Plans are underway to increase the number of taxis in Bahrain in a bid to boost the country’s public transport system.

Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal Ahmed said the move would also address the issue of illegal taxis in the country, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

He was speaking at a launch ceremony, held at Seef Mall in Muharraq, where a new fleet of 40 cabs were added to Arabian Taxi’s existing 175 vehicles.

The private taxi service is a government-backed venture, which has been running cars resembling London’s iconic black cabs since 2008 in co-operation with the Bahrain Development Bank (BDB).

The custom-made, metered vehicles, fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and Wi-Fi are available on call and are connected electronically to a control centre to ensure passengers are not overcharged.

“The ministry has plans to increase the number of private taxis in Bahrain,” Ahmed told the GDN on the sidelines of the event.

“This new fleet added to the Arabian Taxi service is one example, which will add value to the industry and improve the quality of service.

“Within the next three months we will be announcing another private taxi company which will run their cabs on the roads of Bahrain.

“Our aim as the ministry is to help companies establish better services so that we can better serve the public.

“It will provide opportunity for better and healthy competition in the private transport sector and Bahrain’s roads will look much better and modern in such a scenario.”

He said the addition of new private fleets would also tackle the rise of illegal taxis in the country.

“The illegal taxi issue is a totally different subject, and we are thankful to the Traffic Directorate and the Interior Ministry for helping us with this issue.

“We are holding awareness campaigns across Bahrain to address this issue and have stopped many who were into this illegal act.

“Only licensed taxis will be allowed to operate in Bahrain and the introduction of private taxis will definitely be a choice to the public to refrain from illegal taxis.

“We have to protect people who own these private taxis and to do that, we do have to uproot the illegal taxis.”  

Forty per cent of the taxi services in Bahrain are run by illegal drivers, according to BDB chief executive officer Nedhal Al Aujan.

“It is a fact that 40 per cent of taxi services in Bahrain are run illegally and by facilitating more private taxis, we will be able to eradicate this issue soon,” he said.

He also welcomed the transportation ministry’s move to permit expatriate drivers to run the taxis.

“Expatriate drivers were not allowed to be hired to drive normal taxis and were limited only for the radio taxis,” he said.

“This was the biggest challenge that we faced because there is a big shortage of Bahraini taxi drivers.

“We only have around 70 Bahraini drivers to support a fleet close to 200 cars.

“With the additional 40 cabs we need more drivers – the permission to hire expatriates is indeed a good step.

“This also shows that Bahrain has an open and free labour market and is also a step forward in placing Bahrain in par with developed countries in terms of public transport system.” - TradeArabia News Service