Hailing a Taxi Inside an Airport Is Officially on Our To-Try List

We all know how frustrating it can be to run to our next gate on a short connection, and then watch people pull up on a cart without having broken a sweat getting there—well, now that opportunity exists for every passenger, at least at the Dubai International Airport, thanks to a new taxi service.

If you’re flying through Dubai International Airport and have a short connection, want to grab a bite to eat all the way at the other end of the airport, or just don’t feel like walking, you can just hail a taxi.

Officials at the airport just launched an in-terminal taxi service called taxiDXB and it’s free to all passengers inside the airport (it’s just in Concourse B for now but will soon be launched in all terminals). Aside from the paint job, it looks a lot like the buggies that help elderly, injured or differently-abled passengers through the airport. But, anyone can take this “taxi.” See it driving by and you can flag it down, or you can wait for it at one of the pickup points.

Then, just tell the taxi driver where you want to go and they’ll take you to your gate, a restaurant, or a shop. Currently, there are 15 eight-seat buggies making their way around Concourse B with more to come. That’s plenty to go around but, priority for access will be given to those with disabilities or people with young kids.

“The introduction of taxiDXB is in direct response to the needs of our customers,” Frank McCrorie, SVP operations at Dubai Airports, told Arabian Business. “The design of DXB’s concourses is very linear, which some customers told us they found hard to manage when they have to reach a gate at the opposite end but lends itself perfectly to a closed-loop buggy service. We have operated similar services in the past, but this is entirely free for our customers and has proved very popular in the test phase.”

[Featured Image: DXB]