Regency

The latet news I heard on the radio around the last week of July was that they were planning to start public bus service in Doha.
To give you an idea of the transportation situation - if in a city, 90% of the population owns 4 wheelers, for the remaining 10om the lower economic class, only means are - a. used cars b. taxi cabs c. bicycles.
No. of Taxi cabs in Doha are less compared to the number of people who wait for them in line.
Taxi cabs one has in Doha today are
a. the Orange White cabs which are the oldest taxi service
b. the Karwaa taxi
The latter is a more modern fleet of cars, [Corolla/Camry] while the former are owner driven, more battered services.
c. Private cabs - these are people who drive in their spare time to ferry people standing on the road sides. They make an extra buck in these trying times when the house rents have shot up about 200% over the last year.
Taxi is the only public transport available in the city of Doha - driven mostly by Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Afgans, Nepalis or Indians [South Indians - esp. from the state of Kerala].
The Old taxis start the meter at 2.0 Qatari Riyal
The Karwaa fleet with a more modern meter, and a GPRS system start at QR 3.0

Doha city is very small and on an average, if you travel about 3.5 km, you would end up paying 6.5 QR traveling the distance in about 7 odd minutes. [as of 17th Jul 05]

If you get into a taxi, and talk to him in Hindi/Urdu [ native toungue of india/pakistan] you can get his number and call him up for your service. This is esp. true for the Karwaa cabbie. Though taxis can't be relied upon to come when you call them - they can take anything upto 45 min to 120 min, if you know some private driver, that would be more reliable.
Once the fleet of taxis is upgraded, more commoners and tourists can depend on them and also on the upcoming bus service.
With the Doha Asian Games coming up in Sept 2006, the need for a public transport system is much awaited.
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