*** ----> Ministry planning to update meters of all taxis in Bahrain | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Ministry planning to update meters of all taxis in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Taximeters in Bahrain are to get smarter soon. The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications is planning to update meters on all taxi vehicles plying on the roads of Bahrain with a new system that enables tracking.

The new system will allow tracking the movement of taxis in the Kingdom through GPRS or GPS. For this, the ministry is also developing a Central Taxi Tracking and Monitoring System (CTTMS), into which the authority will integrate the tracking system.

The ministry has also launched a tender for developing CTTMS and upgrading the meters. The upgrade will cover all of the taxi vehicles currently on the roads of the Kingdom. The tender launched also collected six bids ranging between BHD 295,361.850 and BHD 2,163,000.000.

Mantech Commercial Service, Trapeze Middle East Telecommunications Equipment trading, Dumaas, Middle East plastic Cards system centre, Transworld Information Technology and National Security Systems are the bidders.

The development of the CTTMS will be the responsibility of the selected bidder. The CTTMS system thus developed, and taxi meters will have a one-year maintenance contract.

According to the tender board, Transworld Information Technology is the lowest bidder. However, the lowest bidder may not receive the contract, as price shall become the principal criterion only after clearing technical and other criteria. The use of meters is mandatory in Bahrain. All taxis are required to have a meter and specific rates.