Fares cool, drivers hot-headed

Passengers in Abu Dhabi are again complaining that although the taxi service is cheap, they are put off by some dirty cars.

Also there is a communication gap and some drivers are either reckless or simply do not care for the passengers – and when you try to give them advice, you should be prepared for a heated argument.

Several passengers agree that some taxi drivers are not polite and do not cooperate with their customers. Others want measures to ensure taxis are clean while some want drivers to learn English to bridge the communication gap.

On the positive side, most passengers say that travelling by taxi in Abu Dhabi is quite cheap. "I've lived in Madrid, Paris, Basle, Kosice in Slovakia and Dallas, and I find that taxis here cost the least and you do not have to wait long for one," said Briton Howard Glynn.

"When it comes to the car's appearance being clean or dirty, I would say its 50/50. I've been in some really bad ones. Also, drivers are not always very polite. I will say that only 30 per cent of the drivers I have seen are careful in their driving. I was actually once in a taxi and had to tell the driver to slow down as I did not want to kill anybody," he said.

Glynn's main criticism is that some drivers do not know enough about the city: "I once asked to be driven to the Howard Johnson Hotel and the driver said he did not know where it was, and this was Howard Johnson! In London for example, taxi drivers know even the most obscure streets because they have to do a test called 'The Knowledge'."

Kamal Liyanage from Sri Lanka recommends that drivers should take better care of their cabs. He suggests that drivers should be able to speak better English and maybe one or two other languages.

The issue of politeness is again Kamal's main concern. "Some drivers are polite, while others do not see it as a service, thinking it's their own car. I was once in a taxi with my children who were being a bit noisy. The driver complained and shouted at me, not appreciating the fact that they were just children," he said.

Kamal said that the capital's taxi service is not as efficient as that of Dubai: "The service in Dubai is much better. It's clean and drivers respect passengers more. You can also get around quicker as drivers use the shortest route."

Oil Engineer Mansour Seck from Senegal agrees that some drivers do not cooperate with passengers.

He said: "Some are stubborn. For example I would ask the driver to stop at a certain place and he would stop elsewhere. Once a driver wanted to drop me off where I had not requested, and he was ready to argue and even fight about it."

Seck, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 10 years, said that more social skills are needed by some drivers to improve their service. He said it will also be beneficial for tourism and Dubai has set a good example.

Jose Mathew, an Indian shop-manager who uses taxis more than four times a day, also said that some drivers do not stick to the route suggested by the passengers. "They just want to take longer routes apparently for more meter money."

Ismail Qasim from Kerala who has driven taxis for over 20 years was defensive. "You get polite and impolite taxi drivers. Sometimes drivers do not comply with their passengers' requests because of the traffic laws.

"A passenger might want the taxi driver to stop in an area where he is not allowed to. I think police can inform members of the public more about traffic laws by running advertisements in newspapers."

Qasim also suggested that in most cases the appearance of the car is out of the driver's hands: "We need an area in Abu Dhabi where we can have our cars cleaned and serviced, instead of having to go to Musafah as required."

When asked about the introduction of English lessons to improve communication, Qasim said that will be impossible as 90 per cent of the taxi drivers in Abu Dhabi are uneducated.

The veteran taxi driver stressed that the capital's taxi service still has one major advantage: the price. He said that since 1979 the taxi drivers in Abu Dhabi start the meter at Dh2 with 50 fils added per kilometre. Taxi meters in Dubai for example start at Dh3 and Dh1.70 is added per kilometre.

Qasim's colleague Amanullah Jan from Pakistan does not like the idea of a uniform being introduced for taxi drivers. He said he prefers his native dress.

"I have been a taxi-driver for 28 years and I know enough English to get people around. Also I know all the locations in Abu Dhabi," he said.

Another taxi driver with over 20 years experience is Pakistani Mirbat Khan. He explained that complaints about drivers not having enough knowledge of the city is not a big problem as some of them are new to the job or to the city.