Taxi drivers in particular have been directly targeted.

Momtaz El Saeed, the newly appointed Minister of Finance, announced on January 2 that the ministry would replace taxi cabs that have been stolen or totaled at any date before the new year.

The revolution has left many taxi drivers facing severe economic  hardships, not only due to the  unsettled economic environment, but because of the increase in thuggery.

Sherif Ramzy, a Cairo taxi driver, said that he is constantly worrying about wandering the streets of the city. He recounts an incident when he was driving a young lady to her destination. It turned out that three men were waiting there to rob him of his money, mobile phone and possibly his cab. “Thankfully, I was able to get away with my cab, though,” Ramzy said.

One of the thug attacks ended in the 'accidental' death of 23-year-old Jeff François, a Canadian teacher living in Cairo, who was passing by Al Arab tribe in the Upper Egypt governorate of Qena.

Egyptian taxi drivers have staged protested several times since the instability started. During one of the protests on May 3, 2011, in front of the Ministry of Finance, Eid Mahmoud — a protestor —was run over by 'minister of finance agents' according to witnesses.

Their protests continued as cab drivers gathered again in Tahrir on November 15 to call for incresaed presence of security forces and an imporvement of security in the Cairo.

Mohamed El Saqa, a media representative of the Ministry of Finance said the minister had met up with the representatives of the the taxi drivers to reach a solution that would ease their hardships. For many, driving a taxi is the only source of income.

El Saqa elaborated that not anyone can have his car replaced; the decision to replace the vehicle will depend on reports filed by the plaintiffs claiming that their vehicles had been stolen from them. Minister El Saeed also called for postponing the deadlines of the payments for the first three months of the new year, 2012.

“We don't want the deadlines to be postponed,” Ramzy said, explaining that taxi drivers wanted the payments to be cancelled for the whole year. “A whole year's work has been ruined”, he continued.

Ramzy further explained that safety is not as provoking an issue as the quality of the new white cabs they are receiving. “We get cars from makes like Chevrolet,” he said, “but these cars are not as good as the ones they normally sell.” He explained that the cars have many problems as they have their inner mechanisms are not original. “We end up paying a whole lot of money on fixing [the cars] than what we receive,” he said.

Despite all his worries, Ramzy expressed he is more concerned with the bigger picture and the current political situation in the country. He said that he is willing to bear the constant fears driven by the lack of safety on the streets for a few more months, just so the entire previous regime  can be removed, referring to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and saying that once it goes back to standing in the side lines with a real president to take over, things will get back to normal.

El Saqa said that he hopes the statement would prove to be satisfactory to both drivers and users of the cabs in Egypt. bt