“Taxi drivers are taking advantage of us stranded people,” said Mohammad Hashi, a father of three who claimed a typical SR25 cab ride home to Nuzla district from his office on Hail St. would have cost much more than that.
“I tried to leave work to go home. I found it almost impossible to drive on Hail, as it was covered with deep water,” he told Arab News. “I figured I should take a taxi to go home only to be told by one driver that it will cost me 250 riyals!”
Instead, he took a soggy two-hour march through flooded streets to reach home.
Local resident Adel Faraj said he too walked home because he couldn’t find a cab driver who wasn’t going to fleece him in his hour of need.
“By the time I spoke to the third driver, I knew that taxi fare wouldn’t drop but only increase at this point,” he said. “The asking fares were astronomical, especially considering this disaster came around payday with more important bills to pay.”
But cab drivers view it a simple matter of supply and demand, not to mention the cost, risk and effort involved with navigating a flooded city.
“We are affected by the water as much as these people,” said one cabbie who didn’t want his name published. “Plus these fares are necessary so we can afford to repair the vehicle afterward which costs a lot.”
Most cab drivers pay a daily rent of the vehicle, usually about 100 to SR120, and they are expected to pay for petrol and maintenance of the vehicle. A cab driver who works six days a week for 12 to 14 hours per day earns around SR1,200 a month.
One cab driver pointed out that because of the havoc wreaked by the rains, a cab ride to a far destination could take up three hours — or a quarter of a 12-hour shift.
Increasing fares by 25 to 50 percent even after light showers is a common practice for taxi drivers in Jeddah. In most cases, commuters have to give in to their demands because of the absence of a regular public transportation system in the city.
