Taxi Driver: My name is Kim, aka Kim wa Taxi. I’m in my mid 30’s. I’ve been running a taxi in Nairobi, little over a decade. Prior to taxi-hailing apps making a debut in Kenya, I’d have a painted plywood sign atop my cab. Taxi hailing apps brought a fresh breath of air to a drowning industry.
It was bittersweet. It forced a shift towards the more upmarket zones of the city. Oh, boy! Doesn’t people these sides of the city have crazy lifestyles! I’ve probably mingled with every kind of personality.
I’ve been spat on, cussed out, dotted upon, joined once in a drunken song, punched once, and robbed twice at gun point. Ha!
My single worst experience came from a lovely college girl, say, early 20’s. She lived along Thika Road, the average girl-next-door. I had got a ping, called and picked her, from Kasarani. She was in a tight, short leather dress – and a trench coat. She had 6-inch heels. Quite pleasant, and chatty.
Destination? Westlands. She had a voice that tweaked a normal conversation into a song! She was supposed to meet a friend – who’d pay for the cab. All quite normal, and regular. Along the way, they’d speak a few times. We are at this or that place. Oh, there’s a bit of a jam. Wait, you ain’t at X club? Ok, coming to club Y.
It seemed like her contact was in the move. Well, Westlands is packed with lots fun places to be. The clock’s shorter arm was crawling towards 9pm. Shortly, as we entered Westlands, the girl’s phone died. That’s a crisis. Naturally, I’d be obliged to plug it into my car’s charging port. She’d then asked if she could use my phone to call her friend.
The Small Claims Court: Easy, Legal Way to Handle Friends Refusing to Pay your Debt
Many moons later, I’ve realized that sometimes, saying NO to random requests can be a good thing. But, she was fun, polite and in a tight, short leather dress. Just saying, you know. I handed her my phone. I didn’t have a locking password. She dialed a number off head.
After a few turns, she asks me to stop at an intersection off Waiyaki Way. A few cars are packed around, guys just hanging out. She asked to check for her friend. She gets off the cab, with her clutch in hand. Engine idling, I watch her make her way to waiting SUV, scary black – music booming.
Horror of horrors, she opens the passenger door and hops in. Before the door closes, the SUV lurches forward, screeching tires and all. They make a sharp turn right, back towards town. What the hell! I sat stunned for a while. I didn’t have a phone. I had the girl’s phone.
The only way to reach her was to call my own phone. I still hadn’t ended her trip – it was still on the count. My fuel light was blinking, I was driving on reserve fuel. My pocket? I had Ksh1200 between me and damnation. I was in a dilemma.
Do I fuel up, drive home and wait for the girl to call me on her phone? Do I seek alternative means to reach my phone and follow them to wherever they’d gone? The fuel? I had quit smoking a year back, I felt a strange craving for the stick.
I spotted a phone kiosk open. I strode out. I bargained for a Kabambe handset – at Ksh.1000. I got a Telkom line – I used Telkom line in my phone. I now had only a hundred bob to my name. I activated my new line with Ksh50 credit. I strolled to my car, on the shoulder of the road – started calling my phone.
Call 1: No picking.
Call 2: Come to Milano! Sasa hivi! I didn’t know a Milano.
Call 3: Joe, we are at Tavern’s huko Mombasa Road. I’m not Joe. I don’t know any Joe, either.
Call 4: Leave me alone, Simon! Get a life! My polite friend is now getting upset.
I started my car, towards town. I didn’t have much fuel, but God’s mercies are sufficient.
That night, I made 67 calls of varying lengths on wild goose chase across city pubs. Thank heavens, I had subscribed to Telkom’s Madaraka Life tariff. It’s packed with goodies, across voice and data packages.
The tariff has Telkom’s existing customers opting-in upon a one-off payment of KSh 100 and get 1GB, 100 on-net minutes, and access to a preferential rate of KSh 2 per minute* to make calls to other networks.
A 1GB and 100 minutes monthly starter pack will be credited to the customer’s account at the start of the next 30 day cycle, from the date they opted into the tariff.
One also has three monthly Data booster packs, set at the rates: 1GB at KSh 75, 4GB at KSh 240, and 8GB at KSh 410 – available for purchase.
Plus, one need not exhaust the resources on the starter pack for them to purchase a booster pack.
New customers need only register onto the Telkom network, make a one-off payment of KSh 100 onto their line. They then enjoy 1GB, 100 on-net minutes, and access to a preferential rate of KSh 2 per minute* to make calls to other networks, monthly.
Telkom customers (New & Existing) can access the tariff via the USSD code: *544*0#
She turned up at 3am at City Square. I had ran out of fuel. Turns out, she hadn’t ended her trip. Her friend in the SUV declined to pay – till a gang of my cab buddies formed up and blocked the SUV!