Riding toward their dreams: How Abu Dhabi's delivery drivers find freedom, community and a future on two wheels

Abu Dhabi: It is evening in the capital, and the city is settling into its favourite hours. You are at home, hungry, and not in the mood to cook. A few taps on your phone later, and there is a knock at the door and everything you need is in your hands with no trip to the shops and no time lost.

Behind every doorbell and every "Your order has arrived" is a man on a motorbike, crossing the roads of Abu Dhabi so the rest of us do not have to leave home.

Gulf News spoke to three of them about their routines, their favourite ways to cool off, and the dreams that keep them going.

The painter who wanted to choose his own day

Mohamad Sadiq is 29 and came to the UAE from Pakistan in 2017. His path to delivery has taken a few turns. His first job in the UAE was as a painter. Later he earned a driving licence and worked as a driver for about three months. Then he trained for a bike licence and joined Talabat, where he decided to stay.

What won him over, he said, is control. In delivery work he has the freedom to run his day the way he wants. Talabat lets him choose the shifts that suit him, and for a man who once worked to a schedule set by others, that flexibility is worth a great deal.

"This is one of the things, that I really enjoy about this job," he said.

Ask Sadiq how he handles the summer, and he will tell you that he has his ways.

"It is hard for every rider, but I have learned how to work with it."

Years on the road have taught him the city's rhythm. Which hours to push through, which malls have the coolest lobbies, and exactly how long a fifteen-minute break needs to be before he is ready to go again.

What keeps him steady is a piece of advice from another rider: "You need to calm down and focus on the road," he said.

Ask him what makes him happy, though, and the road disappears. His face opens into a wide smile.

"Talking with my family in Pakistan," he said. "That is my happiest time." Away from the bike, he likes to walk and spend time speaking with his family from Pakistan.

What does he want in life? He needs no time to think. He came for his family, and that thought carries him through the day, mile after mile.

"Nothing else. Only to keep going, so my family's life can be better."

"I want to become a businessman"

Muhammad Kashif is 27, the youngest of the three. He has been in the UAE since 2022. He rides ten to twelve hours a day for the company Talabat, and he is not complaining.

"Talabat is good, and the job is very easy. I like my job, and it gives me a good salary," he said.

Kashif holds a degree in finance accounting from Pakistan, and he treats the bike as a step, not a destination. Asked about his dream, he said it plainly: "I want to become a businessman, inshallah."

His answer to the heat is simple.

"I drink water and juice, and I manage. No problem. I go into a shopping mall, or any shop, for a couple of minutes of cool air.

The delivery bag is for food only, he explains, so his water travels elsewhere.

What wears on him is not the weather.

"Some customers get angry when the food is late, but the road is blocked and there is a traffic jam." The order is late, and the rider can do nothing about it.

The man with a workshop in mind

Mohammad Souleyman Sayed is 41, and the newest to the country. He arrived from Egypt a year ago, to join the delivery company Keeta. Back home, he was an electrician. By trade, he said, he is a car mechanic.

He loves to drive, and he loves what comes at the end of the ride.

"I love how I can get people their things, and see the happiness on their faces, once their order has arrived" he said.

For him the heat is a shared problem, and riders look after one another.

Then he says what he is working toward. "My dream is to open a car mechanic business." A year in, the plan is already clear in his head.