Shortly after midnight, Haider Zaman is parked on Balfe Street in Dublin’s city centre, presumably waiting on someone in the nearby Bruxelles bar to call it a night.
He is more than halfway through his shift as a taxi driver and will likely continue until 3am or 4am, depending on the amount of work available.
“I would love to leave this as soon as my kids start going to school,” he says.
The 32-year-old father of two young children originally moved to Ireland from Pakistan in 2007.
RM Block
He has been working as a taxi driver for nearly two years, saying it is a “really tough job” but one that provides flexibility and allows him to help out with the children at home.
He works 80, and sometimes 90, hours each week, he says. The money he makes from the first 40 or so hours offsets costs associated with the job, including rent for his car, insurance, petrol and weekly cleaning.
“That means I need another 40 hours to cover the same amount to bring home, I literally have to.”
One of his app accounts, through which members of the public can book rides, was recently suspended for 10 hours after a passenger reported him for having a faulty seat belt, he says, still frustrated at the thought of it.
“I found out the belts were fine and she was plugging it into the wrong one.”
Unlike others who spoke to The Irish Times on a recent Wednesday night, he has “thankfully” never been attacked while working. He has, however, like seemingly all drivers, experienced “a lot of runners” – or those who leave the vehicle without paying.
There is “no way to control it”, he says, describing the loss of significant fares, in particular, as “devastating”.
“You can’t tie anybody to your car, even using a child lock. If somebody decides to run, they come prepared, and I don’t want to fall into a situation to try save €50 or €60 worth of fare where they could stab me and still run away.”
There have been moments where he was close to being “battered out”, he says, noting on one occasion a man, who refused to pay on arriving at Newbridge, Co Kildare, from Tallaght hospital, phoned two of his friends to come outside.
“Luckily, he got out before his friends arrived and I was able to lock my taxi. I asked if he could at least pay me something, and they all came together and started hammering the car, kicking the car and told me to get out of there,” he says.
“I had no choice, that was an €80 loss of fare and I had to come back to Dublin. There’s nothing you can do, you can’t force people to pay.”
Several drivers remarked how taxi drivers are “vulnerable” and “easy targets” due to the nature of their work, unsure of who is sitting behind them or what their intentions are.
“It could be a criminal, a murderer or it could be the nicest person in the world, it could be anybody,” says Zaman.
The vast majority of those working late at night, who spoke to The Irish Times, are originally from abroad, and feel as though they are being “targeted”.
They list off recent assaults and attacks on Indians living in the capital as examples, such as that of a man who was violently assaulted and partially stripped by a group in Tallaght on July 19th.
Others mentioned the violent assault of Dr Santosh Yadav, who said he was left “bleeding everywhere” after being attacked from behind by a group of teenagers in Clondalkin on July 27th.
These attacks are provoking a palpable sense of anxiety among taxi drivers like Owais, a 49-year-old originally from Pakistan who wished to give his surname only.
He has worked a variety of jobs in Ireland over the past 25 years, most recently as a security officer in a psychiatric hospital, before becoming a taxi driver.
“It’s very uncertain,” he says as a large group of Camden Street revellers passes his taxi heading towards Wexford Street, adding: “It’s very rough, especially for the foreigner drivers.”
“I’m here the last 25 years in Dublin and I’ve never been this frustrated and anxious as much as now.
“Most of the time, I’m worried to come out for work, I’m worried about my own health and safety because I don’t know who I’m taking or what will happen.”
On Dame Street the week prior, several young men surrounded his car and tried to open the doors before shaking, punching and spitting at it, he says.
They appeared as though they were going to attack him, he adds.
“They tried to break the side mirror and I managed to move the car and get away.
“I didn’t work the last few days,” he says. He has reported the incident to gardaí.
Pointing to a nearby spot on Wexford Street, Owais says his windscreen was smashed in June.
“He punched it. The fella looked not well. I asked him where he was going and he was aggressive and then he smashed my screen.”
He has become increasingly anxious on hearing of attacks and prefers to drive his children rather than allow them to take public transport.
His children, aged between 11 and their early 20s, have lately tried to stop him from going to work.
“They say I’m not safe, they are really worried about me.
“As much as you feel Irish, I feel myself [I] am Irish after living in this country for 25 years, legally, and paying tax, so I deserve to be safe,” he says.
Several drivers from African countries, in particular, say they have experienced racism while working in Dublin.
“You have to deal with it and move on,” says one man parked on Dame Street. Originally from Nigeria, he has worked as a taxi driver in the capital for almost two decades.
“You meet more drunk people in the night. That makes it more difficult and more challenging,” he adds, as alerts ring from his phone indicating several people nearby wish to go home.
This is alongside a perceived rise in anti-immigrant sentiment.
“When people say: ‘You people came into my country’, I hate that, but we have to be very patient, we cannot fight with someone,” says Zahid Abbasi, originally from Pakistan.
At the nearby base of George’s Street, the midweek nightlife is more alive and almost hectic. Taxis pass in flurries in both directions, bringing those leaving bars home.
Several people appear frustrated that their attempts to flag down a taxi was unsuccessful. Impatience is on the rise among passengers, drivers say.
With the advent of apps such as FreeNow, Uber and Bolt, prospective passengers impatiently cancel trips if drivers are more than several minutes away, they say.
Many drivers take jobs only through these apps now, having built up a lack of trust in those who flag from the side of the road and might fail to pay.
Other drivers, on the other hand, say the vast majority of customers are “decent”.
Some, like Dan Marcu, originally from Romania, who has worked as a taxi driver for eight years in Dublin, almost exclusively at night, have had “no issues so far”.
Parked a few cars up from Owais’s, he says he never feels unsafe or anxious, pointing to his bicep and laughing.
