Gold-and-white taxis will disappear from the streets of the capital today.
For five years, TransAd, Abu Dhabi's taxi regulator, has been phasing out the older cabs in favour of the newer, silver taxis.
Now, the transition has been completed.
A top priority for the Department of Transport (DoT) is to motivate people to use public transport.
Saeed Al Hameli, general manager of the bus division at the DoT, said last year that his target was to make the bus the first choice for public transport.
A fare card will be introduced by the end of this year that can gather information about how people use bus services. Users will swipe the card as they board and leave the bus, and payment will be deducted for the exact distance travelled, enabling the DoT to track passenger numbers and journey lengths.
In November last year, fares in the city were doubled from Dh1 to Dh2, and raised on a per-kilometre basis for regional and intercity services.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
