Anyone who passes by Al-Ghaza neighborhood near the Grand Mosque will notice the snaking line of taxis and their drivers as they shout out the destinations they serve: Jeddah, Madinah and Taif.
The drivers don't negotiate fares much these days as they are more concerned with picking up passengers quickly and leaving the area before a traffic officer spots them and gives them a ticket for parking and soliciting customers outside of the designated areas.
With no taxi stands near the Grand Mosque, many taxi drivers go to the area close to the Makkah-Jeddah Highway, away from the Grand Mosque and the eyes of the traffic officers, to get passengers.
Before the expansion of the Grand Mosque started, taxicabs used to wait for customers in a parking area that simultaneously served as a taxi stand near Jarwal neighborhood, which is close to the Grand Mosque.
Drivers did not have to worry about getting ticketed then. However, the area had to be demolished because of the expansion project, leaving taxi drivers in a lurch.
‘We need to unionize'
Ahmad Al-Otaibi, who owns a taxicab, complained that authorities have not allocated a new parking area for taxicabs in place of the one that was removed.
“We don't have any places to park our cabs and get customers. We have to roam the streets of Makkah searching for passengers. The other problem we continue to face is the people who use their private vehicles as taxis and most of them are expatriate workers who want to make some money on the side,” Al-Otaibi said.
“There is a bus station but there is no taxi stand,” he said angrily, blaming the concerned authorities for their failure to provide a place for taxis to wait for customers. He suggested that taxi drivers form a union to demand and protect their rights.
Traffic fines
All taxi drivers Okaz/Saudi Gazette reporter met complained that there aren't any taxi stands near the Grand Mosque anymore. They said the money they make as cabdrivers is their only source of income and they do not have any other jobs but picking up passengers near the Grand Mosque has become extremely difficult because traffic police officers do not let vehicles stop in the high-traffic area.
Salih Al-Malki, who owns a taxi, said all drivers like him suffer immensely from this problem, and he questioned why buses have a station but taxis have not been allocated a stand near an important area like the one near the Grand Mosque.
“Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and visitors come to Makkah every year and most of them want to go visit historical places that hold significant religious importance for Muslims.
“They need taxis to visit these places but we have no way of picking up such passengers and they have no way of hailing us,” he said while adding that the traffic fines taxi drivers get in the city eat up a big portion of their profits.
Promises
Taxi drivers said they want the authorities to step in and take their condition into consideration as most of them have families to provide for. They also called on the authorities to stop expatriate and Saudi drivers who use private cars as taxis to pick up passengers in the city.
“It is important that a taxi stand should be made available in the Central Area near the Grand Mosque as this will serve the interests of pilgrims and visitors and of taxi drivers,” said one driver on condition of anonymity. A source in Makkah Development Commission said the Central Area will have bus and train stations as well as taxi stands when the development projects have been completed.
