Farewell to an Abu Dhabi institution.

An article in today's The National bids a fond farewell to one of Abu Dhabi's institutions. When I arrived in Abu Dhabi a scant 5 years ago the only form of public transport was the Green and Gold taxi. As of midnight tonight the last of these will cease to provide a service. A few years ago a more modern Silver taxi was introduced with better trained, uniformed drivers. The Green and Gold taxis were phased out to their ultimate demise at midnight tonight.

When I arrived in Abu Dhabi I relied solely on these taxis for transport around the city. They were cheap. For less than $1 you could get just about anywhere you wanted. The drivers looked like they had just stepped out of the Swat Valley and were generally a friendly bunch happy to be doing what they did.

If you got into the front seat it was usually a signal to the driver that conversation was in order. Their first question was always "where are you from?" Now bearing in mind that most of the drivers were from the sub continent the answer "South Africa" usually drew enthusiastic responses.

In those days there were no messages generated by the meter telling them to slow down and it seems that their sole purpose in life was to try and get to 120 km p h within the city limits. Their favourite spot was the underpass along the Corniche (our beachfront) which had a nice dip to help them gather speed. This acceleration was usually accompanied by an enthusiastic "Aaaah! Hansie Cronje!" in response to my answer to the "where you from?" question. All this usually accompanied by them taking one hand off the steering wheel and their eyes off the road while making batting motions with their now free hand.

The Road Transport Agency decided that the time had come to bring the taxi industry in line with 20th century standards and the new Silver taxis with their smartly uniformed drivers was introduced. Despite the uniforms the drivers are pretty much the same and cricket still seems to be the main 'thing' about being a South African although one now occasionally gets an "Aaaah!! Nelson Mandela!" instead of an "Aaaah! Hansie Cronje!".

I used one of the old Green and Gold taxis a few months ago. They are now in a very bad state of repair and the one I used did not have a working meter and the price was negotiated before we took off. I feel sorry for the last few drivers working these taxis as it is unlikely that they will be employed by the new taxi companies.

I wish the few drivers left a happy New Year and hopefully a successful new revenue stream. And to you my dear reader I hope that you have a happy, healthy and wealthy New Year.

'Til next post...