JEDDAH, 4 February 2004 — Anybody having difficulty finding a taxi in Riyadh should not be too surprised. It seems that many of the capital’s taxi drivers have temporarily migrated to the Makkah region in hopes of getting a slice of the lucrative Haj business.
Syed Muhammed, a Pakistani taxi driver from Riyadh, arrived in Jeddah a week before Haj.
“I got here to familiarize myself with the streets; I’ll probably stay an extra couple of weeks after Haj because some pilgrims will stay on visiting family, or going to Madinah.”
Most drivers working a non-stop 14-hour shift make an average of SR70 per day over the SR125 which is the daily leasing fee the drivers pay the cab company owners. However during the year, there are times when a driver cannot cover the leasing fee but not during the Haj.
Syed did tell Arab News that the most sought after fares were pilgrims coming from Makkah to Jeddah, or from Jeddah to Madinah.
“How much I make depends on negotiating and the number of people,” said Syed. “You can make in a day what you might make in an average week.”
Another Pakistani driver from Riyadh, Akhtar, said that his boss had sent him over with a group of other drivers to work during Haj and Eid.
“There are quite a few of us here from different companies too,” he added.
The majority of taxicab companies welcome the arrival of their Riyadh counterparts. “A lot of the usual drivers go on Haj themselves,” said Ahmed, a Saudi cab driver in Jeddah. “Most of them work in the Balad area.”
But there can be problems bringing drivers from outside Jeddah, according to a British expatriate living in the Kingdom. “My Riyadh cab driver did not know where downtown Jeddah was but then again, some Jeddah cabdrivers don’t seem to know where Balad is either.”
In Jeddah, there are over 300 taxi companies operating at least 50,000 cars rented by those who drive them.
Recent reports, however, put the figures much higher.
Most taxi companies rent out their cars to their drivers for SR125 per day. That amount goes to the company with whatever is left for the driver who must pay maintenance for the car, any traffic fines and all his personal expenses.
