Taxis in Dubai

Dubai has a unique taxi culture that is hard to find anywhere else.

Despite the usual problems of finding it hard to catch a taxi, and taxis not stopping for passengers, and taxis being overly expensive, once you are aboard a taxi, and chat with the driver to kill the time (what do you do when you are stuck in in traffic in taxi, you chat with the driver, off course), the story that you listen is sometimes fascinating.

It all started with my first visit to Dubai. I found out that most taxi drivers are from the northern areas of Pakistan, more specifically the Frontier province (in and around Peshawar).

Then I found out that the experienced taxi drivers can tell from the look of your face where you want to go, and if he doesn’t stop it might be because he doesn’t want to take you to that place.

Why wouldn’t a taxi driver want to take you to your destination? Doesn’t he want to make money? Isn’t that his job? How else would he meet his targets? These are all valid questions that anyone can ask. I decided to seek the answers to these questions by nothing else other than interviewing the taxi drivers.

So the first question: Why wouldn’t a taxi driver take you to your destination?

That depends on your destination. If you are going to a place where there is no traffic, the driver will be happy to take you there. Easy come and easy go. In other words, more money in less time. But on the other hand, if it is rush hour, and you want to go to the place where it would take hours to reach, and there are slim chances of getting a passenger back from there, any driver would think twice before taking you there. They think it’s just not worth it. As a result you will find countless people waiting for taxis watching empty taxis passing by them, wondering why the hell no taxi is stopping. Now you know.

To be continued…