go anymore to customer service centers
or retail stores and gas stations to obtain
Salik services. According to Qiwan, the
app is highly responsive to orders and has
comprehensive services.
On the other hand, Ahmed Shawqi re-
grets that not all services are included un-
der one umbrella as there is a main app,
which includes the majority of services,
then, there is another app for taxis and a
third app for other services. He sees that
as a huge disadvantage in RTA’s transition
to a concept of smart services. He thinks
it is better to merge all RTA’s services in
one app as is the case with apps of other
government agencies.
Shawqi does not think this is a significant
issue but stresses that the app in general
is one of the best out there for government
services. It brings in the most used ser-
vices by RTA’s customers in one platform.
Riyad Sandaqly says that he rated RTA’s
app four stars on Android, considering
saving time and effort a major feature by
the app. Customers wasted time before by
having to go to customer service centers,
standing in front of ATMs and going to gro-
cery stores and gas stations to buy Salik
cards.
Al Sandaqly believes that RTA app stands
out as it can be used by UAE residents
and visitors alike, covering information on
Dubai Metro trips, public transport and
Dubai Taxi.
Serene Rawji noted that though the app
offers great features to the UAE residents,
there are some glitches mainly in RTA’s
online system, particularly in calculating
Salik balance, recharge and violations.
Rawji sees that RTA app is particularly im-
portant for Dubai visitors. When one of her
relatives was visiting Dubai for tourism,
the app gave her much information on
public transport, directions to Metro sta-
tions, schedules and taxis.
However, slow data caused Mustafa Al
Dab’ to rate the app four instead of five.
He noted that the app is excellent overall
but needs to address the speed of receiv-
ing data; sometimes it takes a long time to
open an account, pay Salik balance and
pay parking fees. He called for the app de-
velopers to fix this glitch fast.
Mohammed Al Khitm (a user) explained
the RTA’s online operations especially
calculating Salik violations is surround-
ed with errors, yet he cannot do without
the app that provides all the services he
needs.
Al Khitm rated the app four on iOS due
to the glitches in speed and RTA online
system.
Al Khitm also noted he would have pre-
ferred all RTA services are offered in one
app instead of a main app and sub-apps,
to enable users to create a single account
to manage all their transactions.
He described RTA’s main app as good
and somewhat comprehensive in provid-
ing the services needs by residents in
Dubai in particular and the UAE in
general as well as visitors.
Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of
RTA’s Licensing Agency
and Head of Supervi-
sion of Implement-
ing the Integrated
Roadmap
to
Transfer to the
Smart Govern-
ment Team,
said
that
RTA’s stra-
tegic plan
to turn its services into smart one includes
transferring 100% of the services most
used by customers, i.e. 200 services by
May 2015.
He continued saying that there were
more than 100,000 app downloads on
Android and a continuous download rise
on iOS reaching 37,980 downloads in
2011, 31,840 in 2012, 72,494 in 2013 and
51,968 from beginning of 2014 until pres-
ent.
RTA launched its first app version of for
mobile phones and tablets in April 2010
and continuously upgraded it to be com-
patible with Android, Windows, Blackber-
ry, and iOS platforms. The app was rated
4 by its users on Android and iOS.
I no longer need
to go to customer
service centers
Saving time and
effort is the main
feature of the app.
App develo
pers should ad-
dress data speed
Mina Qiwan
Riyadh Sandaqli
Mustafa Al Dab’
17
July
2014
