Questions/Answers

As part of RTA’s efforts towards fulfilling the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into the world's smartest and happiest city, “NOL” Digital Card initiative was launched in 2009 to enhance customer “convenience”; by enabling all Dubai residents and visitors to access various RTA transport modes with a single payment option. “NOL” is the first of its Kind initiative in the Region by RTA and comes aligned with the UAE 2021 vision and Dubai Smart City, NOL aims to be the world leading digital ticketing, payment and access platform. With a capability of handling more than 2.4 Million Transactions daily, Today NOL customers can use “NOL” Card to travel on Dubai's vast Rail, Buses, Water Buses, Taxi network, Parking, Shopping and tickets to various Museums/Parks and can be topped up via ticket offices, vending machines, online and mobile applications. UAE is the first country to implement NOL Express service that was adapted later by other countries, the NOL Express service was able to cut down the completion time of a new personal NOL card from 2 weeks to 5 minutes.

“NOL” initiative falls under “Promoting digital transformation in public sector institutions” category. “NOL” is considered as an innovative digital payment method for all modes of public transportation, that uses the most advanced technologies in this field including RFID and NFC Technologies. “NOL” has diversified its services by cooperating with other government entities such as Dubai Municipality. “NOL” targets all modes of public transportation users with special benefits for children, students, elderly people, women, and people with determination. It is a customer driven service where Customer Surveys and focus groups have helped identify potential improvements to NOL service effectiveness and productivity.

In further efforts to enrich the public service, RTA has looked to customers, global trends and the government’s strategy to improve the NOL card, by enabling access to various RTA transport modes with a single payment option. The NOL initiative is directly contributing in the Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, as it is working towards providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport system for all residents, “NOL” targets all modes of public transportation users with special benefits for children, students, elderly people, women, and people of determination (special needs).

NOL is RTA’s unified smart payment card used to pay for various modes of transportation. “NOL” card was launched to help everyone, whether visiting or living in Dubai, to access various RTA transport modes in Dubai with a single tap such as public transport (Bus, Metro, tram, Waterbus) as well as Taxi, RTA paid Parking, Dubai Public Parks, Etihad Museum, and 2000+ shops around the city. NOL can be purchased at ticket offices, ticket vending machines, RTA customer happiness centers, authorized sales agents, or online. People of determination (special needs) travel free-of-charge on Dubai Buses and Metro and get free NOL card. UAE senior citizens (+60 years old) and students from all nationalities get 50% off with NOL Blue Card. Children below 5 years or 90cm travel for free and no NOL card is required. NOL e-Services help manage NOL card online and has addressed significant problems faced by users specially related to top-up, reporting lost cards and refunds & complaints. NOL Card contains a tamper-proof chip and an antenna that ensure secure, fast and reliable transactions. The card is carefully designed to prevent fraudulent use and ensure the fares are calculated correctly every time.

NOL initiative business model is characterized by its uniqueness and innovative Design, giving the ability of expanding NOL use beyond transportation: • Personalization: A personalized card service with an e-purse additional security and customization options. • NOL micropayment: Payment service covering retail outlets across Dubai developed in partnership with private sector. • NOL Gates: An innovative public partnership solution for payment and access to parks, museums. A series of innovative features being developed to keep pace with the world of ticketing and payment: digital biometric, validation-less travel and open payments to streamline operations which is part of NOL’s digital strategy. b. Please describe if the innovation is original or if it is an adaptation from other contexts (100 words maximum) “NOL” is the Gulf region's first stored value travel card and its name is derived from a traditional Arabic word meaning ‘tariff’. The initial concept studies and Global benchmarks have been conducted with Hong Kong to cater for best technology trends and learn from innovative business and commercial models but NOL remains unique in its card-based system design and business model to respond to the country orientations and regulations and special customer needs.

NOL use has been extended beyond transportation modes to be accepted by five thousand of retail outlets across Dubai. Key benefits include: people happiness, Cashless Economy, Economic Development, Ease of implementation, High Impact and targeting to cover more than 60% of Dubai retail outlets. In addition, NOL is used to visit Dubai’s parks and museums easily and conveniently, jointly developed with Dubai municipality and Etihad Museum to reduce processing time and increase productivity resulting in reducing waiting time by 87.5% and increasing productivity from 1.5 to 12 transactions per minute. Key features include: smart gates, gateless museum and seamless payment

No

Human Resources: ACS Department was assigned to carry out the project’s pre-planning phase and implement the initiative as per the RTA’s Project Management Methodology, leveraging off internal RTA expertise to prepare the necessary project plan. The initiative was divided into multiple projects, the team was responsible for the Implementation and testing process and to Prepare all financial studies to make sure the feasibility of the implementation. Technical Resources: Using existing systems and equipment’s in the implementation. Leveraging off the existing infrastructure of NOL system while enhancing NOL services and expanding the technology for other government services.

Social sustainability: NOL is considered to improve the Quality of life by improving the well-being of public transport users and providing access to an easier life, which improves satisfaction. Economic sustainability: NOL initiative is technically sustainable and cost efficient. RTA achieved optimum resource utilization by having a balance of RTA service owners who understand the business along with vendors to provide technical expertise. Expansion into non-transit services has proven to be a win-win scenario for customers, partners and RTA. New features promise a sustainable and positive growth trajectory. Since launch, there has been a substantial expansion in NOL-shopping’s retail network and usage, resulting in a sustainable and steady revenue and transaction pace for growth Environmental sustainability: NOL with all its smart services, online options, NFC characteristics and the new digital plan initiatives falls under the umbrella of the environmental sustainability minimizing the pollution creation, and the use of non-renewable resources.

Yes

• Evaluated by internal audit department within the authority (covering financial gaps, policies and technologies) • Evaluated by Hamdan bin Mohammed award for smart government by assessing multiple initiatives under NOL project and by assessing how the improvement is meeting customer needs

• Description of situation before the implementation of the initiative and main challenges faced by the service, and how the initiative contributed in improving service performance • How customers have been involved in the process of designing and assessing the improved service, and specify the contribution of any other partners • Specify various resources that have been utilized for the implementation • Specify the key learned lessons and the efforts made by the government entity to ensure sustainability of the improvement results for the service • Specify the efficiency and effectiveness expected results through the launch of new public service.

Identifying the gaps of the service, where the organization need to fill as per the customers and community required.

• Working with its customers and partners, RTA has an aggressive plan to make NOL the preferred payment mode in Dubai and achieve Dubai’s Smart Vision. By using technology to simplify payments, reducing cash-handling, limiting queuing-time and eliminating paper-waste, • NOL, in coordination with “Mercury” is directly supporting Dubai’s vision to be a cashless city by 2030. • Main stakeholders are NOL users. Multiple channels have been used to identify customer needs and challenges including: CUSTOMER FEEDBACK SURVEY, CUSTOMER FOCUS GROUP, RTA INNOVATION HUB, RTA CRM DATA, mystery shopper • Cooperation with the public sector to diversify the use of NOL card: Dubai municipality, Etihad Museum, • Private sector: Octopus, conduent, UL, mercury. • PTOs (public transportation operators) providing transportation service and Dubai taxi organizations, • The banking sector (ENBD, EIB) is helping in offering our service through new channels. • Customer inputs from PTOs about NOL services to identify how we can enhance our services to meet customer needs.

• Leadership and Marketing Lessons Keep updating higher management on regular basis and involve them for critical decisions. • Technical lessons Public transport operators should get a deployment plan from their vendors keeping Go Live date and system limitations in minds. • Strategic and planning lessons All enhancement should be based on customers’ needs at first place, also signing 2 SLA’s with internal and external service providers, using the current resources is highly recommended in such implementations. • Capitalizing lessons learned for future improvements Increase top up channels by signing agreements with smart kiosks companies available in the market.