In the rush to get to a party or catch a train, it can be easy to ignore the person behind the wheel of a last-minute cab.
But Carleton students are well-known to Ottawa taxi drivers for both good and bad reasons — and the drivers have some advice for their customers on how to make the ride smooth and respectful for everyone.
On the good side, taxi driver Macbel Abdullah says he has driven some courteous students and has showed the same courtesy to them.
“Let’s say they have $10, but the fare is $8,” Abdullah says.
The destination would be covered by the $10, but some students will get off at $8 so they can give a tip.
“I said, ‘You know what, because you’re nice, . . . I’m gonna do that [for] you,’ ” Abdullah says.
“So I drove them all the way down for the $10. The $2 you’re going to give to me, I appreciate that, but I have $2,” he adds.
Because students are often on a tight budget, Abdullah says he would rather have students who treat him nicely keep their tip money instead of getting out a few blocks early to give him a tip.
Bassel Azzi says he has been driving a taxi for eight years and has had many bad experiences with drunk students.
“I’ve had a lot of girls flash me,” he says, adding he wants people to tell him if their drinks are about to make a re-appearance so he can stop the car and let them throw up outside.
Azzi says he wishes students would be on time when they call ahead for a taxi.
Both Azzi and Abdullah say they are happy to have conversations with passengers, as long as those customers are not drunkenly yelling at them.
And student disrespect can sometimes be more than just an inconvenience.
Abdullah describes one night when he drove three students to the Heron area.
“They told me, ‘Left, right, left, right,’ ” he recalls.
“As soon as I parked there, they opened the door and [ran] like crazy,” Abdullah says. “Their fare was not even $10. Three guys. For each one, it’s going to cost them $3.”
Pierre Nakhle says he has been driving a taxi for 16 years, and with a 17-year-old daughter in university, he understands students want to have fun and unwind by going out.
“I ask the university to educate. Not just in terms of not having trouble with the drivers,” he says.
“Educate them about all the usual trips they make from Carleton University to the train, or to the bus station, or to the airport, or to the Market, or to downtown, how much this would cost in order to avoid the conflict between the driver and the students.”
He says he also wants to warn students against taking underground taxi services, adding taxis registered with the city are safer and more responsible for passengers and can help find things left behind in the car.
“Especially because now, we have cameras in cars,” he says. “Whatever happened to that customer, he’s safe because the city can download those pictures and find out what happened with that driver.”
While drivers are responsible for being courteous to their passengers, students should be responsible for being respectful, Nakhle says.
“We have to tell our students — in first year, second year, any year — that those cab drivers, they’re out there, responsibly, to serve everybody,” he says. “We like those university students, and we consider them our future in Canada, so they should be a lot nicer than this, in my opinion.”
While Abdullah says he has had rude students who have done things like kick in his car’s door, he empathizes with students’ stress levels, and says he doesn’t hate the students he drives around.
“A student is a human being,” he says. “They are like me, like you. They could make mistakes. They could do good stuff. Nothing’s wrong with them. Our kids, our future. That’s the way I look at them.”