Working in private taxis is illegal, according to the Saudi Transport General Authority.

Operating a private taxi in Saudi Arabia is against the law and its related regulations, according to the Transport General Authority (TGA). The TGA claimed to have monitored the increase in cabs with new identities and private number plates.

According to the authority, it was also necessary to prohibit the operation of vehicles with expired operating cards and to change the type of registration for vehicles in accordance with the law. According to the traffic law and its rules, the operating card is only cancelled at the request of the licensee and only after any applicable fines have been paid.

The TGA stated unequivocally that the situations will result in the cancellation of the operating card issued for the authorized car, the death of the authorized person, or on the authorized person’s request following payment of the financial fines and financial consideration, or the cancellation of the approval issued by the competent authority in airport management. It is not permitted to drive the car with a cancelled card in any of these situations.

According to the authority, the decision to change the mechanism for enforcing the regulation stipulated that businesses and individuals engaged in the taxi business must change the color of the vehicle, remove the identity and technical equipment when requesting to cancel the card, or cancel it in accordance with the regulation, and change the color of the vehicle before changing its registration type of transfer, public to private transfer, and then the General Traffic Department.

It is worth noting that the new branding for airport taxis and public fares was introduced in early 2022 by Eng. Saleh Al-Jasser, Minister of Transportation and Chairman of the Public Transport Authority’s Board of Directors. The taxis are identified by different shades of green, and the program began at airports before expanding to all taxis.