Is Uber more expensive than a taxi in Dubai?

RTA, Dubai’s transport authority, keeps two separate lists of booking apps: one for regular taxis and one for luxury vehicles. Uber is on the second list only. For that list RTA states that charges are at least 30% higher than regular taxi fares. So the question is not really Uber against a taxi. It is which of the two lists your ride falls under.

The two lists side by side

Careem, Bolt and Yango are on both lists. In those apps your choice decides which list the ride falls under, and RTA’s steps for partner apps include selecting the type of vehicle. If you want the taxi meter, choose the taxi. Uber is the one large name that appears only under luxury vehicles.

What the minimum gap comes to

RTA does not publish a fare table for luxury vehicles. Fares are set according to the type of vehicle and destination, and the app shows the trip cost before you book. What RTA does fix is the floor of the gap, and you can apply it to the two taxi figures it does publish.

RTA does not state a minimum fare for luxury rides itself. The right-hand column is its own rule applied to its own numbers, and it is a floor, not a quote. On a longer trip the gap grows with the fare, because it is a percentage.

Paying is different too

A taxi takes cash, credit card, nol card, Careem Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay, QR code payment and American Express. For luxury rides RTA lists cash and credit card only. A nol card, the same card you use on the metro, pays for a taxi, but RTA does not list it for a luxury ride. The same goes for Apple Pay and Alipay.

Where this page stops

It does not give you an Uber price for a specific trip. RTA publishes only the minimum margin, and the rest is the app’s own pricing. It also does not cover what is added on top of a taxi meter — Salik gates, the Sharjah surcharge and waiting time. Those are on what gets added to a taxi fare. If you are arriving at DXB, the airport-to-city options set the taxi against the metro and the bus.

Where these figures come from

Both lists and the minimum margin come from RTA’s service pages: Transport Using Luxury Vehicles for the luxury apps, the margin and the payment methods, and Transport Using Taxi Vehicles for the taxi apps, minimum fares, the airport starting fare and payment methods. Dubai Airports’ own taxi page gives a different airport figure, which we set out on what gets added to a taxi fare. We read both RTA pages directly. If RTA adds an app to either list or changes the margin, the table above changes with it.