In the first seven months of this year, smart service systems of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have processed as much as 178,009 transactions.

Those smart systems, which operate 24/7, comprise 22 self-service kiosks, 14 smart counters, and the Call Centre (8009090).

“RTA provided outlets offering services around-the-clock such as self-service kiosks and I-Counter at seven service centres namely: Umm Ramool, Deira, Barsha, Manara, Kafaf, Head Office and Tasjeel. The aim is to maximise people’s happiness, contribute to Dubai’s Smart City initiative and RTA’s strategic goal (People Happiness), besides saving time and efforts of clients,” said Ahmed Mahboub, Executive Director of Customers Happiness, Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector, RTA.

“From January to July this year, the smart devices have processed 168,157 transactions such as drivers and vehicles licensing, and certificates among others. The Call Centre (800909) has processed 9,852 transactions such as the renewal/replacement of vehicle registration, renewal/replacement of driver license, payment of fines and recovering the PIN of Nol card, to name a few.

“Through these smart initiatives, RTA supports Dubai Paperless Transactions Strategy aimed at achieving full digital transformation of Dubai Government transactions by 2021. In this context RTA installed 22 self-service kiosks at 18 locations and 14 smart counters in happiness centres and ferries. The I-Counter is a miniature self-service machine aimed to ease the pressure on regular self-service machines. It processes the same transactions and services except for the cash payment and printouts,” explained Mahboub.

Recently, Smart Dubai revealed that its flagship data platform, Dubai Pulse, the backbone of the emirate’s smart transformation, has made a significant leap in terms of international appetite for the data it publishes, registering 1.5 million visits as of August 2019.

A closer look at the visitor activity on the platform revealed a particular interest in the RTA’s data.

 The RTA received 29 per cent of all views, reflecting the importance of this sector for visitors and residents of the emirate alike. The RTA’s data also accounted for 54 per cent of all the data downloaded from the platform.

The increased interest from users around the world came shortly after Smart Dubai Data, the Smart Dubai arm fostering the city’s data ecosystem, launched “Data First, The City’s Data Challenge” in July 2019, where various government entities competed in a race to accelerate the sharing of open and shared Government data.

Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director-General of Smart Dubai and CEO of Smart Dubai Data, said, “The spike in international interest in the Dubai Pulse platform is itself a significant accomplishment. It adds to the international attention our emirate has come to enjoy, as it has been setting one precedent after the other across multiple sectors. This has prompted other cities around the world to take advantage of this access to our published data to understand the catalysts behind Dubai’s success.”

“Data published by any city around the world would only enhance its competitiveness and attractiveness to foreign investment. This transparency also serves to shed light on Dubai’s investment climate and opportunities, boosting the emirate’s appeal for business tourism and further establishing it as a champion of innovation in analysing and utilising data,” Al Nasser explained.

Dubai Pulse now boasts of 425 datasets out of a total of 2,000 that the platform is looking to add in the near future. The data includes holistic information on all the vital sectors in Dubai, including business, the economy, education, the environment, finance, government policies, healthcare, housing, residency visas, security and justice, sports, and transportation (land and maritime).

WAM