Salik: anything but connected.
In Arabic, Salik is a cute word that means connected. However, the recent introduction by Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) of its controversial new road toll has been anything but connected.
However, the recent introduction by Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) of its controversial new road toll has been anything but connected. In Dubai, the most internet-connected city in the Middle East, the RTA has chosen to receive the applications of its 600,000 motorists through the time-honored Arabic bureaucratic method of duplicate paper forms and photocopies instead of using that most connected of mediums: the internet.Here’s how it works: in order to obtain a Salik tag, a Dubai motorist has to visit a gas station armed with AED 100 in cash and a photocopy of both sides of their “mulkiyeh” (registration card). They then need to fill in a form, a carbon copy of which is then retained by the gas station attendant for processing by RTA.
Now, this is where the fun begins. As of July 1, the first day of the toll’s implementation, only 160,000 of Dubai’s more than 640,000 motorists had successfully applied for their Salik tags. Braving the snarling traffic jams that then engulfed the city, RTA’s brave men and women then managed to distribute another 400,000 Salik tags to Dubai’s beleagured (and lazy) motorists who had not yet registered for their tags.
And now, in order to put everything into place, the RTA now has to manually enter at least 560,000 application forms into their database in order to get the system properly up and running.
Fuck me, that’s a whole lot of paperwork, and whole lot of needless effort.
Here’s a nifty suggestion for next time. Instead of swamping their army of data-entry operators with more than half a million applications, why not get the people of Dubai to do their work for them?
What they should have done is made it mandatory for everyone to apply online. Apart from being a bold nod to Sheikh Mohammad’s vision of Dubai’s 21st centry status, it would have also spared the RTA the now mountainous task of dealing with hundreds of thousands of bits of paper.
It would have worked: the UAE is the most connected country in the Middle East, with an Internet penetration of over 50%. In Dubai, the figure is probably closer to 65% (note: unofficial YTT estimate). Users could have then entered all their information online, received a unique identifier code, which they could then have taken to the gas stations in order to receive their tag. The attendants could then activate their applications by either connecting to an extranet or by calling a toll-free number with Interactive Voice Response (like the one your banks have).
For the few people who were not able to successfully hunt down an internet-connected computer, the RTA could have either charged them an extra AED 100 for the inconvenience of the paperwork, or created Internet kiosks for them to apply through.
Easy, huh?
comments
Mazen Abou Hatab
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:32 pmYou hit the nail right on the head YTT.
ALthough 500,000 of the 650,000 did not buy the tags / register on time, it is still a shame a to see all the Salik campaigns speaking about how advanced the system is, with radio sensors that charge you automatically when you pass accross without the need to stop and pay the toll-man, however they failed to spare the data entry man all the trouble, and themselves all the logistic and administrative work.
Cheers for the toll man
Alexander
July 4th, 2007 at 11:01 amThe RTA, incidentally, defines ‘Salik’ as meaning ‘clear’…
As I said a while ago, the earliest conceivable time they could have entered
the forms (using 50 operators) for 200,000 applications was 12 July. Now it’ll take longer.
It has all been tremendous fun and definitely the talking point of the summer.
:)
Dinesh
July 4th, 2007 at 2:41 pmNot to mention it would have been environmentally friendly as well if they avoided printing so many forms
Abu Zeid
July 8th, 2007 at 5:39 pmHey Youseeef,
Salik means “passable” or “clear” as in “Salik Bi7athar”, which undermines the premis of your arguement!
I think they should use the US toll system of tossing coins into a booth. Its a lot more fun, plus you get to use all those annoying coins laying about the house. Going through the toll booth can be an exciting activity for the whole family. you could even introduce a small cylinder in the middle of the coin catcher thingy where if you get the coin in, you can win instant cash prizes or an all expense paid trip to somewhere exotic, or better yet, a month of salik-free driving.
osama
September 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm1st salik mean passable..
2nd rta know nothin but eatin money..
3rd.. its NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY and i witness so many huuuuge major traffic on other places.. so whts the use ? only to make it a bit not jammed ? its jammed everywhere.. so f c u k LIERS.
Iyad Tibi
September 16th, 2007 at 12:07 amI finally KNOW that my salik account got activated without even receiving the SMS notification or any type of notification and guess how?!
by calling 800SALIK and telling them that my account is not yet activated AGAIN! although on my previous try outs, they told me that you can pass salik safely without getting charged until you get the SMS with your account information!
Well they lied! and i was being charged for the passes all that time after my account got activated without any notification.
So be careful and double check for your account status if you still didn’t receive their SMS!
Stuart
October 5th, 2007 at 5:52 pmBeing one of the meanies who hasn’t yet felt the inclination of buying a salik tag, the wonderous floating bridge is a great idea. Working just off Gharhoud Bridge it takes more time now getting over in the morning as the RTA had the bright idea of narrowing the road to get to that side of town, the only people it has benefitted are those Sharjah commuters going home in the evening, and penalising those who live in Dubai. Its actually amazing to see how many cars that do have a Salik tag still avoid using the toll gates.
Andi Salik
January 6th, 2008 at 11:53 pmI was just checking this out because the system and I just happened to share a name. However, it sounds like a whole lot of headaches are to be going around. Very interesting that this day and age they would have even considered doing this the old fashioned paper way.