Single Water Bus trip for 3 stations
By a staff reporter

26 April 2008

DUBAI — A new service for Water Bus passengers to travel to three stations in a single trip was launched by the Marine Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) recently.

The service being offered on Line B3 aims at easing congestion at Bani Yas Road, an RTA Press release said.

According to Ahmed Mohammed Al Hammadi, Director of Operations & Performance Department at RTA Marine Agency, the trip, which begins at Al Seef Station and terminates at Al Sabkha Station, is designed to meet requirements of customers shuttling between these stations across Dubai Creek.

“The service starts at 6.00am and continues up to 11pm, with 15 minutes headway. The trip takes three minutes from Al Seef Station to Bani Yas Station, and three minutes also from Bani Yas Station to Al Sabkha Station, with five minutes waiting time in each station. The fare is fixed as Dh4 for shuttling between Al Seef Station, Bani Yas Station and Al Sabkha Station (two trips at a cost of one trip),” stated Al Hammadi.

He pointed out that re-routing of B3 Lines has been done to keep pace with the new developments in marine transport. This comes as part of the policy of the RTA to integrate and link marine transport with other public transport modes such as buses, taxis and Metro.

Report dangerous drivers in Dubai

Call 8004353 to report dangerous drivers in Dubai. You need to give the correct number plate details ( the number, colour, the emirate, and for Dubai any alphabet.) They will ask you details about the offence and where it happened, and the make of the car.

(excerpt from Readers Comments in 7Days.ae)

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10207031.html

Commuters on the streets can now hail taxis by SMS

By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter Published: April 20, 2008, 00:34

Dubai: Passengers in Dubai no longer have to go through the daunting task of hailing a taxi on the road as they can now call one by just sending an SMS from their mobile phones, said a senior official. The service has been designed for passengers who want to order taxis while waiting by the road, said Abdul Aziz Malek, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dubai Taxi Agency at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). He said the taxi agency is installing small boards with location code numbers and a taxi sign on them by the side of the road. A passenger can send an SMS to 4774, mentioning the area code on the taxi board. The customer will have to wait in the same location until the taxi arrives. Once the commuter sends the SMS, it will reach the booking terminal of Dubai Taxi Agency and the booking supervisor will send the nearest taxi to the customer. The booking terminal will also send the taxi reservation number to the customer, which he needs to show to the taxi driver before boarding. The starting fare for taxis booked via SMS will be Dh6 during the day (from 6am to 10pm) and Dh7 at night (from 10pm to 6am). In addition to the new service, Dubai Taxi Agency will continue to offer reservations via telephone and the internet. "The new service has been launched after complaints from commuters about hailing a cab while waiting by the roadside," said Malek. Currently, Dubai has around 6,500, taxis including 3,200 run by Dubai Taxi Agency. Booking taxis Website: www.dubaitaxi.ae Call centre: 2080808

Useful Phone Numbers - Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah

GulfNews.com is providing a downloadable PDF with useful phone numbers in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Essential telephone numbers in UAE

Staff Report
Published: March 02, 2008, 10:27

Dubai: 999, the emergency number in the country, is one of the busiest numbers in the country, naturally, but often for all the wrong reasons.

Click here to download the Gulf News essential numbers guide for Dubai and Abu Dhabi (pdf)

Click here to download the Gulf News essential numbers guide for Sharjah (pdf)

Many residents call 999 seeking a taxi or to find out the traffic situation. Hundreds of trivial and inane calls are made to 999 every day, hindering the work of police on emergency duty.

A staggering 573,471 calls were made to 999 in 2007 and these were not emergencies. Most were enquiries on speed limits on roads, location of certain departments, traffic fines, transactions related to the Naturalisation and Residency Department and complaints against taxi drivers.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, recently said: "Nobody knows the amount of effort that goes into answering calls on 999. Therefore, people should only call 999 in case of emergencies which require the immediate presence of security or rescue personnel," he said.

In an attempt to offer easy access to information, Gulf News has compiled some of the important telephone numbers in the country.

We have compiled some of the essential numbers, including traffic, transport and hospital numbers, which are in an easily downloadable PDF format. We will be adding to the list as and when we get and verify essential telephone numbers

etisalat gears up to offer mobile remittance services

etisalat gears up to offer mobile remittance services

By Nadia Saleem, Gulf News Staff Reporter
Published: April 02, 2008, 00:01

Dubai: etisalat is poised to start offering mobile remittance services in June this year, a move that promises to help millions of expatriates send money in seconds instead of queueing at the exchange houses every month.

etisalat officials on Tuesday said it has started the mobile remittance pilot project to India in partnership with mashreq, Tata Communications, Idea Cellular and HSBC India.

It expects 350,000 users to avail the services next three years. Nearly 80 per cent of the UAE's more than five million population are expatriates, the majority of whom remit money regularly.

Complete story

The Junior Rock Challenge - Participate now!

Schools and children who are interested in participating in the Rock Challenge can contact Aysel Duman - 050 873 3900 email: aceduman@yahoo.com.

The Junior Rock Challenge will take place on May 16 at the DUTAC Theatre in the Mall of the Emirates and tickets cost Dhs.80.

Source: 7Days.ae

Feline Friends Book Sale this weekend!

From 7Days.ae

The Feline Friends Book Sale will be held at Uptown Mirdif, bottom of Spinneys escalators. Friday 4th April, 9am-4pm.

Lots of bargain books, CDs, videos and DVDs. PLease bring any books you wish to donate also. Tel: 050 4510058.

Recycling Centres in Dubai

From  a letter in 7Days.ae

Collective effort needed to improve recycling

To answer the suggestion for recycling in today’s edition, I am glad to tell you that there are some recycling centres and if you are one of the employees in the free zone: Internet City, Media City etc, you have two recycling centres very close to you. You may drop there your paper, plastic, cans and glass. May be the recycling Is not widely spread in the Dubai but a collective effort is a good start. Do it and tell your friends to. Location of the centers: parking of Knowledge village, Al Sofouh road and behind Althuraya building. BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.

Kaoutar

Dubai