Perception of Taxi Services in Oman–A Cross Examination of Citizens’ and Taxi Drivers’ Perception

Short-haul public transport, particularly the passenger cars, is the most frequently utilized mode of transport in the world. Next to the private cars, taxis are the key to ensuring mobility in Oman where the state of development of public transport has been very slow. Despite having a high ratio of taxis to the private cars, the residents of Oman complain about the taxi services and their perception of taxi services in Oman is poor. Using a structured questionnaire targeted over a sample of 120 taxi drivers, this study reveals the basic statistics about taxis in Oman, their operations, the perspectives of taxi drivers and citizens about these services, the challenges to taxi business along with a few suggestions for improving taxi services in Oman.  The study found that while taxis are the predominant mode of transportation in Oman, their operations are largely unorganized. Most of the taxi services are rendered on an individual basis. This paper also compared and contrasted the allegations of residents about the taxi drivers and taxi services with the responses obtained from the taxi drivers, which the taxi drivers had mostly denied. Lower number of passengers coupled with low income, insufficient parking and high insurance cost paid to the companies were identified as the major challenges confronting taxi drivers. Overall, the results reveal an expectation gap between drivers and the customers and recommend an urgent need for regulating the taxi services and by creating rules and regulations for the operators and customers.