On Saturday I short took a trip in a black cab going from Covent Garden to Canary Wharf, this trip took just over 30 mins and during this trip I made sure to ask a few questions about what it’s like to be a cab driver.
My first question was if he enjoyed it and if it made him happy? His answer was a rather long as he included stories from his past experiences but all in all the reoccurring theme about him driving a cab was that he enjoyed driving a cab, and from listening to him it seems that he does more than simply providing a way for people to get from a to b. He goes on saying that every time, but especially during the later hours, that he has many conversations and interactions with his passengers where he offers an attentive ear as an outlet for people
to share their thoughts with him. He said the most common topic of choice was that of personal relationships, with usually marriage and family issues coming up often. He even says that on the days that he doesn’t feel like going out to drive he still makes sure to go out as he enjoys listening and speaking to the people who get in his cab. He then went on a short rant about how Uber and other minicabs do not, or rather cannot, share such conversations as they lack navigational knowledge of the streets of London, which means they cannot multitask properly as they have to make sure they are following their sat nav properly (he was also keen to point out that ‘Uber drivers can’t even speak English’, which was an angle I previously hadn’t considered for our project but I took it sceptically, as it came from a lowkey ignorant and racist place).
My last question was asking if he ever felt, for the lack of a better term, ‘lonely’ while working and his answer was a categorical "No". He said, rather frankly, that that’s a feeling that he never has had to deal with when driving, saying that one of the many benefits of driving a black cab was precisely the interactions and many conversations that he has with nearly all his passengers.
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