DUBAI - Are Dubai’s taxi drivers the rudest in the world?

JULY 11TH, 2013 10:45

Are Dubai’s taxi drivers the rudest in the world?

By annabelkantaria

For an emirate that likes it superlatives, it’s another accolade, though perhaps one that it would rather not have: Dubai’s taxi drivers have been voted some of the rudest in the world by British holidaymakers. Scoring just two out of 10 on the politeness scale, they were seen to be better only than cab drivers in Paris, Rome and San Antonio in Ibiza.

A quick trawl of the internet shows what tourists tend to think of our cab drivers: they’re rude, surly, don’t make polite conversation, refuse to make short trips and “drive like maniacs”. I can tell you, too, from personal experience that it’s also not unusual for them to take multiple phone calls – usually while driving like maniacs.

Residents here could easily add more: one resident told Emirates 24/7 of a taxi driver who tried to dump her mid-trip so he could pick up a regular customer; others claim to have been shouted at for suggesting alternate routes, or have had to wait while the driver gets petrol.

But can we really blame the taxi drivers? For a start we’re talking about taxi drivers who work a rota of 12-hour shifts, during which they have to make a quota. If they take short fares or drive slowly, they risk not making that quota. Consider the driver who waits in a taxi rank for an hour, hoping for ‘the big one’: when he gets to the front, his fare only wants to go five minutes down the road. You can imagine his frustration.

Many, too, are new to the country; it’s not like London, where Black Cab drivers have to pass ‘The Knowledge’ before driving you around. The roads here are complex; sometimes new drivers only know the most obvious routes to places.

And then think about the customers. We all like to think we’re friendly souls, but how friendly are we really? From the imperious tourist who jumps in and barks commands, to the know-it-all expat or drunken post-brunch crowd, the taxi drivers have to put up with their fair share of rudeness from us, too.

But the point is, we shouldn’t have to make excuses. The solution seems obvious to me: Let cabbies drive shorter shifts, so they’re not crazed with tiredness; take away the quotas so they don’t feel pressured to produce a certain amount of money in a certain time; and give them a chance to learn the roads inside out before they start driving – maybe then we’ll see more politeness.

There’s one area in which Dubai’s taxi drivers excel, though, and that’s honesty. The RTA trains all taxi drivers to return any valuables left in their cars – they’re tested on it every three months by undercover officials. Just last month, a Bangladeshi taxi driver returned the AED 200,000 (£36,360) and AED 1 million (£181,818) worth of diamonds he found in his boot. I loved his quote: “Inside lay a big brown leather bag. I opened it and I froze. There were several wads of currency, a cheque book and a boxful of diamonds. I hadn’t seen anything like this before…” Talk about “only in Dubai.”

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who moved to Dubai long before most people knew where it was. She doesn’t ride a camel to work; has never seen a gold-plated golf buggy and only rarely has pink champagne for breakfast. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay