Like so many television ideas, the idea for an observational documentary about a taxi school started as a conversation between friends. An artist friend had fallen on hard times. He wanted to continue to produce his own work and he needed a way to finance it so he enrolled in taxi school.
- I've lived in Sydney all my life, he said, I know this city inside out, it'll be a snap.
Six weeks later he found himself walking head down out of the Ministry of Transport office in Parramatta, having failed his first attempt at The Sydney Knowledge Test. It was back to taxi school for him.
He regaled me with stories of the classes. He was the only anglo in a room that bore a strong resemblance to a United Nations gathering. But instead of a map of the world, the room full of men pored over that bible of taxi training, The Street Directory.
- Wellington Street, Bondi to the Sydney Theatre Company, Millers Point. You have two minutes to find it. Go!, barks the trainer.
Thirty heads dive into thirty directories. Fingers of every shape, size and colour riffle through maps, turning pages in fast motion, tracing out the journey on pages and in their heads. An elated cry goes up.
-I've got it! The voice is heavily-accented. Its the round-faced Bangladeshi whose smile is permanent. His pride is palpable.
My Sydney-born friend feels slightly miffed that he has been pipped at the post by a guy who has lived in the country's biggest city for less than three months.
This is taxi school.
Motivation is high.
Street knowledge is the currency.
There are ticking clocks at every turn.
The quest for every trainee driver is to make money as quickly as possible. The fastest way into the work force in any major city is behind the wheel of a taxi.
The Sydney Knowledge Test is based on the infamously challenging London Knowledge Test, except that the Sydney metropolitan area is three times as large and the network of waterways makes falling off bridges and driving into harbourside cul de sacs a major hazard of map reading class.
The school is a family business and the patriarch at the helm is the man they call 'Mr Andrew', a Welsh immigrant with a wicked sense of humour who prides himself on turning out the best taxi drivers in Sydney. In Andrew's world 'Navman' is a dirty word. Andrew doesn't care where his students come from or how long they have been in the country, the taxi drivers he turns out are ambassadors for Australia and their street knowledge resides in their heads, not on the dashboard in a box. For Andrew, every airport pick-up is a unique opportunity for a cross-cultural exchange for his is the finishing school of taxi schools. He teaches cultural etiquette, sexual politics and how to avoid being mugged.
By the end of the conversation with my friend I am hooked. I want to know more about this urban subculture that we take for granted every time we get into a cab. I want to know the stories behind the eyes in the mirror that we see but know so little about, as we travel around this great cultural melting pot of a city. I set out with a microphone and a notebook to find out. That was two years ago.
The result is a four part series co-produced in 2009 by Screen Australia, Screen New South Wales, SBS Television and Wonderland Productions.
TAXI SCHOOL is distributed by SBS International.
Go to
http://www.wonderlandproductions.com.au
