RTA launches five-star rating for Dubai’s five taxi companies, shown on in-cab screens

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched a five-star rating system for the emirate’s taxi companies on Sunday, with each company’s score to be shown on taxi smart screens and at its headquarters entrance.

The authority said the system covers all five companies in the sector: Dubai Taxi Company, Kabi Taxi, National Taxi, Arabia Taxi and Metro Taxi.

For passengers, the visible change is the rating itself. Scores will appear on the smart screens inside taxis, and a rating board will be placed at the entrance to each company’s headquarters.

The assessment rests on four pillars made up of 18 indicators. RTA said it will update the assessment mechanism periodically.

• Sustainability: the number of electric and hydrogen vehicles in each company, the ratio of drivers to vehicles, the share of productive kilometres in total kilometres travelled, and the average trip rating.
• Technology: e-hail trips as a share of total trips in the sector, the share of trips paid for electronically, whether the company has a driver management system, and how far the driver working-hours policy is implemented.
• Accountability: serious traffic accidents, quality violations, complaints about reckless driving, customer satisfaction measured by end-of-trip ratings on e-hail bookings, and driver satisfaction with e-hail.
• Reliability: vehicle availability during peak hours, the number of vehicles activated on the e-hail system at peak times, drivers’ acceptance rate of e-hail requests, and observations on cleanliness.

RTA described the framework as measuring service quality, customer satisfaction, traffic safety, operational efficiency, digital transformation and environmental sustainability.

Rating levels are tied to incentives. A company awarded five stars receives seven taxi plates, a certificate and a trophy from RTA. A four-star company receives five taxi plates.

Companies rated three stars or fewer will face measures aimed at improving performance and raising service levels. RTA did not set out what those measures are.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said the authority wanted the rating to drive development, “not merely to measure performance”, according to the Dubai Media Office. He described the system as a tool for governing taxi service quality.

No date has been given for when the first company ratings will be displayed.

The taxi fleet exceeded 14,346 vehicles in 2025, of which 12,380 were electric or hybrid. Taxis completed more than 120 million trips and carried over 209 million passengers.

That made taxis 27 per cent of all users of public transport, shared mobility and taxis in Dubai in 2025.

The fleet indicators in the rating sit alongside RTA’s stated targets: a full transition to zero-emission public transport by 2050, and a taxi and limousine fleet that is entirely electric and hydrogen by 2040.

The hybrid share of the fleet has passed 72 per cent. Electric vehicles account for 19 per cent, which RTA said is above the target set for 2026.

RTA is also expanding testing and launches of electric autonomous vehicles with international companies, and building fast-charging infrastructure in public parking areas and at key transport facilities.