taxi evolution

It’s only gradually dawned on me that Cairo is suddenly filled with lots of brand new white checkered taxis. Those all have meters. I think the government helped encourage or subsidize the shift to these cars. Even the old beat up black-and-white taxis are starting to have meters more often. Generally the meter fares are less than I would have paid anyway, with the one exception of downtown-to-Zamalek, for which 5 Pounds was a generous fare for many years, but the meters now always show about 5.75, meaning that you ought to pay the driver about 7.

Though it might sound crazy, the former taxi system in Cairo was that there were no meters in any taxi. You just had to know the right fare for any given trip, and if the driver became angry and shouted at you at the end, you had to learn how to tell the difference between genuine anger and bluffing. This whole process involved a rather complicated set of skills that was difficult to master, but once you mastered it, it was a fun skill to have. So I suppose I’ll be a bit nostalgic for it when it’s gone, bad system though it was. And it looks like it may be gone soon.