Greek cabbies are getting my sympathy vote. After four years in Athens I have come to rely on the yellow taxis to transport me cheaply around the city and until now they haven’t let me down. It’s the first time in my life I’ve managed without a car, reliant on the three- or four-euro fares that have always brought me safely home.
It’s true, I’ve often had to stand in the middle of the road shouting to hail one: the driver is likely to have a hands-free approach, juggling mobile and cigarette, and is very often wearing no seat belt.
But many times alone at night they have seen me securely inside the flat door, and once, when I left my wallet on the seat, they were back the next day to deliver it, refusing any reward.
We might have given numerous free rides to old ladies in black and students with backpacks and driven circuitous routes with the metre turned off, but I can honestly say I have never been ripped off. I hear it happens around the tourist hotspots of the Acropolis; I know I am sometimes mystified about where they are going and why they won’t pick me up, but for the first time ever, I have lived carless and carefree.
So I understand why Dimitri, from my local radio cab company, in the EU capital with apparently the most taxis per head of population, has turned off his light. Licences have become ever more expensive: there’s the built-in cost to cover pensions.
For Dimitri, whose father and uncle co-own the cab, the start-up was around 100,000 euros. In one act of parliament, they are likely to see that money lost forever as the government de-regulates and introduces flat-rate licences for around 3,000 euros.
Protectionism has meant security and security has come at a cost. They have been willing to drive the 12-hour shifts 24/7 with the knowledge that once the loan was paid off they at least had a business asset for the future of their family.
Of course, the current action seen since mid July, voiding the roads of the ubiquitous canary cabs has caused disastrous disruption to the economy and tourism, especially at the ports, where cruise liners have been diverted and on the motorways, where striking drivers waved us through free as police looked idly on.
But they have a justified grievance, you cannot change a system overnight: it’s simply not fair. In the last year, Dimitri explains, they have been cleaning up the industry, self-regulating and responding to government directives.
Receipts given for every journey, tax paid, even no smoking signs displayed. But higher fuel costs and increased interest rates on loans have already meant a reducing income.
“Why wouId I want to strike at the busiest time of year for airport runs, unless I was desperate?” he asks. I have to agree. Even in a crisis you need a cabbie’s common sense.
