Gulf News
 
Dubai, Dec 1: Taxis were in short supply on Thursday morning as hundreds of taxi drivers were off the roads because of a police lecture. The lecture was on etiquette and how to deal politely with passengers, taxi drivers said.

"We were off the roads for an hour," said one cab driver.

Meanwhile commuters were left waiting in the streets. The other reason for the long waiting time was because three major cultural and sporting events were also running concurrently.

The events included the popular Rugby Sevens, the celebrations of the Dubai International Financial Centre, and the Ideal Home Exhibition at the Airport Expo.

"People in Dubai do not coordinate sports and social events, and the result is that we cannot find taxis on the road. We need a unified calendar to avoid this sort of chaos from happening again. I went to a nearby hotel and they offered me a limousine as an alternative. It cost me an extra five dirhams. I was getting late for work, and I had no other option but to take it," said one commuter, Altaf, who took a limousine to work.

"It usually takes me 15 minutes to find a taxi, but today it seemed as if it was taking forever. It was very odd that there were none available," said Sheila, who wanted to take a taxi from Bur Dubai at 11am.

She was later told by the taxi driver who drove her that Dubai Police had taken the majority of taxi drivers for a development training programme.

A National Taxi representative said that he sent 90 drivers to the seminar, but that the taxi shortage was also due to the events happening in November and December, and the different exhibitions in the World Trade Centre.

"I sent 90 taxi drivers to the awareness campaign, and 200 to Dubai Exiles for the rugby competition in Al Aweer," he said.

Another leading taxi company sent 100 drivers to the lecture, 300 to the Expo, and estimated that 100 taxis were sent to Al Aweer.

"Of course it will take time additional time to go to Al Aweer and return to the city during the rush hour," he said.