Leve-me a casa, se faz favor. An ethnography of (post)pandemic taxi drivers experience in night hours in Lisbon

Abstract

The development of the nighttime economy is strictly related to the support structures that help maintain that economy. Taxi drivers and private drivers working on platform transport economies are crucial for the nighttime economy as they provide a safe, secure and reliable commuting service for late workers and party goers, especially when these are not in measure to drive by themselves or there is no public transport available. With the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic, specific rules were applied to car-driven services, mostly on the direction of forbid in/inter/peri-urban circulation. Hundreds of taxi drivers stopped their activity all of the sudden, forcing them to adapt to a new logic without any choice. Here, and using the case of Lisbon, Portugal, the present communication will: I. Understand the role of taxi drivers in the nighttime economy; II. Describe the tactics used by the night taxi drivers to survive the pandemic. In this communication, we present part of an ethnographic work that took place in Lisbon from 2021 to 2022, as well as an in-depth documental review of the legal basis and news published during the same period. We finish the communication by arguing about the need to recognize the subject of night taxi drivers as a high priority topic by policymakers to achieve a safe transition to the new (post)pandemic night.