Trying to make a living driving a taxi in an empty city

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Mazatlán, Sinaloa (June 13, 2020).- At the end of the ’90s, when Jorge Alberto Patrón started working as a taxi driver, the business was living its best of times, without so much competition, it was enough to have a good life and give itself some luxuries, but for three years the Things changed, first with the advent of digital platforms, and now with the Covid-19.

With the semi-empty streets and the restrictions on the transfer of passengers, the hours become eternal at the public transport site, where he is eagerly waiting for the radio communicator to request his services.

On Miguel Alemán Avenue, just 15 meters from the bus terminal, Jorge Alberto is waiting patiently. Onboard his green Eco taxi, the experienced driver is patient, sometimes it takes up to three hours for a client to come up.

For 31 years this man has been a member of the municipality’s public transport service, which currently has a vehicle fleet of 4,500 units.

Jorge Alberto became a “cabbie” after his father, since he was a permit holder and drove his own taxi, a job that he inherited years later.

In the 90s, there were only three organizations that offered passenger transportation services in Mazatlan: Pulmonías, Aurigas, and taxis, which perfectly covered the demand, both for locals and for national and foreign tourists, during the holiday season.

Recently, with the online platforms such as Uber, Cabify, etc., more competition appeared on the scene, y things got a little more diffcult.

But, Jorge Alberto stated that in all the years he has worked as a taxi driver, he had never suffered an economic crisis like the one he is experiencing right now by the health contingency.

Jorge Alberto Patrón (Photo: OEM)

Jorge Alberto finally said that he hopes that human beings can overcome this pandemic, he longs to return to the days when he was moving around in his taxi from one place to another, without a face mask, mouth cover, or gloves.

“In the new normal, things will change a lot for me and myhis fellow taxi drivers”, he concluded.

Source: OEM

The Mazatlan Post