Cairo taxis

Too lazy to take the Metro home from the suburbs, so I returned by taxi. A few things about Cairo taxis…

*the majority are beat-up black and white cars, recognizable from a distance because they almost always have a luggage rack on top. Black and white is only for Cairo cabs– each Governorate in Egypt has its own two-color pattern (black and yellow in Alexandria, for instance).

*the black and white cabs have meters that often do not function, and in any case are simply ignored. The story I’ve heard is that they were all calibrated too far in the distant past to be in any way fair to the drivers. So, you have to know how much to pay for where you are going.

*there is also a small percentage of black and yellow metered cabs now, a recent addition in the past few years. These have a reputation for being more expensive than the black and whites. But since I tend to overpay the normal cabs on purpose, the metered cabs almost always give a significant discount from what I would be prepared to pay.

*if you’re male, it looks goofy to sit in the back seat, and the driver might even give you a mildly strange look. You’re supposed to sit in the front seat next to the driver. For women it is not only socially acceptable, but also a wise idea, to sit in the back.

*if the driver asks you how much you plan to pay him shortly after the cab starts moving, it is almost always a bad sign, and if they keep it up I always tell them to stop the car immediately and I get out. The honorable professional style among drivers is to say nothing about the fare until the end. Once in awhile there’s an argument after you pay them if they feel shortchanged, and a bit more often there will be pouty lips or a stare, but those are a pretty small percentage of the ride (unless you’re a consistent cheapskate)

*Asking how much I plan to pay before I get in is understandable, though not usual, since they might be trying to figure out if it’s worth their while in view of the traffic jams in various parts of the city at various times. Actually, there are two kinds of situations here– the ones who really worry about whether your fare will equal the traffic hassle of a given destination, and the ones who are trying to cheat you. My solution for separating the wheat from the chaff is to force them to tell me how much it should cost, and I judge their honesty from the response they give. If they quote an especially humble fare in these cases, I always make sure to tack on a bit more than they wanted.

*Some smoke cigarettes while driving. And it’s a charming feature of Egypt that of such drivers, 100% offer you a cigarette first before lighting their own. I think in literally every case of a smoking taxi driver that I have seen in 9 years here, they have done this. And whenever I decline and tell them that I only smoke shisha, it’s always good for an easy icebreaking laugh.

*Shortly after I arrived, a new strict seatbelt law was introduced, and the drivers would insist that you put one on (if they had them; not all cabs did). This seems to be less strictly enforced with the passage of time. What’s especially funny are the fake seat belts in some cabs that don’t even work, and in those cases you sort of have to go along and pretend to be wearing one if the driver asks you to do so.

*An estimate: 20% of the taxi drivers are playing Qur’an readings (stunningly beautiful, especially at night); maybe 30% are playing local pop music; the other 50% drive in silence. These estimates might be a bit off; they are a rough guess.