A day in the life of a taxi driver

Aggressively navigating traffic jams to ensure passengers get to work on time while absorbing shouting, gesturing and swearing from irate motorists, is all in a day’s work for taxi driver Sandile “Bhibhi” Vumba.

He said as much as taxi drivers have earned the reputation of not obeying traffic rules, it is not intentional because traffic officers show little mercy on them.

“It is a survival of the fittest, my brother. During rush hour, you have to ensure passengers arrive at work on time and you also have to complete a certain number of trips during the peak hours.

So you simply cannot afford to get stuck in traffic and have to find a way through.

“I must apologise to Ballito residents in particular for stopping at places where we are not supposed to stop to offload passengers but we are usually under much pressure from them.”

He said if a driver cannot find his way out of the traffic and refuses to stop where passengers ask to be dropped, customers avoid taking the taxi and the driver will end up losing his job.

“Remember, as much as it’s important for passengers to get to work on time, it is also important to us, because if they lose their jobs we also lose passengers.”

Vumba started off as a conductor when he was in seventh grade. He used the income to finance his school needs and help his grandmother in Shayamoya.

After matric, he used his earnings to obtain a driving license and got himself a job as a driver in 2013 with the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association.

Since then, he said, he has seen the good and the bad of the taxi industry. But to keep himself motivated, he only focuses on the good side of his job.

“You need to be mentally strong to deal with the different personalities you transport daily. No matter how rude passengers may be, you have to make sure they get to their destinations safely.

Unfortunately, some drivers don’t have the mental toughness and end up becoming rude themselves. Many guys who started here as polite drivers changed as time went on,” said Vumba.

He is known for his charismatic character, but admits he also has his limits and there are times when he presses the wrong buttons.

By 5am he usually loads his first customers depending on which routes he operates on the day.

“We have a duty list kept by queue marshals and it is the driver’s duty to find out which routes he has been allocated.”

He said what he enjoys most about his job is that he gets to travel around the country, transporting different kinds of people to different locations.

Some of the places he had travelled to were the Eastern Cape, Cape Town and many other tourist attractions around the country.

“I consider myself a lucky man. I have been to places I could never afford to go to on my own, free of charge, and created amazing memories with different people who trusted me to transport them safely. Luckily, taxis now cannot go faster than 110 km/h, so a speeding ticket is the least of my worries.”

While he enjoys travelling, some of the accidents he has witnessed are hard to forget. Fortunately, he said, he has not caused any accidents himself since he started driving.

He said when drivers get traffic tickets, most will not pay because the fines are very high and they cannot afford it, so the tickets pile up.

“So, when traffic cops stop vehicles to check for outstanding warrants, you find drivers running away, some even abandoning their taxis.

“I learned the hard way. I once allowed my fines pile up and one time when the police were checking for warrants, I immediately drove into a sugarcane field and left the taxi there before finding my way to the KwaDukuza court.

“I owed R5 000 and pleaded with the court to have mercy. I was lucky; my fine was lowered to R2 000. Since then, if I get a fine, I pay it. If it is very high, I make arrangements to pay it off or plead for it to be reduced.”

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