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» Features
| Hey, taxi! The first person to greet me in the UAE was a taxi driver.
After all the stress of leaving SA and being cramped on a plane for eight hours, stretching out in the e-class Mercedes station-wagon with a freezing blast of air-con on my face was heaven. I am afraid though, that the continuous blast of cold air-conditioning is the only common ground between the Al Gazhal taxis and the everyday white and gold Abu Dhabi city taxis. I frequent the latter at least once a week and have formed quite an opinion. Firstly, coming from South Africa where there is barely any public transport system at all, these taxis that appear from nowhere all the time, are very convenient. You just stand next to the road and within minutes they will come along, hooting to get your attention. Secondly, they are reasonably priced and most city trips will cost you less than Dhs5 (The currency in the UAE is the Dirham. Dhs1 equals approximately R2). Thirdly, I have never ridden in a dirty taxi - they are usually tidy and neat. That's not to say they all smell very good and at the height of summer you may find yourself gently gagging into your sleeve. Taxi fashion
And the drivers themselves are just as diverse... You get the 'stony-silent' types that will barely acknowledge your presence. This type may even feel that you are so invisible, that they are quite comfortable to fumble around and pick their noses or open the door at a robot to spit. There are the 'compulsive-hooters', who drive with their thumb on the hooter and nudge it throughout the journey. They hoot at pedestrians, cyclists and at the cars in front, next to and behind them. Another type to look out for are the 'evil-knievels' of the road. They will reach fifth gear between robots, drive at 120kph round corners and take amber robots. Before your mind has registered the amount of near-miss collisions, you are at your destination. A breathless experience! Then there are the 'walking-atlases' who after mistaking you for being British (most forgivable), make up for it by informing you that the capital of South Africa is Johannesburg - and will argue the point. They may also come in the guise of 'jolly-jabberers', who will discuss the weather, the way the city looked 20 years ago, their families back home and will express dismay on hearing you don't have children, but will quickly put that aside with 'you engleese only have two' and then go on to embellish about his own relations, family size and political opinions. And finally the 'grumps'… You will know when you have a grump on board. The under-the-breath muttering, hissing and wild gesturing to fellow taxi drivers... Fortunately, these guys are in the minority.
I have been in taxis where it appears that the car cannot idle, sounds like we are losing the cars insides on cornering and the metal-on-metal squealing makes you cringe. Or they have such bad rattles that you know the 'hopeful' look in the drivers' eye was not over a tip, but rather that car makes the trip full stop. The last thing worth mentioning is: direction giving. It is no simple matter to get into a taxi and give an address. While the streets are all officially named and marked accordingly on maps, no one uses these names. Rather the local names given for the streets are thrown around. Buildings are not obviously numbered either, so if you are not headed towards a common destination (like a shopping mall) you may need to know landmarks and the ‘common’ street names of where you would like to go. Phrases like 'the pink building next to the Modern Bakery', 'behind Al Noor Hospital', 'make a u-turn at the signal' - all start forming part of your taxi vocabulary. While it is not mandatory to tip the taxi drivers, I usually give a couple of bob. I can really appreciate service from someone who is working a 12-14-hour day from behind the wheel of a car.
And
for all the pungent smells, static radios and odd characters - it’s still a great way to get around.
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I either can no longer recall his name - or I never caught it in the first place, but he was great. Apart from having waited at the airport from 1.30 that morning, six hours later he was still chirpy enough to jabber away and point out the Burj Al Arab on our way to Abu Dhabi.
Although the exteriors are standard (Toyota seems to be the popular choice - it could be the large boot space which makes them attractive), the decoration of the interior of the taxi appears to be at the mercy of the driver. And can range from a modest arrangement of plastic flowers on the dashboard, to bright red
floral plastic-coated carpets. Incense sticks, huge Quran verses hanging off the rear-view mirror, masses of fake greenery, dizzy upholstery, stuffed toys – an array from the dashboard to the back window...
The conditions of the cars vary a great deal too.
While cars that have been in an accident aren’t allowed back on the road until they have been repaired, the good condition of the bodies seems to cover up a lot of faults.