Why Hasn’t ePayment Succeeded in Eliminating
Long Queues?
Many people who stand in line – sometimes for hours – to get gov-
ernment services are not aware that they can get them from the
comfort of their homes or offices with a click of a mouse. Either
they don’t know about the existence of the eServices or the govern-
ment entity itself hasn’t provided enough information about them.
Smart Government visited Abu Dhabi Traffic Department and no-
ticed a large number of customers queuing to pay their traffic fines
although the service is available electronically on Abu Dhabi Police
website.
Reportage
We headed to Abu Dhabi Police
General Headquarters represented
by its Traffic and Licensing Depart-
ment to enquire about the reason
for the daily crowding at the service
counters.
Officers at the Traffic Department
said that the Department repeatedly
calls upon citizens and residents to
take advantage of its eServices, es-
pecially to pay their traffic fines.
Abu Dhabi Police General Headquar-
ters has clarified that going in person
to the Licensing and Traffic Depart-
ments counters causes excessive
crowding and delays in completing
transactions. It has called upon the
public to pay their traffic fines elec-
tronically to save time and effort.
Lt Colonel Suhail Saeed Al Khaily,
Director of Vehicles and Drivers Li-
censing Section at Abu Dhabi Po-
lice said that Abu Dhabi Police has
provided traffic payment service to
the public through its website (www.
adpolice.gov.ae). Users can enquire
about their traffic fines using traffic
symbols, plate data or license infor-
mation. They can their fines online
in a few minutes without the need to
visit the Traffic Department counters.
Al Khaily explained that the service
gives the users the option to enquire
about the traffic fines on their vehi-
cles or on their traffic symbols. After
the introduction of the federal traffic
and licensing systems, users can
enquire about violations in any of the
emirates linked to the system and
pay them. This saves them the trou-
ble of paying the fines in the emirates
where the vehicle is registered.
“Sahel” ePayment Machines
The Director of the Vehicles and
Drivers Licensing Section said that
Abu Dhabi Police has provided a
number of “Sahel” (facile in Arabic)
ePayment machines in a number of
government departments and shop-
ping centres. Customers can use
them to pay their traffic fines using
cash or credit cards with no addition-
al charges.
He said that these machines are
especially convenient for those who
don’t have internet access at home,
noting that Abu Dhabi Police is con-
stantly working to develop its servic-
es to ease people’s lives.
