance to know the person behind the steering wheel as well as give drivers their due recognition.