Darb - Transportation Portal

I'm not sure exactly how new the DOT's Darb website and app are, but this is an outstanding and useful tool. I wish that this had been available last year when I was still having to take buses and taxis everywhere.

Take the trip planner. Say that I want to go from Mezyad Mall to Zayed Sports City. I just drop icons at the mall and the bowling alley and voila:

You can also book a taxi by either dropping a pin on the map or typing an address:

There is a mobile app for Android and iOS that is just as handy.

Right now it is available in English and Arabic.

Kudos all around for this.

Dubai Government eComplaint

It's always great to see procedures that are otherwise torturous done electronically. I had the misfortune of dealing with Dubai Courts recently. I felt unhappy about the way things have gone (I got the verdict I wanted, but that's not it).. so I thought, hey, let's file an eComplaint, eh?

Little problem. Apparently the entire eGovernment initiative is only designed for IE (Internet Explorer). For those uninitiated, this means that anyone not using Microsoft's browser (and operating system) is locked out of utilizing the eGovernment services.

It is a shame that such an initiative lacks the common sense of being standards compliant and not discriminating against users because of their choice of system. There is absolutely no excuse for such an oversight (or lack of initiative). If Dubai is serious about eGovernment, they should reconsider their technology partners.