How to Start a Transport Business in Dubai: Step-by-Step Guide

SUVs running across desert-heat kilometres.

Mercedes-Benz fleets booked for premium passenger pickups.

Harbour-to-hotel water taxi rotations are booked before the marina tide peaks.

Dubai is a city where airport arrival waves, work commutes, tourist seasons, and community movement create transport demand that repeats by design. Behind every convenient pickup is a business opportunity built on predictability, compliance, and constant passenger circulation. With over 3.5 million registered vehicles, plus a ride-hailing and smart mobility market valued at $1.5 billion in 2024, passenger mobility in Dubai has become a structural commercial layer.

If you're wondering how to start a transport business in Dubai, whether through ride-hailing airport transfers that clear pickup lists before flights land, corporate shuttle fleets booked by HR schedules, or hotel passenger routes reset by predictable mileage and occupancy calendars, this is the roadmap you need. ‍

Passengers Transport via Telephone Calls, Electronic Platforms and Smart Apps - 4922.83

This business activity covers the commercial transportation of passengers, where rides are arranged, dispatched, and recorded through telephone bookings, electronic reservation platforms, or smart applications.

Under this business activity, you can operate scheduled passenger pickups and drop-offs, app-dispatched car, van, SUV, or coach services that carry passengers, chartered passenger routes, excursions, or booked group transfers managed through digital ride logs, airport transfer services where passengers are assigned to drivers through smart platforms or call-in bookings, or B2B passenger routes (e.g., corporate employee transport, staff rotation fleets, or booked coach services) arranged via electronic platforms.

You could be running licensed taxi pickups requested and logged through smart electronic platforms, operating scheduled long-distance passenger routes booked through phone reservations, coordinating airport shuttle rotations assigned to drivers, or renting private cars with drivers for passenger transport booked through digital platforms.

Your core business model is driver-assigned rides booked and dispatched through calls, electronic platforms, or apps, operating on predictable, repeating demand cycles.

But you’re not allowed to provide ambulance transport under this business activity. ‍

Third-Party Approval:

You’ll need to get approval from the RTA (Roads and Transport Authority) before your trade license is issued.‍

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance:

‍Business activity 4922.83 is exempt from this requirement.