To survive in a pandemic, they build orchards on taxis that can’t work

Expression “roof garden” took on new meaning in Thailand, where taxi drivers began to plant vegetables on the roofs of their cars in the midst of the crisis resulting from the Covid pandemic.

The drivers of two taxi cooperatives have set up vegetable gardens on vehicles this week with black plastic garbage bags and bamboo branches to trap dirt.

As they trusted, for the idea of ​​minimizing losses due to restrictions, they planted tomatoes, cucumbers and beans, among other products.

Idea and protest

The result makes the parking lots look more like an art exhibition.

And some of them are pursuing the idea, because they want to draw attention to the suffering of drivers and taxi companies, hard hit by pandemic movement restrictions.

Cooperatives Taxi Ratchapruk and Bovorn they only have 500 vehicles on the streets of Bangkok and 2,500 unemployed, according to the estimate of the executive Thapakorn Assawalertkul.

Until recently, the streets of the city were deserted and the drivers had almost no customers. Many cannot afford the daily expenses now, no matter how much vehicle rentals have been halved, at 300 baht (about $ 9), they claim. Hence the number of cars in the parking lots.

Some drivers returned the cars directly and drove to their villages in the interior. Others, on the other hand, returned to work during a second coronavirus outbreak, out of necessity.

“There were drivers who left their cars at gas stations and called us to pick them up,” Thapakorn explains, adding that the new virus outbreaks this year have had a “devastating effect” on the business.

Coronavirus in Thailand

Thailand recorded nearly 15,000 daily infections in recent days, after reaching 23,000 in mid-August.

As data from the Southeast Asian country confirms, the current epidemic was the deadliest. In total, Thailand reaches 1.4 million confirmed infections and 14,000 dead.

Faced with such a scenario, the taxi companies found themselves in a very compromised situation, with problems paying the costs of purchasing cars.

Thapakorn adds that the Ratchapruk and Bovorn co-ops owe around $ 60 million. And points out that so far the government offered no help.

The “gardens” on the roofs of the cars do not generate money. act of protest and means of feeding staff during these difficult times.

“Thailand suffered political turmoil for many years and a major flood in 2011, but things have never been so bad,” he says.

The co-ops have asked the drivers to take a pay cut and they take turns taking care of the factories.

With information from the PA