Dubai: Taxis to send kids to school; why some parents are ditching the bus for cab

Dubai: Taxis to send kids to school; why some parents are ditching the bus for cab

Published: Wed 13 Dec 2023, 6:00 AM

Iraqi expat in Dubai Arash Hazaq used to pay Dh800 per month for his son’s home-to-school commute. The expat’s 15-year-old spent more than one-and-a-half hours on the school bus for the 7km journey.

Fed up of the “exorbitant” rate and the long commute, Hazaq has now opted for a dedicated taxi service called School Rides that’s run by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Careem.

"I have been very happy with the service. Since we live in Satwa and my son's school is in Al Quoz, I feel it's a better idea to use the School Rides service. My son not only saves around one- and-a-half hours of travel time during each trip, but it is also cost-effective,” the expat told Khaleej Times.

Arash Hazaq's son Parham.

Packages for 40 rides start at Dh500 and have a 90-day validity. The cost goes up according to the distance. Hazaq’s package cost him Dh1,300, “which I can use for pickups or drops”.

But the service is not just for school students. Briton Umar Osman moved to Dubai from the UK in August to study at Middlesex University.

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