JEDDAH — The Ministry of Transport has warned cab drivers using mobile phone apps to get customers that they face fines and withdrawal of licenses. Companies offering these applications are on the rise in the Kingdom because customers can call a cab to their homes at any time without having to wait on the street for long to hail one. Saeed Al-Bassami, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (JCCI) transport committee, said any taxi drivers caught using such apps would be fined more than SR5,000 and its license withdrawn because they would be violating the rules of the Transport Ministry. Mohammed Fouz, CEO of the Easy Taxi Company in the Middle East, said his company plans to expand and cover the largest possible area in the Kingdom after the success it has achieved in Riyadh and Jeddah. The company started in Riyadh last year before moving to Jeddah and other areas. He said Easy Taxi is a free application that can be downloaded on mobile phones. He said: “A customer may hail a taxi cab any time anywhere. The application will show the customer the car model, its plate number, the driver's name and his mobile phone number.” Fouz said the company was established in Brazil in 2011 and is today working in 165 locations in 32 countries and has more than 200,000 drivers. He added that the company's app has been downloaded more than 12 million times worldwide. Companies like Easy Taxi usually deal directly with the taxi drivers, not with their employers. Sami Mahdi, an Arab cabbie, said any taxi driver who wants to work through these apps has to register his data and will be given the device and logo of the service-providing company to put on his vehicle. He said the driver would have to pay the company SR3 every time he gets a customer through its system. He explained that due to the company's rules he would have to charge by the meter. Mahdi said his employer does not make it obligatory for him to use the application or not. “My company is only asking me to pay them SR150 every day,” he said. There are five companies in the Kingdom offering apps to book taxis including Easy Taxi and Careem.
