The driving skills of other road users is usually the least of their problems, although that too figures among their complaints — such as disgruntled road users cutting them up. They also say that traffic police tend to target them. More seriously, they say that they  are easy prey for thieves.

Arab News took to the streets of Jeddah to interview cabbies.

Fazlur Rahman Rasool, a Pakistani who has been a driver for five years, said that he had been robbed three times. He said that all three robberies had involved gangs who took all the money he had.

“Our job is dangerous, at times I feel it is not worth working as a taxi driver here. The first time I was robbed was when I drove a group of three Africans to Jamea district south of Jeddah. When they reached their destination, they took out a knife, put it to my neck and took SR190 from me. The second time was when I drove a Yemeni passenger to Sharafiyah. He appeared friendly but when we reached the destination, three of his friends, who were waiting for us, beat me up and took my money and the car. My car was found a week later.”

Rasool said he was careful these days and that he has developed a special sense to avoid dangerous situations. “We are not respected at all. People look down on us. On the road, we are abused all the time. I wish people would recognize that we are human beings who want to make a living and support our families back home,” he said.

Ali, a Bangladeshi who has been behind the wheel in Jeddah for over ten years, too relates his tale of woes. As a result of his bad experiences, he now refuses to pick up Africans or young Saudis.  Nor will he take passengers to certain areas, such as Bani Malik or south Jeddah.  He said he had twice been forced out at knifepoint from his vehicle which was then driven off by his erstwhile passengers.  They were Chadians, he alleged. The first time, the taxi was recovered by the police soon afterward. On the second occasion, it was found after several weeks, a complete wreck.  The reason he is wary of young Saudi men is on several occasions, they refused to pay their fare or asked him to drop them off at a certain point and wait a few minutes before vanishing. 

It could be worse.  There have been cases over the years of taxi drivers even being murdered by passengers. 

Salem Khan, an Indian cabbie for many years, told Arab News that he vividly remembered the time he was robbed. As far as he is concerned,  taxi drivers are too easy a target for thieves.

“I took an African woman from downtown Jeddah to Hindawiya. The woman was affable and told me where she lived. But when we reached the house, two people attacked me and took more than SR200 from me. The woman was part of the gang and I am sure her task was to lure me to their area to be robbed,” said Khan.

Majdi Azab, a 35-year-old Egyptian, was chased by the cops once and was held for more than four hours for questioning. “Two people came rushing out of a small road in Al-Sabeel. They jumped into the car and told me to speed off. They looked worried and kept looking out of the rear window as if someone was following them. A hundred meters on, at the traffic lights, the taxi was surrounded by at least four police cars.” It trurned out that the duo were wanted in a drugs case.

“The man in the back seat tried to escape but was arrested. Of course, I was arrested too and taken to the police station. Only after four hours was I released when the police found out I had no connection to the drug dealers,” said Majdi.

Pakistani driver Ghulam Shah has come to believe that the safest policy is to stay clear of suspicious areas, especially at night, and of certain customers. “I am not racist but usually I do not stop for African passengers or a group of young Saudis because they cause nothing but trouble. In most cases, however, I pick up single passengers or families. If a passenger wants me to drive him to an area south of Jeddah, I make sure I drop him off on the major road. I will never drive into a narrow alley, especially at night. At the end of the day, it is crucial to develop an eye to detect passengers that spell trouble.”

In most cases, he added, drivers should avoid driving in the southern part of the city as much as possible because it is not safe.

However, the bigger problem Shah said he faced was from women passengers who did not have money to pay the fare. He said that he preferred to let them go without payment; otherwise they might start to cause trouble by accusing him of trying to molest them.