dubai road and transport authority

Dubai Road and Transport Authority: What It Actually Does

If you're driving, parking, renting, or just trying to renew a Salik tag in Dubai, you'll deal with the Dubai Road and Transport Authority sooner or later. Most people lump it in with the police. It's not the same thing.

Quick answer

The Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is the government body responsible for roads, public transport, vehicle licensing, driver testing, taxis, Salik tolls, Nol cards, and the Dubai Metro. It was established by Law No. 17 of 2005 and sits under the Government of Dubai, not Dubai Police. Traffic fines and accident reports go through Dubai Police. Vehicle registration, driving licences, plate transfers, and Salik accounts go through the RTA. Two different agencies. Two different apps. Two different sets of fees.

What the RTA handles (and what it doesn't)

The Dubai Road and Transport Authority covers the infrastructure side of moving around Dubai. That means licensing drivers, registering vehicles, running the Metro and Tram, managing public buses, regulating taxis and limousines (including Careem and Uber permits), operating Salik gantries, issuing Nol cards, and approving parking zones.^[1]

What it doesn't do: issue traffic fines, investigate accidents, arrest reckless drivers, or impound vehicles for criminal offences. That's Dubai Police under Federal Law No. 21 of 1995 on Traffic and its 2017 executive regulations.^[2]

The split matters in practice. If your licence is suspended after an accident, the RTA won't lift it until the police clear the file. Honestly, this trips up half the clients I see — they keep calling the wrong number.

Vehicle registration and driving licences

Renewing your car registration is an RTA function. You can do it through the RTA Dubai Drive app, the website, or any of the testing centres (Tasjeel, Shamil, Wasel, Quick Registration on Sheikh Zayed Road, and a few others). Standard private car renewal is AED 420 plus knowledge and innovation fees of AED 20, plus a AED 100 inspection fee — call it roughly AED 540 if you've got no outstanding fines.^[3]

Driving licences are also issued and renewed by the RTA. A 10-year renewal for a UAE resident costs AED 300 plus the standard AED 20 knowledge and innovation charges. You'll need a recent eye test from any approved optician — Grand Optics, Al Jaber, Yateem, anywhere certified.

One thing worth knowing: outstanding Dubai Police fines block both registration renewal and licence renewal. The RTA system pulls fine data live. No workaround.

Salik, Nol, and the public transport side

Salik is the RTA's electronic toll system. Eight gantries currently operate across Dubai, with two more (Business Bay Crossing and Al Safa South) added in November 2024.^[4] Each crossing costs AED 4, capped at AED 24 per day per vehicle. Accounts are managed entirely through the Salik app or salik.gov.ae — not through the police.

Nol cards run the Metro, Tram, buses, and water transport. A Silver Nol card costs AED 25 (AED 19 of which is preloaded credit). The RTA also operates the Dubai Taxi Corporation and licenses the private taxi franchises (Arabia, Cars, Metro, National, City).

If you've got a Salik dispute or a Nol refund issue, the RTA call centre is 8009090. Don't expect Dubai Police to help with either.

When you need to deal with both

Some situations need both agencies. After a road accident, Dubai Police issues the green or pink report. You then take that report to the RTA-approved garage or testing centre to fix the car and re-register it if needed. Selling a car involves a police clearance for fines, then an RTA ownership transfer at a centre like Tasjeel (Al Qusais) or Shamil (Al Barsha). The transfer fee is AED 350 for a private vehicle, plus plate fees if you're keeping a fancy number.^[3]

For disputes over fines themselves — say you think a speed camera misfired — that's a Dubai Police grievance, not RTA. File it within 30 days through the Dubai Police app or at any police station.

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Citations

^[1] Dubai Road and Transport Authority, "About RTA," rta.ae/wps/portal/rta/ae/home/about-rta ^[2] Federal Law No. 21 of 1995 on Traffic, and Cabinet Resolution No. 178 of 2017 on the Executive Regulations. ^[3] RTA Services Catalogue, "Vehicle Registration Renewal" and "Ownership Transfer," rta.ae (accessed 2024). ^[4] Salik Company PJSC, "New Toll Gates Announcement," salik.ae, November 2024.

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