Sunday, April 5, 2009

Another Bright Idea!

Summer is fast approaching and people here in Dubai are now wondering how to beat the heat. I would say from the five years I have been here, people frequent the malls a lot... I think this is for them to save money while doing some of their errands - like window shopping, dinner with the family, etc.

To help out in getting to the mall, most of the people use public transportation.

Why?

There is no hassle of going round and round the parking lot and well, not a lot of people have their own means of transportation (unless of course you have friends who are also going to the same direction).

Now, this routine might change.

In a news report from Arabianbusiness.com (this is really my favorite news website), there will be an increase on the taxi's flag down rate. From AED4, it will now be AED 10! What a jump I should say!!

Imagine.... your journey starts at AED10 and every 5km (I think) another .50 fils is being added up. Cannot believe it.

True, riding in a taxi is definitely better because you don't have to go through a lot of stops and the convenience it brings (especially if you shop for groceries, etc).

There will be mixed reactions when this gets implemented.

I, for one, would think twice. I would probably ride a taxi if a) I'm in a hurry and b) if it's an emergency.

I just feel bad about this. At this time when people are really scrimping their money because of the financial crisis, we now hear news about the government wanting more from its consumers.

I wonder what's next?