A taxi passenger is expected to pay 95 cents for a short shuttle. In practice, however, they have two options to settle accounts. Either they have to carry coins worth 95 cents or give a note worth one Birr and expect change of five cents. If the taxi assistant is short of coins, however, passengers ignore the change and leave. These days, however, the woyallas (people who call out destinations and handle fares in minibus taxis) tend to take this trend for granted.

Five cents is just peanuts (maybe two?) in terms of whether it is worth digging deep into one’s pockets for change. But as the old English proverb goes, “Unless you take care of the cents, the pounds will not care of you.” The aggregated amount at the end of the day may not be as nominal as it would seem, considering the number of passengers and the frequency of travel made in one day.

Some passengers try, at least once, to ask for their change. The assistants often look out of the window and bark business as if they have not heard anything. That seems to be a deliberate action intended to ignore the request for the five cents change.

It is not a question of how big or little the amount of money involved is. It is rather an issue of having one’s rights respected. Needless to say, serving the customer is the duty of the taxi driver and his assistant. What is being observed is that the driver keeps mute while the assistant or woyalla engages himself in the argument ritual. It is like the tail wagging the dog instead of the other way round.

The passenger deserves some explanation for the loss of his money. The law leaves no ambiguity about possessing property illegally, whether it is only five cents or not. Possessing somebody’s property illegally is nothing short of stealing. Society, I think, cannot or should not tolerate theft.

“Are we paying five per cent VAT or what?” asked a disappointed passenger after the assistant turned down his request for change. “What is more irritating is that they do not respect people.”

Who are these boys anyway? Some of them have evolved from the status of a runaway or homeless delinquent to sidewalk beggars and then to woyallas. Some were involved in burglary or pick pocketing and then turned into peddlers, while others engaged in the transport service sector. They earn their living from assisting minibus drivers, a career that they turn to in later years. They are citizens of this country and deserve to have their needs met.

Although keeping change or ignoring proper service to customers is a recent trend in the taxi service business, the misconduct of woyallas and drivers, at times, has often been a subject of complaint for many a taxi owner and passenger for years on end.

Taxi owners’ complaints emanate from the terra askebaris or the fellows who have dubbed themselves “timekeepers,” while they act as men who live by the rules of the jungle. Some of them appear from nowhere and claim some charge, as if they have a legal share of the ownership of the city roads on which all vehicles are free to roll so long as they pay their annual dues.

Drivers are vulnerable to all sorts of fees or tips to almost anybody who has the guts to ask for it or the humility to beg for it.

In recent years, the ever-increasing price of oil in the international market seems to have dug deep into the pockets of consumers, including taxi passengers. Every evening at the end of the month is awaited in trepidation of another increase in the prices of fuels. The next day, taxi drivers crown the respective fares with a few more cents. These odd denominations make each passenger liable to either pay the full fare in coins or pay the one Birr note and forget about the return change. It is anybody’s guess where these accumulated coins find their way to.

No one should blame every Bill and Joe for the above offences, minor though they may be. There are some exceptions to the rule. Some woyallas make it a point to give change to every passenger who is entitled. They find it easier to carry plenty of five cent coins and even tell their customers to take the change that is due them.

Perhaps the cruellest form of exploiting passengers is the shortening of route distances. Travellers are made to pay double for short distances for want of other transportation options. A taxi driver who makes the trip to the Agip Station at the end of Belay Zelleke Road from Piazza breaks his route up at Simien Gebeya, counting the stretch from Simien Gebeya to Agip as an extension of the trip. This fetches him at least three times as much as short trips.

Some taxi drivers change their minds in the middle of nowhere and leave their customers to fate.

The general attitude of passivity on the part of customers is a perilous feature that should be avoided as much as possible, so that it does not develop into other more serious issues.

It may not be worthwhile for taxi travellers to spend time arguing over trivialities. However, it should be emphasised that, by not voicing complaints audibly, one sends the message to the woyallas that it is okay to disregard customers’ rights.

BY Girma Feyissa