Why cabbies in Washington are partial to Saudi students

Taxi drivers in the heart of Washington DC come in droves to post at the former offices of the Saudi cultural attaché. They know many Saudi students on scholarship still mistakenly visit the building in hope of finding the attaché. He and his 500 employees left the building two years ago for an office in the nearby city of Vienna in Virginia.
The cabbies come just before sunrise to the offices where the Saudi cultural attaché previously resided.
Saudi students are tempted to use cash to pay for their ride to the new offices. Drivers prefer cash in order to escape taxes and to avoid paying credit card fees.
Ethiopian taxi owner Abdul Razak Abdullah, who now lives in America, told Al-Eqtisadiya newspaper, “Most of the customers I serve in the state of Virginia pay by credit or debit card. It takes three days before the taxi company I work for reviews its accounts and transfers the money to me. So, I prefer cash, not least because the company deducts two dollars for every ten dollars.”
The taxis that wait at the former offices of the Saudi cultural attaché in the US also serve as direct transportation to Dulles International Airport for Saudi students. “I always take the airport road, where I can easily take Saudi customers coming to Washington to the cultural attaché,” said taxi driver Abdullah.
Dunn Loring metro station is about three kilometers from the cultural attaché’s new building in Vienna, Virginia. It is another hot spot for picking up students coming to review their affairs for school.
Sam, a taxi driver said, “I chose to work between the attaché’s office and Dunn Loring metro station three months ago. Here I can easily find a large number of Saudi customers who are willing to pay in cash.”
There are about 7,000 licensed taxis drive on the streets of Washington DC, making it one of the most densely serviced cities in the US after New York and Los Angeles. Saudi students have no trouble finding a taxi after they have visited the attaché, as dozens of taxi cars line the streets outside. Each car awaits its turn to receive a customer. Saudi student Ahmed Abdel Aziz, who teaches first-year industrial engineering at the University of Akron in Ohio, “I was struck by the abundance of taxis near the cultural attaché’s office. I’ve not seen such wide availability in the other small cities that I’ve been to. It seems that not only taxi drivers prefer cash payment, Saudi students prefer cash too, as they fear credit card fraud.”