Jafar Mirsalari has been driving a cab in Toronto since 1988, and he’s seen nothing like this.

Business has tanked, and what little business is left has both driver and passenger afraid of each other.

“It’s a two-way street. Not only are the drivers terrified and scared, the passengers are, too,” said Mirsalari. “When they see a taxi, they think it’s a coronavirus carrier coming to pick them up.”

This week, the government of Ontario included the taxi business in a list of essential services allowed to stay open amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mirsalari said he wants that designation to come with government help — more than just guidance to sanitize and keep your distance.

“Essential workers need essential protection ... If my customer doesn’t feel safe, without a safety shield (between the front and back seats), I think the government should provide it,” he said.

Likewise, he said, taxi drivers should get help getting gloves and masks for when they have to transport potentially infected people. “I go to the hospital, I pick up sick people. But I have also sometimes to go to the seniors home,” he said. “So we must provide the service, so we must be covered.”

There are about 5,500 taxis in Toronto, with about 12,000 people licensed to drive them. On top of that number, another 90,000 drivers are working for ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft.

Business for all has dried up.

Hardly any of the 350 independent drivers represented by the Taxi Association of Toronto are on the road, and those that are, are reporting anywhere from an 80 per cent to 90 per cent drop in income, about $150 a day, said Jamal Said, the president of the association.

“Everything is shutdown. Nothing. Nothing,” he said. “We depend on Union Station, the Island airport, and street pickups. Street there is zero. Island is closed. Union Station — God knows.”

Elsewhere, Abdul-Kadir Mohamoud, CEO of Co-op Cabs, said business is down about 10 to 20 per cent from normal levels for the Toronto taxi giant’s around 1,800 registered drivers.

Since the pandemic has hit, he said his dispatchers have tried to screen would-be passengers for illness and their travel history. And his drivers — including for vehicles contracted with the city’s Wheel-Trans service — are instructed to wipe clean their cabs between passengers.

In the meantime, he said, he wants the city to suspend cab licence renewal fees, which come with an annual cost is about $1,200.

“The economy has come to a standstill. We’re all suffering.” Mahamoud said. “We’re all in this together. We’re open. People with pre-existing conditions prefer to take taxis, rather than get on buses and subways. We are an essential service.”

Meanwhile, some drivers have stopped altogether. Uber driver Stella Naggenda said she stopped a couple of weeks ago, when the seriousness of the pandemic sunk in.

“I just felt like it was too big of a risk to continue to drive,” Naggenda said. “I figured most of the people who are going to be taking Uber would be doing so because they want to avoid public transit, and avoid being in close contact with a lot of people.

“So I didn’t want to pick someone up that maybe wasn’t feeling well, or maybe had been in contact with someone that had the coronavirus, or they themselves had it and weren’t aware,” she said. “I wanted to stay away from people as much as I could.”

Business in her other job, real estate, has also dried up. Now she’s taking the extra time to learn coding online.

“I’m living off savings for now and hoping to see what the next couple of weeks look like.”

The Star asked both Uber and Lyft to comment on this story. Lyft forwarded the Star to the company’s website; Uber did not respond.

In recent weeks, both companies continue to operate but have suspended their “pool” option, which lets users share rides with strangers. Both are also offering assistance to drivers forced to stay home if diagnosed with COVID-19.

Mirsalari said he’s doing everything he can to work safely and keep his car disinfected.

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“When they started this a few weeks ago, I was safe. I was encouraging people with my positive attitude to stay safe, do your job right and keep your car disinfected,” he said.

He wears gloves and disinfects after every passenger, he said. But he had one the other day that insisted he wear a mask.

“She was freaking out because I didn’t have a safety shield,” he said. “She didn’t understand that only one per cent of cabs have that safety shield. I tried to convince her I disinfect the cab, I keep my distance. She said I didn’t have a mask on. So I had a mask in the back, so I put it on, so she feels safe to get in.”

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