By Lawrence Enyoghasu

Some Lagos taxi drivers have cried out for help over dwindling fortunes in their business.

They say three factors have contributes to their woes. These include the low fees charged by Uber and Bolt drivers, the alleged decision by some Lagos estate managements not to allow yellow taxicabs access into their domains, and the hiking of their taxes followed by the recent introduction of “Lagos Ride” by the Lagos State government.

They claim that except something is done urgently by the government transport authorities to alleviate their suffering, they may be out of business sooner than later. In the past, they were regarded as the Lord of the Manor, the holder of the knife and tuber of yam, as far as taking a ride within Lagos city was concerned. They determined how much you paid and how far they could go with you. You either took their price or left it. To many passengers, their charges sounded exorbitant and unreasonable. But they cared little for your feeling or opinion. You had the choice either to pay the charges they gave you or look for some other means to find your way around Lagos.

Nature of change

Not so anymore. The entrance of Uber service into Lagos in 2014, followed by Bolt two years later in 2016, simply knocked the bottom out of their business. Now, the recent introduction of the Lagos Ride by the Lagos State government has ended up worsening their plight. Hence their cry for urgent help and immediate rescue. These men who in the past called the shots in the taxi business were mainly retirees from government work. They either surrounded their cars to be painted in the yellow taxi colour ,which they later put out for use or they used hire-purchase cars to earn a living.

According to John Ademiluwa, Chairman of Good Morning Taxi Park, Alimosho, Lagos, the taxi business was affected majorly by the government’s inability or lack of foresight to come up with a “development sustaining policy,” for taxi drivers. He said: “I started in 1999. In those days, things were better as customers (passengers/clients) patronised taxis a lot. We were formerly using Jakande’s colour. That is yellow. When Fashola came, he introduced a new taxi system. Things were still fine. There were different taxis in town then introduced by politicians. It included Metro and Blue Taxi. But when the competition became high, some people dropped out. Then some people came to make research about our operations. We willingly gave them the information they were looking for. I believe it was this information that birthed Uber and Bolt transport systems. We were not charging as low as they do now. Our problem was compounded by some estate officials who stopped us from entering inside their estates. Because of this, nobody wanted to board the yellow taxi again. I can even say that that decision affected us first before these taxi companies, Uber and Bolt, came into town.”

But he insisted that their woes were compounded with the introduction of Lagos Ride which he said is even more expensive than the services they, the taxi drivers, offer. He said: “The association and government are still negotiating.” He informed that although competition appears to be tough for him and his ilk with the entrance of these three giant taxi companies, “I still have passengers that patronise me. There is a customer that would not use Uber as long as I am free.” All the same, he said he would refuse to shy away from the hard truth. He confessed: “Business is very bad now. I have to remit a certain amount and still provide for my family’s needs. The problem we have was compounded by politicians who were after their pockets. At my age, if I opt to do business with Lagos Ride, when will I finish paying for a car that cost N7m? Government is cheating us because we pay association and individual taxes to the government. But these taxi service companies only pay tax as a company and not as individual drivers.”

Government role

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Adebayo Dopemu, a retired military officer agreed with Ademiluwa on what he tagged the double roles being played by the government. He insisted that the government is after its own interest of collecting taxes and not after the development of the cab drivers. He was also full of lamentations when he recalled his own experience: “I joined the business after I retired as a soldier. I started work because I didn’t want to sit at home expecting my pension. One thing I can say is that unlike these other companies, Uber, Bolt and Lagos Ride, there is no security on this job. You provide security by yourself. If a passenger approaches me, I would need to monitor his utterances. From there I would know the kind of person he is before I do business with him.

The government needs to provide opportunities for old drivers to train new ones. But they are just after the money. Uber drivers are doing well. In fact, many of our guys have repainted their cars and gone to join them and it has affected our business. But one can’t complain too much; we have our business to run.”

Adewale Adenugba, who hails from Ekiti State, also lamented the poor daily income brought about by the entrance of the three taxi companies. He gave an account of his own experience: “I started doing this job around 2007. Before then I was working in an office as a clerk. It was the available job at the time. The chairman of the unit also used to work with me. When I left, I called him and he introduced me to the job. It was an easy one for me because I could drive and I knew almost everywhere in Lagos. But now things are not so anymore.”

He too pointed out the security implications of their job. He claimed that whereas drivers of these three taxi companies enjoy a high level of security, it is not so with them. In a chat with Saturday Sun, he explained thus: “I have met different kinds of people on this job; we can’t call them friends nor strangers because they are our customers. There are good ones and fraudsters among them. There are a lot of people you will give a ride and they would rob you after getting to their destinations. Some would disappear with your money. Many a time our drivers had been robbed. The only thing then was that the job was rewarding. There was money to do anything and everything. I was my own master. I started with my car before it broke down later. I got another car on hire purchase. But I have yet to finish paying because the business is not as lucrative as it used to be. It started changing the moment Uber and Bolt came into the business. They made most of the passengers. Whenever passengers came we would haggle prices. But now Uber and Bolt have fixed prices, which may look cheaper than ours. But it is not so.”

Futile attempts to be like Uber, others

Asked why Uber, Bolt and Lagos Ride’s deep foray into the taxi business in Lagos, had not prompted them to go into some soul searching, he said: “The taxi drivers association tried in those days to get a mega taxi platform. But the problem was the senior officers who were not sincere with us. It was supposed to be a poverty alleviation programme. But it is now a poverty addition programme. The government should have given those vehicles to us at a very low price. We ran it for a year before it packed up. We thought they wanted to do us a favour but they were killing us. There were new Corolla cars then.

Now, Lagos government has brought another project that has turned political. They are still doing verification for one year. But all the same, I feel the government has a valid point when they introduced Uber and other taxi companies. They said that they did it to remove rickety cars. But they should have made it more flexible for people to join. In other countries, their government collaborates with the already existing taxi association. Uber should have been regulated by an association. If the government was sincere, the Lagos Ride should have been made to compete favourably with other taxi companies. We have discussed with our members not to charge high fees because of the competition. We have also trained them on how to relate with customers. Since then, we have seen some customers who are willing to do business with us.”

The Airport Cab Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) is also left out in the outcry and the Macedonian call for help over the declining business. Mr. Adeniyi Olayinka crowned a hero some time ago for returning $2400 to a passenger, confessed that he is embittered over the whole development. He said: “We no longer have customers as before. These Uber drivers have taken over the business from us. Once someone is landing at the airport, local or international, he or she would have already booked for a ride from the checkpoint.

We would sometimes stop some from picking passengers because we paid for the right to do business here. The government collects special tax from us and we have to guard it. But sometimes, these guys would go to the extent of claiming that it is their relatives that they came to pick. Some would put a friend in the cab just to fool us. I must be sincere with you; the business is dwindling. But we still enjoy some grace through the good name we have acquired over the years and through good association.  That is why some people still patronise us.”