Anyone who wants to drive a taxi in Kuwait has two different doors on the General Traffic Department site, not one: a taxi permit, and an on-demand taxi permit. The conditions differ, and the fees differ more.
The first: taxi
Three conditions: being a Kuwaiti national, working at it full time, and passing a test on the country’s geography and road network run by the department.
The documents: a certificate from social insurance, a general driving licence, a passport or civil ID with copies, a medical examination, a criminal record certificate, and a record of previous convictions.
The fees: KD 10 for the driving permit, 10 to renew it, 5 to renew the vehicle’s operating licence. A damaged one is replaced for ten, and a lost one for twenty-five — the single most expensive item on the whole page.
The second: on-demand taxi
This one is not issued to an individual in their own right, but to drivers working for an office or establishment carrying out that activity, and it expires the day the holder leaves that office.
Its conditions: a general driving licence, conversational command of both Arabic and English, annual renewal, and the same geography and road-network test.
The documents all revolve around the company: a signature authorisation from it, a letter from it, and the applicant’s residency held under that same company. Alongside those, the passport or civil ID, the medical examination, the criminal record certificate and the convictions record.
The fees: KD 10 for the vehicle licence, 30 for the driving permit, 15 to renew the permit, 15 to renew the licence.
What actually separates them
Nationality. The first door is closed to anyone but Kuwaitis. The second is open to residents, on condition that their residency is held under the office.
Fees. The driving permit on the second track is three times the first: thirty against ten. Renewal is fifteen against ten.
Stability. The taxi permit belongs to its holder. The on-demand permit hangs on the job: leaving the work cancels it.
What the two share. A general driving licence, a medical examination, a criminal record certificate, a convictions record, and a test on the country’s geography and road network. That last one is usually what catches applicants out.
Photo: car keys. By Schumi4ever, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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