Abu Dhabi Police announce hefty fines for carpooling

This past week, Abu Dhabi Police took to social media to announce motorists caught carpooling will incur hefty fines in an effort to prevent drivers from carrying out the traffic offence.

If drivers are caught carpooling in Abu Dhabi by the Abu Dhabi Police, they will be given a fine of AED 3,000, 24 black points and have their vehicle impounded for 30 days as per article 76.

Brigadier Ibrahim Sultan Al Zaabi, director of the transport security department, spoke out about the fines saying the main reason to ban carpooling is to protect the general public from becoming a victim.

“There are a number of reasons with using an unlicensed taxi, which include sexual harassment, theft, fraud, quarrels and the driver may also be in violation of residency laws,” explained Brigadier Ibrahim Al Zaabi.

According to Abu Dhabi Police, in the first six months of the year (2018), over 2,000 motorists were caught and fined for illegally ferrying passengers in their private vehicles in the capital of the UAE.

Is it safe to carpool in Dubai?

In December 2017, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai shut down the Sharkeni service. Sharkeni was the RTA’s official carpooling platform which allowed motorists and commuters to communicate with one another to travel together.

As of December 20th, no new permits were issued, and the RTA said that all permits issued before the 20th of December 2017 will be valid until the expiry date but can’t be renewed.

No reason was given as to why the service was shut down, but the RTA urged commuters to use public transport and other alternatives the RTA provides.

Although it remains unclear if carpooling is still legal within Dubai, anyone caught running an illegal transport service within the Emirate will be issued a fine ranging from AED 5,000 to AED 50,000.

Photo credit: Abu Dhabi Police.