Overtaken by ride-hailing apps, yellow taxi drivers lament

AMMAN — Prices of yellow taxis have dropped 30 per cent over the course of the year due to competition in the sector, according to the vice president of the Taxi Drivers Association.

“Yellow taxi drivers are struggling, so are taxi office owners. Currently, the price of a yellow taxi is approximately JD40,000 which shows the huge downturn in the yellow taxi industry,”  Vice President Ahmad Judu told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

Judu said there is “no stability” in this sector due to the massive number of ride-hailing cars, which has surpassed 13,000 vehicles. He added that unlicensed drivers, whose numbers exceed 20,000, have taken thousands of taxi driver jobs.

A “lack of regulation” has negatively impacted the daily income of the sector’s drivers, as yellow taxi drivers’ demands to responsible bodies have not been met, the vice president said.

“Countless numbers of vehicles are illegally picking up passengers, therefore these demands should be met to give everyone their right to gain a living by work,” Judu stressed.

Among the demands made by yellow taxi drivers are the cancellation of ride-hailing applications’ promo codes, a cap on the number of ride-hailing cars and pricing limits to be set by the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC), Judu added.

The ministry and the LTRC are responsible for revitalising the sector following the withdrawal of many yellow taxis due to ride-hailing cars, he said, noting that the government should allow the yellow cabs to establish their own licensed application that will help them keep up with the changes that ride-hailing technology has triggered.

“The prevalence of ride-hailing applications and unlicensed drivers has decimated the taxi industry, and I think that within five years, taxis will be a thing of the past,” a taxi driver who preferred to remain anonymous told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday.

“Years ago, I used to earn JD25 a day and now I would be over the moon if I get JD8 in a day,” he added.