Monday 10 / March / 2025
Muscat: Taxi passengers in Oman will soon be able to access free wireless internet, pay fares by credit card or smart phone and read books as they travel, say officials.
These are some of the plans announced by Ingenuity Technologies LLC, after it was awarded a taxi licence by the Ministry of Transport —a first for the city.
“People will be able to connect their smart phones, tablets or laptops and surf the internet as soon as they enter a luxurious taxi as a part of our plan,” said Amira Al Sheidi, acting project manager of the company.
Ingenuity Technologies LLC has obtained a licence to regulate taxis at the Sultan Qaboos Port and at three, four and five-star hotels, as well as provide on-call taxi services in the governorate of Muscat.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, Ahmed Ali Al Bulushi, chief executive officer of Mwasalat, said his company will take first class care of people using airport taxis.
“We will run around 120 to 150 taxis at the airport,” he said, adding that the fares have not been decided yet.
Al Sheidi also said that in a bid to drive up efficiency and customer satisfaction, their company will also be rolling out credit and debit card payments for its fleet of 600 taxis when they are launched.
“Customers will not have go to ATM centres to withdraw their money to pay for taxi journeys,” she said, adding that the taxis will install meters to calculate the fare and that all taxis will get operating cards issued by the ministry, which must be kept in the car at all times.
Though the fares have not been finalised, she said the initial proposal is that they will begin from OMR4 for a 10km journey. “After that they will slowly increase,” she noted.
She added that her company is currently planning the external look of the taxis. “We are still working on the design, which will be different from the orange and white taxis. Then we will train the drivers,” Al Sheidi said.
The new taxis are targeted at the tourism sector and to cater to the demands of the tourists visiting the country. “The concept of the service is to provide easy, secure and premium taxi services to tourists visiting Oman and help promote tourism development in the country,” she explained.
Al Sheidi also said taxi drivers, who are registered with airports, ports and hotels, have been roped in for the project. “We will now train them for this purpose,” she added
Taxi operators who have been hired for the project are, however, divided.
While some are happy, some said it is too early to comment. “This will help us to regulate the business,” said Khalil Al Siyabi, who has been driving taxis in the port area for the last 17 years, adding that almost 70 per cent of the taxi owners in the Sultan Qaboos port are ready.
Tourists visiting Oman are, however happy. “Right now, we have to pay whatever they demand so taxi meters are welcomed, but the fares have to be competitive with other parts of the world,” said Shazia, who is in Oman on a visitor visa.
To get in touch: [email protected] / [email protected]
