Rail projects threaten future of taxi industry

The Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) has called for a plan to develop the taxi industry because of the threat posed by the massive railway projects taking place in major Saudi cities.
Saeed Al-Bassami, deputy chairman of the CSC’s national committee for land transport, said buses and taxis would not be able to compete in terms of cost and services once the rail projects are completed.
He said a plan has to be developed to ensure the industry survives the competition. He conceded that buses and taxis have not provided good services for the people of Jeddah.
“The small buses in Jeddah will disappear when railways start services within the city. Taxis will also be on the way out,” Al-Bassami told Arab News.
The congestion on Saudi roads has contributed to a rise in taxi fares. There are between 5 and 7 million taxi trips in Dammam, Jeddah and more than 10 million in Riyadh a year.
The rail projects in Jeddah, Riyadh and other provinces will provide transport for between 100,000 and 300,000 people a day.
Meanwhile, the “Taxi Jeddah” project, a proposed joint stock company bringing all taxi companies in Jeddah under its umbrella with start-up capital of SR 500 million, was rejected due to its low Saudization levels, according to local media.
Abdul Hadi Al-Qahtani, former president of the taxi committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), told Arab News in an earlier interview that the company would have eventually incorporated 260 taxi companies within five years. But the Transport Ministry wanted 100 percent Saudization for the project to proceed, said Al-Qahtani.
This meant that the JCCI could not contract the Australian company that established the “Taxi Dubai” project due to the difficulty of finding Saudis willing to work for taxi companies. “We opened the door for Saudis to work as taxi drivers but we only received six applications from locals. The majority of Saudis prefer to work using their own taxis,” he added.
“There are 20,000 Saudi taxi drivers in the Kingdom. However, they face obstacles because many expatriates have converted their own private cars into taxis.”
A further problem was that many Saudis from outside Jeddah have come to work in the city. Many have lost fares as “they do not know the layout of Jeddah because streets and districts in the city are not numbered and organized.”