After 4.30pm, the chances of hailing a taxi in Amman’s Shmeisani neighbourhood are slim. Cars inch forwards on gridlocked streets, slowing to a standstill to wait through a fifth or sixth light change before joining the queue beyond. Elsewhere in the Jordanian capital, similar lines choke roads, roundabouts and intersections ill-equipped to deal with the enormous traffic load in a city that has long outgrown its transport infrastructure.

Strategic avoidance of traffic jams is just one of the tactics taxi drivers here employ to offset the costs of their trade. Switching off the meter, charging extra in congested areas and refusing certain destinations are practices that have earned them little popularity among passengers, who add speeding and smoking in the car to a long list of complaints.

The arrival of ride-hailing platforms Uber and Dubai-based competitor Careem last year offered commuters an alternative to Amman’s traditional yellow taxis and poor public transport services. But they haven’t been welcomed with open arms by the existing taxi industry or the government.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Careem ride-hailing app Photograph: Careem

Crackdown on apps

“It’s illegal to use private cars for public transport,” says Nourhan Shuqman, an advisor at Jordan’s Ministry of Transport. While the apps provide a “great service”, she says, the taxis are “a big sector that we cannot neglect.”

At the end of last year, a government crack down on ride-hailing apps saw cars impounded and drivers fined, accused of violating Jordan’s Public Transport law, which states that only licensed cars can provide public transport services for a fee.

Regulations are being drawn up that would limit Uber and Careem to operating through licensed cabs, limos and hotel taxis. This would be a disappointing outcome says Ibrahim Al Manna, general manager of Careem in Jordan, adding that the company’s app helps address transport shortfalls in Amman while offering work to unemployed Jordanians.

“We see great value in having Careem here … but the government needs to put the right regulations in place by giving people the freedom to decide their mode of transport, whether that’s by private car or yellow taxi,” he says. And despite the crackdown Careem says its has increased the number of drivers it works with.

“The situation in the Middle East is very different from other parts of the world,” an Uber spokesperson says, “Jordan offers huge potential but we need to make sure we comply with the laws.” Uber says it is “is 100% legal as we only work with licensed drivers.”

Both Uber and Careem have encountered similar challenges entering other Middle East markets, where protectionist policies have complicated their expansion across the region. But commuters in Amman have quickly grown accustomed to the high-standard service offered by the apps.

“They made life a lot easier, particularly for women,” says Amman resident Nada Qaddoura, pointing to safety assurances offered by the apps’ driver-tracking functions.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Women getting into an Easy Taxi Photograph: EasyTaxi

“There’s no denying the growing demand and global trend towards [services using] private cars,” says Mahmoud Fouz, Middle East CEO of Easy, a ride-hailing app that operates through Amman’s existing yellow taxi fleet. “We are also open to exploiting this demand, but it has to happen in a structured way that doesn’t destroy the existing players.”

The backlash from Amman’s yellow taxis

Last Tuesday, more than 1,200 taxi drivers took part in a protest that called on the government to ban Uber and Careem, citing an 80% decline in business since the arrival of the apps in Amman. “The situation is unfair for taxis. What the apps are doing is illegal,” says Ayman Zain, a taxi driver who helped organise the protest.

Drivers also voiced longstanding demands for an increase in fares. “We’ve asked many times for the rates to be raised,” says taxi driver Fayez Hassan Hijazi. “I have another source of income but other drivers can’t manage if they live only on the taxi.”

Many of the problems boil down to the meter, explains Hamzah Nassif, co-founder of iMena Group, an operator of online businesses in the region, including Easy. Every time the speedometer drops below 20 km/h, the meter switches to waiting mode, which charges less than 0.019 Jordanian dinar (2p) a minute. This encourages taxi drivers, who often pay up to JOD45 (£51) a day for cab hire and fuel, to haggle with passengers or refuse congested routes as they try to offset their costs for the day.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Taxi drivers protesting in Amman Photograph: EasyTaxi

Easy has addressed this by implementing an in-app pricing mechanism that’s “more aligned with the realities of Amman’s busy roads,” says Nassif. It calculates the price according to both distance travelled and time taken, producing a higher rate all-round than the standard metere, particularly for the slow-moving mode.

It’s fairer than the standard meter system, he says, where prices, “have been kept low in order to compensate for the lack of transportation infrastructure in the city.”

Amman’s urban mobility crisis

Uber and Careem may pitch themselves as an answer to the capital’s mounting urban mobility crisis, but the government is not convinced. It’s taking steps to address the problem through the Amman bus rapid transit system, due for completion in 2018.

At present, just 350 large buses cater for a city of more than four million people and account for fewer than 5% of journeys in Amman each day, according to transport consultant Hazem Zureiqat. “Public transport has not kept up with the pace of growth in Amman,” he says. “We’ve reached the point where it has become critical to invest in it.”

Instead, huge funds have been channelled into bolstering the city’s road network and facilitating the movement of private cars. Ayman Smadi, who until recently served as director of transportation and traffic management at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), fears the consequences. “We already have 1.2m registered cars in Amman and let me tell you, our streets are not made for 1.2m cars,” he says.

“Traffic jams aren’t the only issue here,” he adds, referring to a 2014 government study on youth unemployment (currently around 29% in Jordan), in which approximately 55% of respondents cited transportation barriers as a primary reason for failing to keep or find a job. These are “captive users” with no alternative, says Zureiqat, who is part of the team behind a proposed new law that includes subsidising public transport to facilitate a regular and reliable service.

Careem, has plans to create 10,000 jobs in the country over the next two years. Wa’el Abd Al Rahman, who uses the platform to supplement his income as a computer engineer, is one of almost 2,000 drivers, or “captains”, on the company’s books. “All of my relatives do this,” he says. “If you have a new car, are polite and qualified, then it’s a way of making money easily.”