Taking yellow street taxis in Iraq

Impromptu live music from a band in a passing yellow taxi

Yellow street taxis are ubiquitous across Iraq, from battered little older models to sleek and shiny brand new ones, and the prevalence of taxi Careem has thankfully not diminished their presence.

Yellow taxis are still sometimes the easiest and fastest option, despite the popularity of Uber-esque taxi-calling apps across Iraq. If you’re just passing through, if you can’t - or don’t want to - download the Careem app or if you find yourself stranded somewhere so gridlocked with traffic that you’ve been quoted a 30-minute wait on Careem or seen that depressing sentence on the app that no cars are available at all, it’s going to be quicker to go the traditional route and hail a yellow taxi off the street.

This is done by standing close to the street and extending your arm or raising your hand when you see a yellow taxi approaching. Some have an illuminated green light but don’t worry too much about that as it often (confusingly) means the taxi is occupied. If the taxi is already occupied, it won’t stop.

Taking a street taxi may seem an intimidating prospect, especially with little or no Arabic language skills, but you can get surprisingly far (indeed hopefully to your destination) by knowing roughly where you want to go and having a rudimentary understanding of numbers in Arabic. Even without any Arabic at all, you should be able to manage as some taxi drivers know English numbers, and you can always use your fingers!

Yellow taxis don’t have meters so you’ll need to agree a price beforehand, which will almost certainly involve some haggling as, if you are foreign, it’s likely you’ll be quoted a higher fare than if you were Iraqi. We never get into a taxi without first agreeing a price, with negotiations usually carried out through the open front passenger window. Whatever price you are quoted, be prepared to haggle down a bit but, if you do so in a friendly manner while smiling, it will probably go better. If you can’t agree a satisfactory price, just politely decline, shake your head and step away from the taxi. Another will be along shortly. If you can’t agree a price with three or four consecutive taxis, you may have to bite the bullet and agree to a higher fare.

Expressing your destination accurately may seem a little daunting if you have no Arabic but district names and major landmarks are well known. If you have trouble making yourself understood, we suggest trying a few different pronunciations of your target keywords. Before you set out, you could also ask an Iraqi to write down your destination in Arabic to show to the driver but this isn’t guaranteed to work as not all Iraqis can read well. If you’re staying at a hotel, always take the hotel business card and carry it with you as, when you’re heading back there, you can simply hand this to the driver.

If you are meeting an Iraqi friends or associate at your destination, a great option is to call them and hand the phone to the driver.

Journeys in yellow taxis are often interesting and can sometimes be great fun, depending on the driver or eccentricities of the vehicle. Unlike Careem (which has regulations on driver behaviour), yellow taxis are altogether a more casual affair. Many drivers will listen to music, talk on the phone and/or smoke - sometimes all three at once - although they usually wind up windows and turn down music if they see that you are trying to make a phone call. If you wish to smoke in the taxi, it is always polite to ask permission first, even if the driver is already puffing away.

Female passengers

In keeping with local cultural norms, women should sit in the back seat of the taxi. Men can sit where they like, either in the front or back seats. It’s likely the driver will try to engage you in conversation, even if they have no English and you have no Arabic, as Iraqis love to communicate. It’s usually preferable for women travelling alone to avoid engaging too much in conversation, as this can be misinterpreted. And, in general, we recommend avoiding giving out too much information to any stranger, no matter how nice they seem. It’s totally acceptable to put on headphones or appear to be absorbed in your phone or the passing world to avoid conversation.

At the end of a journey, a taxi driver may offer to give you his number to keep for future potential journeys and it’s usually better to take this down using pen and paper. If you tap it into your phone, you may be expected to immediately phone him to check it’s the right number and, unfortunately, if you are a woman travelling alone so-doing may sometimes lead to unwanted further communication.

Reaching your destination

In our experience, taxi drivers usually do everything they can to get you as close as possible to your exact destination, although this can be quite challenging as many streets are unnamed and ongoing construction of new roads can add another layer of complexity. Even if you started the journey believing the driver knew exactly where your target destination was, as you get closer to it, he may stop to ask locals for directions. This is pretty common and not alarming. Once, the elderly passerby our driver asked said: “I’m going that way so give me a lift and I’ll show you exactly where it is,” and (after getting our permission), in he hopped! The driver may also ask you to phone your Iraqi friend again, to get navigated in more precisely.

You pay at the end of the journey, once you have reached your destination.

If the roads are busy, even a basic journey across town, especially Baghdad, may be unexpectedly long. Regardless of the traffic situation or journey length, when you arrive at your destination, the fare should not have changed from what you initially agreed. If you are asked for more money, you can politely and firmly insist on only paying the pre-agreed sum. It’s best to have plenty of small notes with you (IQD250, 500, 1,000, 5,000 notes rather than the larger denominations of IQD10,000, 25,000 or 50,000), so you can have the exact amount ready to hand over. Street taxis will probably struggle to break larger notes.

Tips are not expected although occasionally, if the journey has been insanely long, extremely fun or if the driver really has gone the extra mile, it may feel appropriate to give them a few thousand dinar extra.

Note: If a kind taxi driver tries to give you the ride for free and initially refuses to accept your fare, we suggest politely insisting on paying for it. The Iraqi culture of hospitality is something very special but this is your driver’s livelihood and it’s highly likely you’re considerably better off than they are. Insist on paying your way and paying an appropriate fare for your journey.