A luxury back in Singapore, the taxi has been a necessity. There is no subway, the bus system too difficult, since we haven't been here long enough to know names of places and roads yet. (Frankly - taxis here are so cheap, with a typical trip within the city between 12 to 30 dirhams - approximately USD 3 to USD 8, that we find no incentive to learn how to take a bus.)
And pretty good value, too. Taxis are plentiful, taxi stands well supplied in buildings such as malls; drivers are super polite and understand English (for the most part), *generally* know their way around - if they don't they call their friends on their Nokias to find out, and turn on the meter automatically - no haggling.. take that Kuala Lumpur. Nor do they make a fuss when passengers need to go to a place with low likelihood of return fare - Singapore I'm looking at you. To add to the sense of structure, all drivers wear a standard uniform in the ubiquitous silver vehicles. Obviously, we are fans. What's not to like?!
It is on one of these days when the usually taciturn cabbies open up that we manage to take a glimpse of their lives here - and not all is as perfect as it looks.
We were in the Abu Dhabi Mall queue (no surprise there) when a girl cut right into us and entered the taxi we were supposed to get in. We actually didn't mind too much, for there were plenty of taxis waiting behind anyway, but to our raised eyebrows the driver stood up for us and kicked her out because she jumped the queue. Woah. This little incident made for a nice little start to a conversation with the driver...
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| Here, there and everywhere Image credit: www.emirates247.com |
Most cabbies, if not all, are foreign workers, typically from either the Indian subcontinent or East Africa. They work long shifts of 12 hours where at the end of the 5 AM to 5 PM shift, the buddy driver takes over the vehicle for the next shift. Our driver remarked that it was even worse before a recent reform, when some drivers each had a vehicle to themselves, many drive even up to 19 hours a day just to make more money, which is dangerous.
Under a commission based system, drivers must hit a threshold in net revenues each month before they start making any money, a percentage off the takings. With so many competing vehicles in the city, cabbies must hope their hours on the roads are well spent - i.e. meter turned on - and the best way to ensure that is a long journey.
"I pray that I get a passenger who wants to go to Dubai," our driver said. "Even if I drive an empty car back (note: it is illegal to pick up a passenger in Dubai), it is so worth it. My meter is on for one hour, one and half hours, and I will collect 250 to 270 dirhams. If I drive round and round in the city, there is no money in it."
As much as we are contributors to their livelihoods, we are in fact, the exact culprits of these "round and round the city" trips. After all, we have been holding out our Dubai excursion while waiting for the car keys, haven't we?
Since coming here, taking the cab all the time have made us felt very privileged and having scratched the surface a little more now we certainly feel even more so, and have a deeper appreciation of their trials as they come here to make a living, and contributing to UAE society here. I guess we have been trying to assuage our guilt by tipping them, knowing the change will go directly to them, instead of the taxi company; and! overcompensating with excessive thank yous when they sometimes aren't even warranted. With a car now in place, our opportunities to take a taxi are fast evaporating (not me, still need a license ho ho ho), and we are sure glad that we had a little taste of this facet of UAE when we had the chance to do so.
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