AMMAN — The yellow taxi was one of the only available transportation
methods for
Jordanian residents and tourists for a long time. But with the
emergence of convenient ride-hailing applications, the cab sector seems to be
steadily losing passengers.
اضافة اعلان
While taxi drivers complain of the turn to mobile apps like Careem,
Uber, and Jeeny, users say that the government has “failed in controlling” the
yellow taxi drivers, as they collectively agreed that there is no law, system,
or control over the service.
“The driver picks his customers, mostly females, according to their
physical appearances, only to make them feel uncomfortable and harassed during
the ride,” said Aya Kloob, who regularly rides in yellow cabs. “The taxi meter
is never turned on, there is no price control whatsoever, let alone the hygiene
of both the taxi and the driver.”
Likewise, Mohannad Sarrawi told Jordan News that he does not mind paying
a slightly higher fare with car-hailing applications than he would for a yellow
taxi, to guarantee that his daughters are “in safe hands.”
“I had to sell my car this June because of the rough financial situation
imposed by COVID-19,” he said. “My daughters then started to use yellow cabs to
go to work. In less than a week, one of my daughters told me that the driver
harassed her.”
Sarrawi explained that the ride-hailing applications provide riders with
names and contact information of their drivers, which “gives us the opportunity
to legally charge captains if lost items or sexual harassment cases happened.”
Users also allege that yellow taxis are more likely to scam riders,
arbitrarily increasing the price as they wish. “We’re not going to leave
tourists and citizens under the mercy of yellow cab drivers for them to
increase the fare as they wish,” said Zaid Salameh, a driver for ride-hailing
apps. “This is utterly disrespectful and ruins the country’s reputation.”
“Check social media accounts and YouTube channels of vloggers that have
been to Jordan: they all complain that taxi drivers here took advantage of them
and charged them an incredibly higher fare,” he said. “This will reach to their
followers who will automatically avoid Jordan as a tourist destination.”
But the representative for taxi drivers disputed this characterization
of his sector. Moa’ath Al-Sareesi, head of the Yellow Taxi Association, told
Jordan News that they are “sick of these individual cases being generalized to
the entire sector.” He believes these stories are part of a plan to damage the
yellow cabs’ reputations — because otherwise, the “significantly cheaper” taxis
would have an advantage over ride-hailing apps.
The yellow taxi sector used to be managed by the Public Security
Directorate. In 1996, both the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of
Interior jointly managed the sector, which made things “unnecessarily complicated,” according to Sareesi.
“We do not have any official
entity to manage us,” Sareesi said. “No ministry is willing to manage us and
report our needs and violations. The ministries of interior and transportation
involved Greater Amman Municipality in managing our sector. The ball got lost
in three playgrounds.”
“Ride-hailing applications are constantly violating the law, but it
seems like the government is fine with it,” he added. “They do not commit to
the night fare, they’re not committing to the limited numbers provided by the
law, and they violate law,” Sareesi claimed.
He described multiple crimes that have been committed against yellow taxi
drivers by customers as well, including robberies and running without paying
the fare. He argued that people realize the bad reputation of workers of that
sector, and take advantage of it.
“We only want to be managed by one entity, and to get included in labor
laws, to get the basic rights of any worker in the world, including a social security
subscription, insurance, and a representative to defend our cause, and charge
those who are ruining our reputation.”
Ride-sharing behemoth Uber first obtained a license to work in Jordan in
2015. Since then, the app has announced its intention to partner with 100,000 drivers
by 2025. Notably, on some ride-sharing apps, users can order yellow taxis as
well as regular cars.
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