Careem back in business in Abu Dhabi
Uber operations in the capital remain suspended since August 27
Abu Dhabi: Careem, one of the two major online ride providers that suspended operations in the capital on August 27, is now back in business.
The Dubai-based company that allows commuters to hail rides using a smartphone online application resumed operating on Wednesday morning after being unavailable to commuters for nearly four days. However, the services of its US-headquartered counterpart, Uber, remain suspended.
“Careem is operating on a skeleton basis until we are able to regain most of our fleet,” Christian Eid, Careem’s vice-president of marketing, told Gulf News in a statement.
The provider, which refers to its drivers as “captains”, added that initially, supply of Careem cars may be limited.
“We decided to reopen our service primarily to support our captains, who rely on us to get business. Supply may be an issue at the beginning so we ask our customers to be patient with us until we gradually increase our fleet to meet demand,” Eid said.
“We are still working closely with the authorities to secure our mission to provide a reliable platform for captains as well as a transport solution for our customers,” he added.
The announcement was a relief to many expat commuters, who prefer the convenience of cashless payments and ride tracking that Careem and Uber offer.
The reason for the suspended operations is still not clear, and the Abu Dhabi taxi and limousine regulating authority, The Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars (TransAD), has not yet responded to queries.
Meanwhile, Uber said they would not resume services until they get clarification on reports that drivers of similar services had been detained by police.
As Gulf News reported on Tuesday, Uber had denied reports in a section of media on the arrest of their drivers.
Shaden Abdul Latif, communications manager at Uber Mena, said that the services “remained suspended in Abu Dhabi after reports of drivers [of online cab providers] being detained on August 27”.
“While no driver partners using the Uber platform were stopped, we will not resume services until we have further clarity on the matter, the reassurance that partners will not be at risk and riders will not be inconvenienced while taking a trip,” she added.
“All Uber drivers in Abu Dhabi are licensed transportation providers, and our priority is the safety of drivers using the Uber technology for work, as well as to be a reliable choice to riders across the city. We do not know the names of drivers arrested, or why they were arrested and have not received any information from third parties. [And] we have been in conversation with multiple stakeholders to gain clarity on the issue. But the situation still remains unclear,” Abdul Latif explained.
In the capital, drivers that provide rides via online transportation networks like Uber and Careem must be registered with TransAD.
An official source told Gulf News that these services must also charge fares similar to those of limousine companies, and cannot compete with public taxi fares.
One driver who declined to be named said he had previously offered rides while being registered with a private transport company.
“Getting a licence as a limousine company is twice as expensive, so I suppose I will have to go back to scrambling for customers,” he added.
TransAD has not yet provided an official comment, and police authorities did not respond to queries about the rumoured driver detentions.
The official source, however, added that relevant authorities had been strictly monitoring drivers with private transportation providers who solicit customers near the airport and other landmarks because many of them do not hold the required registration.
![Keep airport staff happy to avoid ‘inside threats’ Expert warning comes after incidents of insider involvement in aviation incidents An official from the EPM Systems Solutions explains a document security system.Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty / Gulf News Nicoletta M Mazzoleni, senior policy specialist in aviation security affars.Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty / Gulf News ( 1 of 2 ) ‹› Published: 21:52 August 30, 2016 Gulf News Binsal Abdul Kader, Senior Reporter Abu Dhabi: The recent terrorist attacks involving insiders in the aviation sector show salaries, long-term job prospects and motivation also play an important role in maintaining security and the industry has to keep employees happy to prevent them from turning into “internal threat”, an expert said on Tuesday. The suspected terrorist bombing of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 that killed all 224 passengers and crew in Egypt on October 31, 2015 was a major example of an insider threat, said Nicoletta M. Mazzoleni, senior policy specialist, Aviation Security Affairs Sector at UAE General Civil Aviation Authority. Mazzoleni, who was a speaker at the National Security Middle East conference in the capital, spoke to Gulf News on its sidelines on Tuesday. Media reports said Russian investigators believed that bombs were placed inside the Metrojet Flight during loading by a baggage handler who was loyal to an Egyptian offshoot of Daesh, causing one of the deadliest attack by Daesh. Regarding similar incidents in the past, a Newsweek report last year cited the arrest of four men in 2007 for conspiring to blow up the fuel tanks and pipeline at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. One of the suspects was a former cargo worker at JFK. In 2010, a British Airways staff was arrested in Newcastle, England, for plotting an aircraft bombing; he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2011. In 2013, an avionics technician was nabbed in an FBI sting operation after attempting to explode a car bomb at the Wichita, Kansas, airport. And in 2014, a baggage handler at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was busted for helping an accomplice smuggle at least 125 guns by loading them on to flights between Atlanta and New York. All of those incidents took place at airports that employ some of the most sophisticated security technology and procedures in the world, the Newsweek report said. Mazzoleni said an employee carrying an airport badge with access to controlled areas can be a big threat if he or she turns into a “bad guy”. Lack of motivation at work due to low salaries and lack of long-term prospects in the job may also act as possible causes of dissatisfaction among employees [apart from other elements like sympathy towards illegal organisations]. Countermeasures such as proper background check, ongoing vetting system, attracting and retaining skilled people will help avert an “insider threat”, she said. Mazzoleni said the UAE has a perfect system in place to take care of the employees in the aviation sector, which also strictly implements ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) regulations on safety and security. Asked whether a series of aviation incidents in recent years raises safety and security concerns about air traffic, she said the aviation sector is still safer than any other mode of transport. “If you take the large number of accidents occurring on roads [and fatalities], the incidents in the aviation sector cannot be compared at all,” Mazzoleni said. Also, as safety and security is the responsibility of all, passengers, too, have to strictly follow security instructions. The same old instructions such as never leave your baggage unattended and alert authorities about unattended baggage are more important than ever in the present circumstances, she added.](http://gulfnews.com/logger/p.gif?a=1.1888093&d=/2.3803/2.3819/2.3870/2.4032)
