Starting on June 2, all 27 technical testing centres across Dubai will require bookings for vehicle inspections through the RTA Dubai smart app or website (www.rta.ae), as announced by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Tuesday. This measure aims to ease congestion at inspection centres.

Only the Tasjeel Hatta centre is exempt from the requirement to book an appointment. Walk-in service will still be available for customers who prefer to visit without a prior appointment; however, an additional service fee of Dh100 will apply.

The online booking system was first launched in October last year, exclusively at Tasjeel centres in Al Qusais and Al Barsha. “The initiative proved effective in saving customers' time and effort,” noted RTA, adding: “The result of the six-month pilot phase revealed a notable reduction in average customer waiting times for vehicle inspection services at the Al Qusais and Al Barsha centres, by approximately 46 per cent. There was also a 15 per cent decrease in the occupancy rate of physical inspection transactions relative to total available capacity.

RTA said that booking an appointment will help reduce waiting times by around 40 per cent. It will also improve occupancy rates, particularly at centres where utilisation had previously exceeded 80 per cent,” noted Qais Al Farsi, Director of Vehicle Licensing at RTA’s Licensing Agency.

He explained, “The appointment booking system has been made mandatory for all customer and vehicle categories at technical testing centres, except for vehicles registered in Dubai and owned by People of Determination and seniors, both citizens and residents.

These individuals are exempt from the booking requirement for vehicle inspection services, in line with RTA’s commitment to ensuring accessible and inclusive service delivery for these two key customer segments.”