Threats of violence. Intimidation. Price fixing. Extortion. All this sounds like the work of a criminal gang in some movie set in London’s East End in the 60s and 70s. However, this isn’t a movie I’m talking about — it’s happening right here, right now, in Bahrain.

Anyone who gets a taxi on a regular basis will know what I’m talking about! A few stories have come to my attention of harrowing experiences suffered by close friends that I feel need to be brought to light.

Recently, a friend of mine was visiting Bahrain over the F1 weekend. Since I was otherwise engaged he had to get a taxi from Juffair to the Exhibition Avenue area to come and meet me. As the driver stopped, he had the nerve to demand ten dinars! Luckily my friend was visiting from Dubai, and knew the local currency, and that no five minute journey should cost AED100. So he told the driver that it was far too much, at which point he became irate.

My friend suggested two dinars, but the taxi driver wouldn’t go below seven. So, my friend, tiring of the argument, gave him three and got out. The taxi driver jumped out as well and chased him screaming and shouting into a hotel lobby! He threatened to call the police, at which point my friend told him that this sounded like a great idea, and offered to do it himself. At this point, the driver shouted obscenities at him and left.

This isn’t an isolated case. A female friend suffered the same treatment when taking a
taxi from the Sheraton to Seef Mall. The driver demanded six dinars, she gave him three. He jumped out of his taxi, abandonin it in the middle of the road, blocking a queue of traffic, and followed her screaming and shouting into the mall! His behaviour became so aggressive that she ended up giving him the other three dinars in fear for her safety, and also in embarrassment at the scene that he was causing. He then walked off shouting abuse over his shoulder at her, leaving her visibly shaken.

And that’s not all! In another incidence, a female friend of mine tried to argue after a
taxi demanded five dinars, and he promptly locked her in and drove off at speed, shouting that he was going to take her back to where he picked her up! Again, afraid for
her safety, she threw a fiver into the front seat, and he screeched to a halt, shouted at
her to get out some distance away from her destination, and sped off.

I have to say, though, that I’ve taken a few taxis myself, and never had such an experience. It’s always been reasonable, although some bargaining has been required!

Many taxi drivers nowadays are producing crumpled bits of paper covered in numbers to
justify their ridiculous demands in response to people’s protests about their prices,
stating that these are the new rates. So, I decided to do a little digging to find out the
real story behind these claims.

After going through the predictable chain of phone calls, being passed from one person to the next, before being told to ring a different department or ministry, I finally got through to the right place — the Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Affairs Directorate, where I spoke to the very helpful Lt. Col. Khalid Rabih Al Dossery, who had a lot of interesting things to say! According to the Traffic Directorate, by law, taxi drivers should have their meter running from the start of your journey. HOWEVER, Lt. Col. Khalid did go on to say that these meters are now over ten years old, and many of them are not in working condition, (so you can pretty much guarantee that NONE of them are going to be on!). He said that the company that produced the current meters is no longer operational, so they have been unable to get maintenance or replacements for them.

New meters, though, are actually in the process of being shipped over from America.
By the time you read this article 500 will have arrived, and by the end of May they will
start installing them in the cars.

And as for these tattered bits of paper, it seems that they’re not complete nonsense
after all. The old rates have been in effect since 1994, and are therefore a little behind
the times. So, the taxi drivers understandably got together and moved the Ministry to
introduce new fares more reflective of current economic conditions. However, some
of them are using these fare changes to charge whatever they like, so to clear things
up, the new fare charges are as follows:

The fare charges have been divided up into two time periods, 6am to 10pm, and 10pm to 6am. Charges are slightly higher at night. During the daytime hours, from the start of
the fare, BD1 will be charged, and an extra 200fils for every kilometre after that. During
the night time hours, BD1.250 is charged at the beginning, and an extra 250fils per
kilometre afterwards.

Now, extra charges will be introduced for taxi’s waiting at a taxi rank, a minimum of
BD2, but only for taxis waiting at the airport! “We want taxis to be moving around, not waiting around,” says Lt. Col. Al Dossery. “We want them to search for fares, so that
you can catch one easily in any busy area.”

So, it seems that, while new, more favourable rates have been introduced in the interests of the taxi drivers, they have been using the rate change to demand what ever they feel like. Until the meters are
introduced, this is going to continue.

However, in July of this year we should start seeing working meters in taxis, and can start demanding that they be switched on.

Once the new meters have been installed, a complaints hotline will be set up to allow people to report unacceptable behaviour by taxi drivers. In the meantime, any complaints should be forwarded to the Traffic Affairs Directorate on 17 681-800,
or 17 680-888.