Visiting Jeddah for a few days I always opt to use cabs instead of renting a car, not wanting the headache of having to hunt for parking spaces in the crowded streets of this ancient city.

But on this trip I was shocked at the sorry state of limousines in this city: Dirty, battered, many smelly with the stench of nicotine from the drivers who smoke inside their cars, with some of the taxis moving through the streets with such severe bashes in them that I instantly shied away from flagging them down. After all, if the driver had been that imprudent in getting the huge smashed-in areas in his cab’s bodywork, who guarantees that he would suddenly assume better driving techniques just because I was riding in his car?

You would think that Jeddah Municipality would have standards for the appearance of cabs and their drivers. I remember years ago they tried to enforce a new regulation that non-Saudi drivers had to wear dark pants, a white, long-sleeved shirt and a dark tie as a mandatory uniform. That worked for a while, but from what I saw on this latest trip, drivers have slouched back to wearing whatever they want, and sometimes it’s not very elegant.

Of course, the major reason for all of these abused limousines roaming our streets, with their sides scraped where they had near misses with other vehicles, is because most of them are owned by limousine fleets and not by the drivers themselves. As everyone knows, it is human nature to take good care of something that we actually own and to not really care when the good is not ours.

And the owners of the fleets of limousines are greedy, demanding anywhere from SR140 to SR160 a day from each driver, whether or not they work that day. And the driver has to pay for his daily gasoline consumption, around SR30 a day, which forces many of them to work 14 hours a day just to make around SR3,000 a month. And that’s seven days a week. To make matters worse for the drivers, there are so many cabs on the streets of Jeddah, that the competition is extremely tough.

I was also surprised to get several drivers this time who did not know major streets in Jeddah. They confirmed that they were new in Jeddah when I asked them, but it is ridiculous that a cab driver is not aware of Andalus Street Jeddah. The municipality should test these new drivers for their local knowledge, and not license them until they are able to pass the exam. I lived in Jeddah for 20 years, so I know my way around, but just imagine a tourist who has never been here before and who doesn’t know the major streets or neighborhoods, or even that the fare from Ruwais to Tahlia Street should normally not be more than SR20? These shortcomings of our cab system leave its users open to abuse.

And despite all of the road improvements that the municipality has done in Jeddah over the past seven years, building flyovers and underpasses, the traffic jams just seem to be getting worse, with Madinah Road especially bad during rush hour. It is clear that Jeddah needs a rapid transit system solution, such as a metro, that is clean, affordable and quick, to get people to use their cars less and thus lessen the gridlock. Just building more flyovers is clearly not the solution.

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The writer is a Saudi journalist based in Brazil.