Taxis in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2026: roof colours, women-only taxis and fares

Before a local driving licence is issued and before a car is bought, taxis in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are not a backup option — they are the main way to get around. Here is what the roof colours mean, which apps work in 2026, and what it actually costs.

Roof colour is the operator, not the fare

A Dubai taxi's body is always beige; the roof colour identifies the operator. A red roof is the most common — Dubai Taxi Corporation, part of the RTA, with over 5,000 cars and 12,000 drivers; brown belongs to Oneroad, around 2,000 cars; yellow and green mark National Taxi and Arabia Taxi respectively; blue, being gradually replaced by purple, belongs to Kabi. A pink roof means a women- and family-only taxi, driven by a female driver, running around the clock and used especially by families with children and by women travelling alone.

The key point for a newcomer: roof colour has no effect on the fare. Every car with an RTA yellow meter charges on the same grid — flag-fall from AED 5 and AED 2.26 per kilometre by day (6am–10pm), AED 5.5 flag-fall at the same per-kilometre rate at night (10pm–6am). You can flag a taxi on the street, book through the RTA's S'hail app, or use aggregators — Hala, Bolt, Yango and ZED — which now also dispatch the official yellow-meter taxi, not only private drivers.

Careem, Uber and the difference from private hire

Careem and Uber run alongside the RTA network as a separate category — private drivers in their own cars, with no yellow meter and dynamic pricing at peak times. The difference is most noticeable at rush hour: aggregator prices can rise 50–100%, while the RTA's regulated fare stays fixed at any time of day.

Abu Dhabi: Yango moves past its pilot

In Abu Dhabi, Yango came out of its pilot phase in 2024 and began full operation, launching with around 1,500 registered cars. Together with Careem, that gives the capital two large aggregators alongside the state taxi network — by 2026 the added competition has noticeably cut pickup times at peak hours compared with a couple of years earlier.

What it means for someone relocating

Until a licence is issued — which, by our estimate in our guide to the UAE driving licence, takes one to three months — regular taxi trips are worth budgeting as a separate line item, especially if the apartment is not near the metro. For a family with children, or a woman travelling alone, it is worth saving the pink-taxi booking option in advance — it is not always bookable directly through the standard app flow and is often a separate number or a specific option inside S'hail.

The full transport cost breakdown, including taxis, a car and Salik, is folded into our wider budget in the 2026 Dubai cost-of-living guide.