Driving in a man's world

If you think life as a taxi driver is hard, try being a woman in the job. They face the same problems as their male counterparts while juggling family lives and dealing with passengers who try to take advantage of their gender. NURRIS ISHAK tags along to soak in a day in the life of women taxi drivers in the city MAKING a living as a taxi driver requires more than just encyclopedic knowledge of the roads. It takes a lot of skill, dexterity and patience as well as instinctive knowledge of the traffic conditions according to the time of day. And for women taxi drivers, it takes a lot of courage, gut instincts and a knack for balancing their careers and home life.

Getting surprised looks from their passengers is normal. After all, they are a rare breed in a male-dominated field.

For Sharifah Nurani Syed Jamaluddin, 48, one of the few full-time female taxi drivers in the city, being intimidated by some male passengers is a chance she has to take every day.

A former public relations officer, Sharifah took to driving a taxi to look after her eldest son who suffers from brain damage.

When her maid was sent back to Indonesia, Sharifah quit her job as a public relations officer to care for him.

"It is very hard to find someone who can look after a special adult, so I decided to drive a taxi. I now have time to look after him and take him to the hospital whenever there is an emergency," says Sharifah.

Having had a public services vehicle (PSV) licence for the past 15 years, Sharifah decided to put it to good use and applied for a taxi permit. Though it was tough paying her bills for the first few months, she found herself settling into her new career comfortably.

"I like to move around and I like to talk. The job is good because you get your pay at the end of the day. You have cash in hand instead of having to wait till the end of the month as in a regular 9-5 job. Being able to speak English fluently is an advantage, as many foreigners use taxis to get around.

"Malaysians, too, can be quite generous. They would usually let me keep the change, especially when they know that I have take them to their destination via the shortest and fastest route possible.

"Maybe it's one of the advantages of being a female taxi driver," she chuckles. "But there are those who would try and wriggle their way out of paying their fares."

Like many of her counterparts, Sharifah takes several precautions while doing her rounds.

"My male colleagues have given me plenty of advice, one of which is that when I pick up a male passenger, I should make him sit in front instead of behind me, so that I"ll always have him in sight. I also make it a habit not to carry too much cash with me, so whenever I have more than RM30 to RM40 with me, I would head for the nearest cash deposit machine."

Sharifah usually picks up passengers from shopping malls, hospitals and housing areas, and often give priority to families and women.

"I tend to worry when I have to pick up more than one male passenger. In this business, instincts play a big part. When I get strange vibes from a potential passenger, I won't take him. So far, my instincts have been pretty good."

Her colleague, Safiah Jantan, 44, agrees. "Sometimes, my instincts would kick in. After driving around for a while, meeting hundreds of people, you get to sense these things."

She says some passengers would advise her to keep a weapon in the cab, but she prefers to be armed with a prayer. And a can of really super-strength pepper spray.

"When I first started driving taxis, I used to drive around till 1am, 3am, and most of my passengers at the time were people who had just finished work or who had just finished partying at the clubs.

"My boss used to caution me about driving at night, saying that it is dangerous for a woman. He even offered to increase my allowance should I choose to stop driving at night, but I declined."

The pint-sized lady is used to getting surprised looks while ferrying her passengers.

"I get quite a lot of people asking me questions like why I chose to drive a taxi, and if I ever feel afraid. My passengers would always advise me to be careful on my routes.

"Quite a few male passengers would try to flirt with me, asking if I was married and so on. It's all in a day's work," she laughs. "So far, I've been lucky."

Safiah began driving a taxi part-time in 1996 while she was still holding down a full-time job.

"My friend would drive his cab until 5pm, then he would pick me up at my office and after sending him home, I would start driving around until the early hours in the morning. At first, I was very nervous because I wasn't too familiar with the roads. I would ask my passengers to show me the way. After awhile, I became familiar with the streets in Kuala Lumpur."

After getting the hang of it, Safiah decided to quit her full-time job and took on driving taxis fulltime.

"Driving a taxi is much better than being stuck in an office all day long. You get out more, gain new experience, get to know the roads and meet new people every day. You get to know more about what is going on around the country. It certainly widens your world."

Her day starts at 6.30am and ends at 11pm, with the occasional breaks in between. The job requires an enormous amount of self-discipline and persistence, and taking long breaks would mean lesser profit, she said.

"The times are hard. Once I was able to make around RM200 a day. Now I'd be lucky if I make RM30 to RM40 a day after taking into account the cost of fuel."

Like many of her colleagues, Safiah has regular customers who rely on her efficient driving skills to get them to their workplace, college or school on time. After picking up her regular customers and sending them to their destinations, she would then drive around the city to pick up other passengers.

For Sharon Chin, 54, driving a taxi was not a matter of choice. As a single mother of three, she saw it as a job which allows her enough flexibility to look after her school-going children.

"When they are sick, I could take them to the clinic or hospital. I do have to work the occasional long hours, but it's not too taxing. I always make sure that they have food on the table, and when I come home, no matter how tired I am, I would check on their homework."

As a woman taxi driver, Chin is quite selective of her customers. "If I am driving in a red-light area, I am always wary of taking passengers who look like they are the worse for the wear. If they stagger around, or look a little off-kilter, I would not pick them up.

"It may be against the practice but I honestly don't care. At the end of the day, if the person poses a danger, I am the one who has to face the music, not those who say that taxi drivers should not be choosy about their passengers."

Chin also has a repertoire of regular customers which she feels provide a regular income, and have become more like her extended families.

"They would come into my taxi and update me about the goings-on in their families. Sometimes, I'd get invited to weddings and birthday parties."

DAILY DANGERS:

THOUGH there are no official statistics on the number of taxi drivers robbed or killed, these reports in the NST give an indication of just how dangerous the job can be:

In April, 42-year-old taxi driver Anuar Ahmad, an Indonesian with permanent resident status, was found dead, shot in the head and chest, in a rubber estate about 2km off Jalan Rawang-Kuang.

In March, two men and a teenager were charged with robbing a taxi driver of his taxi, two mobile phones, a blue jacket and RM150. P. Munisvaram, P. Prakash and a 17-year-old boy claimed trial to robbing Jamrin Siden, 35, in Jalan Sg Choh, Bukit Beruntung on March 8.

In December 2006, taxi driver Sah Hoong, 57, was robbed by a couple who boarded his taxi. Ignoring the cold hard blade held to his neck by the male assailant, Sah pushed away the robber's hand and grabbed the weapon. The surprised robber got out of the taxi and ran off. Sah, who was injured on his neck and thumb, lost his wedding ring and RM120 to the robbers.

In September 2006, taxi driver Hong Chee Kwee, 46, who earned about RM300 a day, was stabbed to death after a botched robbery in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong. Hong had apparently put up a fight and the robbers fled. His mobile phone and a pouch containing his wallet with some cash were still in the taxi.

In April 2006, a security guard was charged in the Sessions Court with assaulting a taxi driver during a robbery on Jan 24. S. Balakumaran, 19, pleaded not guilty to hurting Muhammad Shopi Murtada, 40, at Kampung Maya, Salak Selatan, at 2am on Jan 24.

In June 2005, taxi driver Wong Chin Fwo, 45, a father of three from Raub, died after being stabbed by a passenger over an argument. Wong, who plies the Kuala Lumpur-Genting Highlands route, was believed to have been arguing with three passengers over the fare at the Puduraya terminal, when one of them pulled out a sharp object and stabbed him twice.

In April 2005, Lim Eit Tong's body was found in the boot of his taxi which was left abandoned at an oil palm estate in Ijok, Kuala Selangor. Lim, who is from Petaling Jaya, had three stab wounds on his chest and abdomen. His wallet and cell phone were missing.

To help keep taxi drivers safe, Commercial Vehicle Licencing Board chairman Datuk Markiman Kobiran said the board has proposed that a plastic or glass partition be installed to separate the driver from the passengers.