December 4: The 24 hour taxi service will be available from next week. The Taxi Service Centre was opened yesterday.

Next week if there is an emergency and you don’t have a vehicle of your own, you need not worry. You just have to pick up the phone and dial 326970. This is the phone number for the Taxi Service Centre.

The office, located opposite the taxi parking will provide taxi service round the clock. The Taxi Tshogpa said they will soon identify telephone booths that people who need taxis can contact.

He said the office will also help retrieve things left behind by passengers in taxis. He said local taxis registered with the center will have the abbreviation TSC, Taxi Service Centre written on their door. The office will start registering taxis from today.

Pema Norbu from the Taxi Service Centre said the center will benefit residents who require taxi service especially at night and during emergencies.

Officials from Road Safety and Transport Authority said if the service is successful in Thimphu, RSTA and the Taxi Tshogpa will look at the possibility of starting similar services in other Dzongkhags.

Currently there are around 2,200 taxi operators in the Kingdom.