I believe I have written about my frustration with Taxi's in Dubai before. The following is another overflow of frustration. I did learn more information about how they work, so my thoughts are not completely unfounded.
A taxi driver is expected to make a minimum of AED 400 ($109) per 12 hour shift in order to receive a full salary at the end of the month. If they make AED 400/shift, at the end of the month, they will receive 35% of their total earnings. So, if a taxi driver had a perfect shift every day of the month.. this is what it will work out to..
400X30=12,000
12,000@35%=AED4,200 / month ($1176 / month).
Naturally, the cab drivers like people who want to go across town. A trip across town will cost approximately AED 40-50, so 10 of those rides and their day is well spent. OR, pick up as many customers as possible and make the AED 400 mark. Quality or Quantity.. either should work.
BUT what the cab drivers really do is not pick up people and hurry to the nearest mall and wait in a long line to pick up customers from the mall.. ofcourse, every other taxi driver has had the same idea and sometimes, you see 100's of cabs lined up outside a mall to pick up customers... while there are 1000's of people waiting all over the city for a damn empty taxi. Of course, even if you see an empty taxi, that doesn't mean they will stop for you (which they are supposed to do).. the drivers will assess the possible passenger as to whether he/she is likely to give him a good fare or not. I am not even joking.
Everytime I see a long line of taxi's outside a mall, I can't help but question their intelligence. Why don't the authorities do anything about this? I see complaints about this all the time in the news paper, but still.. it doesn't change. Makes me think that there needs to be a change to the system in which taxi drivers get paid.
Also, if you assume that a taxi driver is supposed to make AED 12,000 per month... there are two drivers per car, so AED 24,000 per month per taxi is the expected revenue. Take away AED 8,400 for the driver and you are left with AED 15,600 per month as their revenue per taxi.. of course you have to take the cost of fuel, maintenance and all that.. but its still a darn pretty good profit at the end.. and to think there are some 4000 taxis here.
I have had some good taxi drivers take me around.. I'm not going to deny that..
Why do I have soo many complaints against taxi drivers?? Its what happens when you can't get a driving license without having to wait for 4 months and then taking 20 classes and then waiting 3-4 weeks more, then taking a driving test and hoping the guy got up on the good side of the bed.. so that you pass, because they fail a lot of people here because they don't want the roads to be more crowded than they already are. Oh, you don't have to worry about the above if you are from America, Europe, Australia, etc.
Yes, I am a little frustrated with my transportation situation.
My awesome blue buggy before we set out to bash the dunes
Michael tested out the frontal crumple zones, the buggy suffered
I tested out the roll cage - it worked. Ok, so we just came off a really bug dune and I was going really fast.. then the guy in front of me braked really hard and fast.. and I had to swerve to avoid him, my right rear wheel dug into the sand.. and flipped me over.. So.. I found myself upside down, strapped in, engine running and fuel leaking from the gas tank onto my back. I was a little freaked out.. turned the engine off... scrambled to undo the seatbelt, which was stuck for a while.. but finally got it loose, fell on my head, then crawled out and ran away in case the buggy caught on fire. Anyway, it didn't catch on fire, we flipped it back on its wheels, pumped the tire up with air and off I went again.
At the end, it was pretty sweet driving around, specially when we drove between the camels and tried to scare them, but I guess they were very used to buggies on the desert, so didn't really pay too much attention to us.
