As soon as I hop in I know this guy is a 265 guy. A 265 guy is a taxi driver who pays 265 riyals to the company who gives him the taxi for an 11 shift. He takes whatever he makes for that 11 hours. So he can win or lose on this given the amount of custom he receives. A ride is obn aavergae worth 10-20 riyals so he has to work hard. This is different to the wage workers who get paid 1500 riyals a month and can get a small commission if they have a good month. So this guy is 265 guy which means he wants to get as many fares as quickly as possible. So how do I know he’s a 265 guy??. Well for those of you who have been to Doha recently you’ll know that the streets around City Centre Mall are all being redeveloped and when you leave the mall half of the right lane is coned up. This didn’t stop 265 guy as he excelerated to overtake four vehicles down the 300 metres stretch after the speed bump. At this time I’m thinking maybe the back seat would have been a better option. I should feel sort of comfortable as he only hit one of the cones. I try to reassure him that this trip is going to involve multiple stops and will be a good trip riyal wise so we can go sway sway. He just smiles at me with his Bluetooth air piece blinking and floors it along the cornice. We stop at Al Hitmi to check for a key and then we need to head off to Bin Mahmoud. Now 265 guy is taking directions from me so I point him in the direction of the road out towards the Sana. Now these roads are not real roads they’re small access roads/ lanes between apartment blocks. No signage re: giving way or stopping. This is negotiated at the intersection when you see another vehicle. So 265 guy can see down the road to where we want to go. He floors it. 265 doesn’t know this area well but I do. I know that halfway to the Sana there is an intersection and that the road running perpendicular is seen as the bigger of the two. The problem is you can’t see traffic coming because of the construction on the corner and the corrugated iron fence. So I yell, not say or speak but yell SWAYA! And give a hand signal. Thankfully he brakes just before we enter the intersection and a split second later the ute comes flying from the right (my door!). Buggar we still have to get along B Ring pick up my lappy and get all the way back. The fact that I’m writing this will tell you that I made it back in one piece. But the best news was that 265 guy was telling me that there is new management working for Karwa and one of the guys is from NZ and one from the states. In about 4 months all of the 265 guys are going to become wage workers…. All I could say to him was Ahumdiallah!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Taxi Ride
As soon as I hop in I know this guy is a 265 guy. A 265 guy is a taxi driver who pays 265 riyals to the company who gives him the taxi for an 11 shift. He takes whatever he makes for that 11 hours. So he can win or lose on this given the amount of custom he receives. A ride is obn aavergae worth 10-20 riyals so he has to work hard. This is different to the wage workers who get paid 1500 riyals a month and can get a small commission if they have a good month. So this guy is 265 guy which means he wants to get as many fares as quickly as possible. So how do I know he’s a 265 guy??. Well for those of you who have been to Doha recently you’ll know that the streets around City Centre Mall are all being redeveloped and when you leave the mall half of the right lane is coned up. This didn’t stop 265 guy as he excelerated to overtake four vehicles down the 300 metres stretch after the speed bump. At this time I’m thinking maybe the back seat would have been a better option. I should feel sort of comfortable as he only hit one of the cones. I try to reassure him that this trip is going to involve multiple stops and will be a good trip riyal wise so we can go sway sway. He just smiles at me with his Bluetooth air piece blinking and floors it along the cornice. We stop at Al Hitmi to check for a key and then we need to head off to Bin Mahmoud. Now 265 guy is taking directions from me so I point him in the direction of the road out towards the Sana. Now these roads are not real roads they’re small access roads/ lanes between apartment blocks. No signage re: giving way or stopping. This is negotiated at the intersection when you see another vehicle. So 265 guy can see down the road to where we want to go. He floors it. 265 doesn’t know this area well but I do. I know that halfway to the Sana there is an intersection and that the road running perpendicular is seen as the bigger of the two. The problem is you can’t see traffic coming because of the construction on the corner and the corrugated iron fence. So I yell, not say or speak but yell SWAYA! And give a hand signal. Thankfully he brakes just before we enter the intersection and a split second later the ute comes flying from the right (my door!). Buggar we still have to get along B Ring pick up my lappy and get all the way back. The fact that I’m writing this will tell you that I made it back in one piece. But the best news was that 265 guy was telling me that there is new management working for Karwa and one of the guys is from NZ and one from the states. In about 4 months all of the 265 guys are going to become wage workers…. All I could say to him was Ahumdiallah!
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