Taxicab conversations run dry under COVID-19
With passengers confined to the back seat behind a barrier, the taxicab is a much quieter place
There have been big changes in our little corners of the world, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is exploring those changes in a series called Our New Normal.
"We're like bartenders on the road. People seem to want to talk to us, tell us everything that's going on."
Nelson Barnes has heard it all in nearly 20 years as a taxi driver. But since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the chatter inside his taxi has quieted down.
"It's a lot less chit-chat," Barnes said. "The personal touch is not there anymore."
A big reason for that loss is the Plexiglas barrier now bolted between the front and back seats of Barnes's cab. In the early days of the pandemic, taxi companies began requiring passengers to sit in the back seat.
In many big cities, sitting in the back behind a barrier was already standard practice in the taxi industry. But in Newfoundland and Labrador, things used to be different.
"Before the COVID, the passengers will sit in front and enjoy the conversation," said Margarita Kane, another St. John's taxi driver with more than 20 years behind the wheel.
"Because of the barrier in the car, and the mask that people wear and we wear, you can't have the same conversation as before," said Kane. "You feel definitely disconnected with the barrier, but it's for our own good. For our own protection."
Barnes agrees, but says he still misses the company in the front seat of his cab.
"It was more interesting. It was a piece of a person, or a glimpse of a person's life that you wouldn't normally get. You can't do that in the backseat. The connection's just not there anymore."
See for yourself by watching the video below, and taking a ride with Barnes and Kane.
Lonely roads
When the first big cluster of cases of COVID-19 erupted in St. John's in March, Kane and many other taxi drivers pulled their cars off the road. Barnes estimates that Jiffy Cabs, the company both he and Kane work for, lost nearly 200 drivers. At the same time, Barnes says, business slowed to a crawl.
"It was lonely. I mean, work dropped, it cratered. We went down 80 per cent on our calls coming in," said Barnes. "There was nobody on the road. We would drive across the parkway, and see maybe three cars at nine o'clock in the morning. Everybody got scared, and everybody hid."
Even now, Kane says, she's apprehensive about the virus getting inside her taxi along with an unsuspecting passenger.
"It's always in my mind," she said. "I even have extra masks. If somebody comes and says 'I don't have any,' or 'I lost mine,' I can offer them a mask for the ride. And they appreciate that and they call us again."
'So-called new life'
Now the calls for taxis are coming in again, but far fewer than before. Barnes says he's noticed a big drop in office workers and business people, many of whom are now working from home. Kane says she missed driving tourists around this summer, but she's also aware that many of her regular customers are still in a tough spot because of the pandemic.
"A lot of people, for different reasons, are not taking taxis, because they are without work, they are staying home, or they are elderly. They may go only once a month out, because of the COVID. They may go once to the bank or once to the grocery store. And before, they were looking to get in a taxi, have a short conversation, go wherever they go, do whatever they have to do. Now, this is very, very limited."
Barnes is optimistic that one day, the conversation in his cab will pick back up.
"I think it'll come back eventually. If we do keep the barriers up, and people are resigned to sit in the back seat only, it won't be as much," he said. "I'd like to see people back in the front seat again, so we got that co-operation, that understanding, that connectivity from passenger to driver."
Kane agrees, but says that connection won't come back until the pandemic is in the rearview mirror.
"A lot of people now are hoping, maybe the end of this year, we will have a vaccine and we will go back to so-called old life. Because now we are dealing with so-called new life."
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