True road warrior
Mototaxi driver spins through winding favela roads
RIO DE JANEIRO — On a mountainside overlooking the city’s famous oceanfront, Alex Elias has built a career on courage.
A motorbike taxi driver in Rio’s largest favela, he speeds people up and down the area’s steep roads, taking hairpin turns with an undeserved casualness. He knows Rocinha — a low-income community with an estimated population of 100,000 — as well as anyone, and his skills keep residents of the sprawling slum moving.
“I could not do my job if I was afraid of heights or scared of the dark,” Elias, 32, said through an interpreter. “You need to be fearless.”
There are thousands of mototaxi drivers in Rio’s favelas, though the exact number is unknown because the city does not regulate the profession. A relatively new rule requires drivers and passengers to wear helmets, but Elias does not expect any more government oversight because it would be a bad political move.
“There are more than 1,000 drivers in the city, and they all have relatives,” Elias said. “If they changed things, there would be too many angry voters.”
Elias, who began driving when he dropped out of school at 16, was our unofficial escort while we were reporting in Rocinha. I hadn’t planned to write about mototaxi drivers, but I quickly became fascinated with the way they navigated the mountainside on two-way streets barely wide enough for one car.
He wove us through the favela, taking us to places on just the barest of descriptions. Is there a place with green tires where children play? Do you know where there’s a row of used refrigerators that have been turned into a makeshift library? Where does the president of this neighborhood association live?
Elias charges about 95 cents per ride, which he splits with the dispatch company. On average, he gives about 40 rides per day on his small Honda motorcycle. He works a split shift, beginning after he drops his 9-year-old son at school in the morning. He takes a break later in the afternoon to pick up his son and take him to soccer practice. He has dinner with his family each day, then heads back out to collect evening fares.
“I make sure my son is going to school and stays away from trouble,” he said. “If I didn’t have my job, I could not take care of my family. This is the thing that scares me.”