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By Dina Basiony

Frustrated customers, bad-tempered drivers, dilapidated cars and endless negotiations over fares: Cairo’s fleet of black and white taxis is as infamous as it is essential to the city’s public transport. But this situation is something the Ministry of Finance is hoping to make history in a project born as an offshoot of legislation passed last summer.

“Drivers have been using awful, worn-out vehicles. [] The cars break down all the time and cost a lot to repair. The taxi drivers become short tempered, fighting with customers all the time and asking for more money. The customers, on the other hand, don’t feel like they should pay more when they’re getting a bad service,” says Mohammed Shawky, assistant deputy Minister of Finance, who along with Deputy Minister Nabil Rashdan is the brains behind the project.

Under Law 121 of June 2008, drivers of cabs older than 20 years will not have their license renewed if they do not replace their car by 2011. This prompted Shawky and Rashdan to think about how to “help the drivers of old taxis deal with the new law and facilitate the process of purchasing new taxis for them,” says Shawky. “We basically wanted to help the taxi drivers and at the same time help the Egyptian community that has been suffering from dealing with old taxis and bad service.”

The result is a financing plan that allows taxi owners to trade in their old black and white cab for a new all white taxi, purchased through regular monthly payments.

The scheme began in May this year, and so far around 11,000 new taxis supplied by five different car brands have hit the streets of Greater Cairo. The vehicles are white with a chequered black and white stripe down each side. Many have ads plastered over the doors. All are air-conditioned and equipped with meters (with rates set by the government) that actually work, as opposed to the decorative antique meters that grace many of Cairo’s older cabs.

At least 34,000 old taxis in the Greater Cairo area were eligible for replacement under the plan when the new law was introduced, says the Ministry of Finance. Plans to expand to other governorates are still under study as the Ministry waits to see how the new cabs fare on Cairo’s streets. For his part, Shawky believes the new taxis will enhance the relationship between driver and customer, pollute less, and the scheme will stimulate the local vehicle industry. While customers are slowly coming round to the idea, not all taxi drivers are convinced.

Five car companies — Speranza, Peugeot, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Lada — have come on board, providing vehicles for the project at a reduced price. And with car sales up, dealers are understandably enthused by the scheme.

Essam Aboul-Fotoh, sales manager at Lada, describes the Ministry’s project as “a leap of civilization and an important step towards improvement in the appearance of the Egyptian streets. [] Any company should be proud to be part of this project.” At Lada, the scheme has increased sales, resulting in more of the company’s cars on the street, more publicity for the brand and increased employment at Lada factories.

“We dedicated 30% of our production to this project. Even though we’re not making high profits, we’re glad to offer a service that directly affects the country and simply makes our streets look like the streets of the civilized capitals of the world,” says Aboul-Fotoh.

Under the scheme three banks — Banque Misr, Al-Ahly and Bank of Alexandria — have agreed to provide loans for drivers to buy the new taxis. And while the procedures to acquire the new taxi may seem confusing to some drivers, Mohammed Ali, auto loans controller at Banque Misr, says “the procedures are extremely easy. Any driver who thinks the procedures are difficult or take a long time only says that because he’s unaware of the exact procedures.”

For a driver to purchase a new white taxi, they must to be no younger than 21 years old and no older than 65. The driver takes their national ID card, birth certificate and utility bills to any branch of one of the three banks running the project. The bank then checks the documents and checks to see if the driver already has outstanding debts. The process takes three working days, after which the driver can go and select a new car.

“When we first started the project, people were confused. They came with missing papers, expired driving licenses or without their electricity and gas bills, which delayed the process for a couple of weeks,” says Ali. “Now, more people are coming prepared and we want to make everything easier for them, because we think this is a great project,” he says, adding that at Banque Misr the average approval rate for loans to get the new taxis exceeded 90% in June.

After the approval, the taxi driver hands in their old cab to a scrap yard at Km 10.5 on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. In return, the bank pays the first LE 5,000 installment — in essence valuing all old cabs at LE 5,000 regardless of condition. The deal is only available for drivers of old cars; drivers purchasing a taxi for the first time must buy a black and white model.

The subsequent monthly installments vary, depending on which of the five available brands the driver chooses, but the total price is significantly below each car’s standard market value. The Speranza A113 and Lada 2107 cost LE 390 monthly for a total cost of LE 37,000. The Chevrolet Lanos costs LE 670 monthly for LE 48,475 total. The Hyundai Verna is available with gas (LE 790 monthly, LE 53,200 total) or petrol engine (LE 685 monthly, LE 48,900 total). The most expensive car, the Peugeot 405, costs LE 1,205 per month with a price tag of LE 69,750 in total. Other models of these brands are available, some with gas-fuelled engines. There is a monthly payment for mandatory insurance that is fully paid for by advertisements that adorn the car.

Drivers still have the option of replacing their old cabs with new black and white cars, but the financing deals available under the white taxi scheme would not apply. “If a taxi driver went to get a new black and white car from any other vendor, I promise you he’d have to pay double what he’ll pay through this project. The project is really a luxury,” says Ali.

A couple of months have passed since the new taxis appeared on the streets of Cairo. Initially, the sparkling white machines met with skepticism from regular taxi users.

“When I first saw the white taxi I thought it was a private car, not a taxi, because it’s all white and doesn’t look like the taxis we’re familiar with,” says Manal Deriny, 26. “Ironically, one of the white taxi drivers pulled up next to me once and asked, “taxi, lady?” I walked away thinking he was trying to harass me.”

Housewife Fathia Abdel Samea, 45, reacted the same way many customers did when confronted by the new cars: “the new white taxi looks very expensive and the drivers will definitely ask for a lot of money. This is why I don’t use it. I just want to use something that I can afford.”

The good news for customers is that despite the new car, taxi drivers do not have the right to charge more. The new car has a meter with a fixed fare that starts at LE 2.50 and increases at a rate of LE 1.25 per kilometer. There is a fixed charge of LE 15 an hour for waiting, which increases by LE 5 for every extra hour. While there is no specific authority in charge of checking whether taxi drivers abide by the system or not, Shawky advises customers to contact the police or the Ministry of Interior to report any driver who refuses to use the meter or overcharges. The driver will be subject to a fine, or may have his license confiscated.

“The customer will be riding a comfortable Peugeot and paying the same amount of money as they used to pay for an old, uncomfortable black and white taxi,” says Shawky. “There is no reason why the new white taxis should be worrying to the customers or the drivers,” says Shawky.

A month later, as the new car’s started to become more familiar, customers’ opinions began to differ. “I think the white taxi is great, it’s also nice that it has AC because it’s hot now in the summer. The best thing is that I don’t have to name call, swear at, and fight with the driver every time I pay the fare, because they really do use the meters,” says Haitham Waheed, 23.

“The white taxi makes me feel really safe,” says Hend El-Shamy, 14. “It is clean and tidy and the drivers are decent, which makes me feel more comfortable. My friends and I used to have many incidents in the black and white taxis where the driver hits on us or touches us inappropriately while trying to ‘open the broken door for us to get out.’”

Even City Cab, the company that has been running the high-quality yellow cab service around Cairo since 2006, cannot find much to complain about. And far from fearing the competition from legions of air-conditioned new cars, Essam El Sebaee, commercial sector manager for City Cab, believes the cabs will simply target a different segment of the market. “There is no competition between the white cab and City Cab’s yellow taxi, simply because we target different customers.”

City Cab currently has 900 cars working on the streets of Greater Cairo and is struggling to meet demand for its service. “We cover only 60% of the calls we get, so if the white taxi competed with us in the future on, let’s say, 10 to 20% of our customers, we would still be fine.” El Sebaee also points out that the yellow cabs operate under a company that takes orders and can respond to complaints; if a customer has a problem with a white taxi there is nobody to turn to.

Not everyone is thrilled at the new scheme and the legislation behind it — the deadline to remove old cars from the road is making life difficult for taxi drivers all over the capital, regardless of the finance scheme.

“I barely make enough money to support my family and two daughters who are about to get married. How am I supposed to pay for the new taxi?” says El-Sayed Fayed, 57, owner of a 30-year-old black and white taxi, highlighting the concern of many taxi drivers about how to meet monthly payments when they are already struggling to make ends meet.

And it’s not just the money. After years of being at the rough end of government law and order, taxi drivers are distrustful of government measures that will supposedly benefit everyone. “Whether I like it or not, I’m supposed to get a new car by law because my car is very old,” says Shehab Mahmoud, 35. “My problem with the new white car is not the procedures, the payment or the installments, because these are all manageable. My problem is that the project seems too good to be true, and this is not expected from the government.” bt