New cabbies struggle to get to grips with Yangon streets
Taxi drivers from out of town are lost in Yangon, exasperated passengers are complaining. In the absence of a system for testing cabbies’ knowledge of the city streets as part of their licensing requirement, many passengers end up having to give directions.
Cheaper car imports – and vehicle rental fees – have tempted many from upper Myanmar to take up the profession, putting downward pressure on drivers’ profits. This has prompted experienced cabbies to quit and look for other work.
“At the end of January, I hired a taxi to go to Pansodan,” said Ma Hnin See, who lives in Thuwunna. “After we set off, he asked for directions, saying he’d just arrived from Mandalay and didn’t know the streets in Yangon.”
Hlaing township resident Ma Su Su hailed a cab one evening last week in front of People’s Park to take her to Parami Sein Gay Har supermarket. “At first I was happy, because some taxi drivers don’t want to go there at that time because of traffic jams. But when he set off in the wrong direction, I asked him where he was going. He didn’t answer, so I told him to stop,” she said. “He said he’d forgotten the route because it was so long since he’d driven. I had to give him directions.”
Some sceptical passengers think this apparent ignorance is just a way of inflating fares.
“It’s their job to know the streets. They’re just pretending not to know the way. If the driver and the passenger don’t know the way, then they would be in trouble,” said Ko Thet Naing, adding, “I always record the taxi number and phone home to let them know I’m coming.”
But there is no requirement for taxi drivers to have ever even driven in Yangon before picking up their first passengers. They are only required to hold a gagyi or nga driver’s licence – named after the fourth and fifth characters in the Myanmar alphabet – which entitles them to drive throughout the country.
“That means we can’t take action against them just because they don’t know the streets of Yangon,” said U Kyaw Aye Lwin, head of the district Road Transport Administration Department.
Even the chair of the taxi licensing authority says cabbies have asked him for directions.
“It’s even happened to me. I hailed a taxi whose driver asked me for directions,” said U Hla Aung, chair of the Yangon Region Supervisory Committee for Motor Vehicles, better known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Hta Tha.
“Cab drivers should be professional and provide a full service to passengers, and value for money. That means learning their way around the city. The mindset needs to change.”
Ma Hta Tha took over responsibility for city taxi registration from Yangon City Development Committee on October 1, 2014. But U Hla Aung said they have no plans to introduce a requirement for drivers to demonstrate knowledge of the city streets before the licence is issued.
According to Ma Hta Tha, the number of taxis in Yangon almost tripled – from 20,000 to 55,000 – in the 18 months to October last year. The figure does not include taxis registered in states or regions other than Yangon that are operating in the city in violation of municipal laws.
Police say that while the majority of taxis are licensed, some driver are not.
“We do come across taxi drivers not in possession of the correct licence. This happens more at night than during the day. But under the 1989 law, the fine is only K1500,” said Traffic Police Captain Win Lwin. He added that passengers “should record the taxi registration number when they hire a cab”.
Many experienced local taxi drivers have quit because of low pay, and newcomers, many from upper Myanmar, have replaced them, according to drivers.
“Young people from upper Myanmar and former trishaw drivers don’t know the streets very well,” said cab driver U Kyaw Zaw. “Drivers should at least know the important locations and tourist attractions of Yangon. But when I take a cab, drivers are always asking me how to get to the destination.”
And driver U Ko Ko Gyi said many drivers had taken up the work after the government had allowed a flood of new vehicles into the country. Many were unfamiliar not just with the street system, but even with the rules of the road. “The taxi industry is already completely broken,” he said.
(Quote from Myanmar times online website on June 3 2015)