We have yet to have a Saudi taxi driver in our three weeks and nearly 50 taxi rides. Indeed, I doubt they exist. What does exist, however, is a demonstrably large need for low-cost rides about town. Recall that women love to shop in SA and that not one of them drives. It's also increasingly clear, given yesterday's labyrinthine process for getting a driver's license, even with our astute Saudi handlers, that many non-Saudi men don't bother to get licenses and certainly wouldn't want to drive a car in SA without one for fear of getting caught. So, to fill this supply-demand chasm is an army of willing drivers, along with the greatest per capita legion of taxis I've ever seen.
Taxis are fleet owned by, presumably, Saudi businessmen; it seems unlikely that, say, a Pakistani driver with a penchant for business would ever be able to own his own fleet. Drivers must have insurance (1700 SR, or about $500, per year), on average fill up the car once per day (20 SR, or about $6, per day, given the 65 cents/gallon for gas), and rent the car (130 SR, or about $40, per day). Each driver is also responsible for any damage to the car which, given Jeddah's driving styles, could amount to considerable sums, and quickly! Many taxis still sport the cover plastic on the seats, and a few still have the foam bumper tags on the doors from shipping! On the plus side, according to our driver from Peshawar, Pakistan, is a daily take home pay of about 150 SR, or about $40.
To achieve this amount a driver needs to work from 8 am until 10:30 pm each day (except Friday, SA's holy day), with some of the busier days going until midnight. They aren't supposed to get out of the car except once briefly in the morning, again later in the afternoon for a quick lunch, and finally again in the early evening. Most drivers have snacks and drinks next to them at all times so as to be constantly on the prowl for business. I'd not be surprised if in the very least caffeine levels are high. It's hard to find a parked taxi in this city at any waking hour.
To a person our drivers have felt little compassion for their Saudi overseers, with many expressing some very strong feelings on this subject. On the other hand, none would have attempted to come to SA weren't the conditions back home particularly poor, their futures especially bleak. To be fair, who knows what prospects would have been like back home, or how they would have been treated?
Pakistani drivers seem to have the upper hand in terms of numbers of taxi drivers in Jeddah, but like many of the basic service jobs in SA, there is broad representation among nations in this huge industry, with many of the men coming from countries with much higher population densities (like Pakistan) and political unrest (like Pakistan) than is the case currently in SA.
Most Pakistani drivers, when told, don't quite know what to make of my improbable Karachi beginnings. Perhaps they think I'm just making conversation. Last night's Peshawar native was quick to explain the sad state of affairs in this large conduit city to Afghanistan, claiming that the Taliban were a bunch of illiterate heretics that had ruined Afghanistan and were in the process of doing the same to Pakistan. Peshawar, he claimed, was nothing like it once had been. His claim was that with increasing numbers of less well-educated people calling the shots, without broader access to better education, especially for girls, the future was bleak. It sort of made me wish we had had Greg Mortensen's THREE CUPS OF TEA translated into Urdu to give him at that juncture, but clearly both men have the same thesis statement, and they aren't alone.
There are also jitneys holding (legally) about two dozen that run up and down the main thoroughfares, clearly the rides of choice for the hundreds of thousands of non-Saudis eking out a living in Jeddah. Their side-doors are constantly open, their stops ad hoc and fleetingly short, just enough time to get another man or two aboard, or a few off. I've yet to see a woman on one of these buses. Like the taxi drivers, the construction workers, the launderers, the cleaners, and the myriad other countless, nameless workers who make Jeddah run reasonably smoothly each day, these men have typically left family at home (our driver last night has a wife and child in Pakistan) and remain in SA for very long periods of time (16 years, for last night's example) in order to send regular remittances back home to pay for all sorts of things in his extended family - medical help for a sick parent, education for a nephew, perhaps a modest home for his family, etc. Obviously, if you're grossing only $40/day and have a number of other expenses besides, you can imagine the cramped quarters these men must live in, the relatively miniscule scale of the monthly amount sent home, etc. Hence, the long stays.
Like all countries, SA is a land of contrasts and contradictions, yet if you dig just a bit beneath the veneer you find incredible humanity; it is this human touch that has been so fun to get to know in our brief time here. Had we been whisked from the airport to a completed campus in order to start our lives at KAUST, we would have missed out on so much, especially the intricate web of humanity that makes this large city tick. We hope to share more of this incredible story in due course. Thanks for reading our blog, David
Your posts are fabulous, David, as are Jennifer's. Living in another land is very instructive. I was thinking about your adventures with the SCDS bus, getting that driver's license, and wondering how you would compare some of these experiences with those. Luckily, you are not expected to maintain any cars or taxis now. Yesterday I met with my replacement teacher, Brian, and met one of yours. Naturally, you need two teachers to replace you. All blessings on you and your family.
ReplyDeleteJeanne Peterson
Fascinating and informative. Thanks David and Jennifer for your great posts.
ReplyDeleteTom Spaulding