Issue 290 - TAXI Newspaper

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24 TAXI |3 APRIL 2013 www.ltda.co.uk | @TheLTDA FEATURE TAXI TO THE GAMBIA Waiting up to three days for a fare is commonplace in The Gambia where taxi driver Chris Ackrill discovered there are always people worse much off than you One evening during my holiday in The Gambia I spent about £11 on a wait and return to my favourite Indian restaurant. The cab’s windscreen was severely cracked, one door didn’t work, the exhaust was falling off, and it conked out on the way back. The apologetic driver soon got it going again. He picked me up the following evening and the exhaust sounded even worse. He told me he was going to get it fixed and I suspected that tomorrow was going to be an expensive day for him. The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in West Africa, with a population of around 1.6 million. Agriculture and tourism provides the majority of the country’s employment but the first thing that became clear, is that the trade is different from London, or anywhere in Europe for that matter. Things that we take for granted, such as wheelchair ramps, radio circuits, credit card readers, and even meters, are non-existent. For air conditioning you need to open the window, if the winder’s working. Any car can be used as a taxi, so long as it’s painted the appropriate colour. One local cabbie told me the vehicle can be in any condition “so long as it has an engine.” There are cabs which exclusively serve the tourist resorts, and these are painted green. For the most part, they pick up at ranks and have fixed prices displayed on a board. Yellow cabs can work anywhere and are the ones used by locals. The fares are negotiated but are lower than the tourist cabs. A controller takes walkup bookings on the rank and distributes work in order, noting the cab’s number on a sheet of paper. Cabs are inspected prior to licensing, although from what I saw, I’d say this was rudimentary. I doubt any of the cars I rode in would be allowed anywhere near British roads, let alone the taxi trade. I didn’t even bother to ask about such things as emission tests. Drivers of bigger cars charge more, and there are some Thai-style motor scooter conversions around. “ON THE SURFACE THERE SEEM TO BE FEW SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CAB DRIVING IN THE GAMBIA AND LONDON ” Although English is the official language, tribal languages dominate and communication wasn’t as straightforward as I imagined. It wasn’t easy to find out how the drivers actually gained their licences. One group of drivers told me it takes four years study to gain a licence from the department of Police Traffic Department, while another driver gave the impression it was much easier than that. Drivers are trained how to treat tourists, and how to cope with mechanical breakdowns in rural areas. Alex, 33, told me licensing has recently become stricter and existing drivers are unhappy at having to undergo the new tests. The country currently has number of initiatives designed to increase opportunities for women, the country's vice president Isatou Njie-Saidy is a woman but there are no women taxi drivers. I took a yellow, access-all-areas, cab driven by Abdoulie, 30. He drove a filthy, decrepit, VW Passat, which looked older than he did. He drove a mini-bus before becoming a taxi driver. Like other drivers, he gave the impression it was a good job if you got to own your own cab, but this is difficult to achieve with earnings being so low. Abdoulie works 14 hours a day for seven days a week, most of which is spent waiting around, while other drivers only work six days. For this they can expect to earn about £35 per month! Tourism is low key with little night time activity, but Alex said he does well at night because the majority of drivers have gone home. Tamba, 52, got his licence in 1976. He started his cab with a hesitancy that suggested hope rather than expectation. He said it was a good job even though the money is poor. I guess having any regular job is good in a country with such a poor economy. Like other drivers, he gave me the impression that his aim was to become an owner driver. Sadly, only a few drivers seem to make it. I initially thought they had a good life driving to nearby resorts for £11 a go, but I was told the cabbie would see only about £2 of that “The driver started the cab in hope rather than expectation.”
More readers than the rest put together! 3 APRIL 2013 | TAXI 25 FEATURE amount; the rest goes to the vehicle’s owner. Drivers do get to keep their tips, so I tipped well after they took me to a restaurant where the missus and I spent as much on a decent meal as they would earn in a month. I’d also given the driver a London cab fridge magnet that I brought over. I donated a copy of TAXI to the group of drivers on the rank opposite my hotel. We chatted while chickens ran around and the drivers made tea. They concurred that £35 was about average for a week’s work. The shocking reason why £2 fares only add up to such a poor monthly total is because they might wait three days for a job! These green tourist cabs can only work from specified ranks, but they can go anywhere. Sadly, their business is affected by tour companies offering arranged tours. The mushrooming of all-inclusive hotel deals are also keeping people inside their “luxury prisons.” The group complained they need to be able to market themselves to get the message across that they can be cheaper than organised tours and that they are the local experts. Gambian taxi drivers don’t seem to have an LTDA-type body, or powers of any kind. Occasionally, cabs will tout you in the street with a whistle but they never appeared busy. Much of their work is wait and returns to restaurants in other resorts. The prices listed include two hours waiting. A run to the airport is £14, but only yellow cabs can pick up there. All drivers have had jobs crossing international boundaries. The Gambia is surrounded on three sides by Senegal. Senegal’s capital, Dakkar, is six hours away. A day trip will set you back £220, but how they would manage something like that in their rickety cabs boggled the mind. On the surface there seem to be few similarities between cab driving in The Gambia and London. There’s no traffic to speak of and the main road linking the coastal resorts is jokingly referred to as the “Gambian M25.” There are no motorways, and locals proudly point out the first set of traffic lights in the country. At the ranks they passed around a photo of me by my gleaming TX4 and we found we had something in common after all. The group all smiled when we agreed on the worst thing about the job – the passengers! n “Yellow cabs can go anywhere and are used by locals” “There’s no traffic and only one set of lights.” All Year Round Discount AV % * SAVE 50% * S E to ed 3 or 4 night br on selected 3 or 4 night breaks Thoresby Hall Hotel up LTDA Members also receive the following benefits on this all year round discount Sav e £10* per person on the best available ailable price Book a gr oup of 3-9 people & save a further £10 per person No booking fees No credit car d charges Toreceive this fantastic tic all year round discount & benefits 0800 1 388 399 Call free on: 0800 1 388 399 Quote code: GG060 (open 9am to 9pm, 7 days a week) Terms & Conditions: *Prices ar e per person per break based on 2 people sharing. Savings are off the current Warner Leisure Hotels prices. Number of rooms at the level el of discount will vary by break and could be extremely emely limited. If there is no availability at this rate then you will be offered ed the next best rate. All half-price room upgrades are subject to availability. Single Rooms with no under-occupancy are subject to availability. All persons in your booking must be aged over 21 years of age. All offer breaks apply to new bookings only, are subject to promotional availability which is reviewed daily and cannot be combined with any other offer or discount. Warner Leisure Hotels reserves the right to change or withdraw any offers without prior notice. Offer excludes Christmas, New Year and Twixmas. Offers are only applicable on bookings up to 19 people. Full terms and conditions apply, please contact us for full details. Bourne Holidays Ltd (trading as Warner Leisure Hotels) is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 01854900 whose registered office is 1 Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 4YL. 5 6119 • Rentals & Running Repairs • Overhauls & Servicing • Body work • Gearboxes • Accident claims & Repairs 16A CUDWORTH STREET, LONDON E1 5QU TEL: 020 7247 9157 • FAX: 020 7247 9162 • Email: Cudworthtaxi@hotmail.co.uk ◆ LTI DIAGNOSTIC SPECIALIST ◆ AIR CONDITIONING RE-GAS & SERVICING ◆ FAULT & NON FAULT CRASH REPAIRS UNDERTAKEN APPROVED REPAIRER FOR ALL MAJOR INSURANCE & MEDIA COMPANIES COURTESY VEHICLE PROVIDED WITH ALL FAULT & NON FAULT ACCIDENTS ◆ MOT & SAFETY INSPECTION FREE INSPECTION FOR YOUR M.O.T ££££ BOOK YOUR MOT & SAFETY INSPECTION WITH US, AND RECEIVE £40 WORTH OF BRAKE PADS ££££ ◆ ANY DRIVER WANTING TO JOIN OUR CUDWORTH TAXI GOLF TOURNAMENT CONTACT SAB OR LEANNE ON 020 7247 9157 INFO@CUDWORTHTAXI.CO.UK Company Registration No. 6774223 • VAT Registration No. 945 2400 38
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Issue 290 - TAXI Newspaper

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