RIYADH — The limousine sector in the Kingdom is witnessing a qualitative paradigm shift encompassing external appearance and internal services with a single identity, thanks to the initiatives being made by the Public Transport Authority (PTA) in cooperation with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH). The external appearance will be featured by a specific degree of green color and internal services will be advanced with modern interior furnishings along with several features, such as electronic fare payment, and linking to modern tracking technologies with mapping software. The public taxi system, in its new attire, will emerge in the first phase at all domestic and international airports throughout the Kingdom and it will expand in gradual phases to cover all limousines across the Kingdom. The PTA has started implementing training program for limousine drivers covering major airports in all regions of the Kingdom simultaneously. The program consists of specialized training courses focused on developing the skills of drivers to serve tourists and visitors, as well as raising their level of professional competence in dealing with customers, and enriching the experience of visitors to the Kingdom in general. Eng. Fawaz Al-Sahli, vice president of PTA for Land Transport Sector, said that there has been a tremendous response for the training program from the limousine companies. "More than 10,000 taxi drivers have so far benefited from it and the authority has made the courses available in three languages of Arabic, English and Urdu so as to enable the largest segment of drivers take advantage of the program." For his part, Eng. Majed Al-Zahrani, director general of Small Vehicle Transport at PTA, said that the training course focuses on the provision of customer service in the best possible manner, apart from highlighting the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the vehicle and its operational efficiency. "This aims at providing with a distinct experience for the tourists and visitors and leaving an impression of top quality of service, catering to their satisfaction. This course comes as the nucleus within a comprehensive training program that covers bus drivers, employees of car rental offices, in addition to a professional accreditation program for drivers," he said, adding that these courses are being conducted in partnership with SCTH, and the airports across the Kingdom.
