Since March 2020, Bangkok’s taxi company Ratchapruk and Bovorn Taxi have been hanging on to a thread as Thailand’s severe COVID-19 restrictions leave the city’s busy streets calm.
With passengers nowhere to be found and no other options, scores of the company’s drivers drove him to the safety of their home villages, leaving their cars behind in carports and gas stations as they left. Dodge.
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Although some tried to weather the pandemic, once the second wave hit the drop in income proved too much to bear, with most drivers unable to cover the daily driving costs of the company, which had already been reduced to 300 baht ($ 9.09) – half of its usual cost.
After suffering several more waves, Thailand reached its deadliest number in August 2021, accounting for 97% of its total cases and 99% of deaths.
Meanwhile, the company has amassed a “taxi graveyard” of 2,500 vehicles and a mountain of debt to the tune of 2 billion baht ($ 60.8 million) since the initial purchase of the fleet.
In the absence of direct help from the government, Ratchapruk and Bovorn executive Thapakorn Assawalertkul say that if the company does not receive help soon, it will have “real problems”.
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Rather than continuing to leave cars unused, the company turned the fleet into rooftop gardens to help feed its remaining employees and their families.
Staff who suffered a pay cut and stayed in the city built the car gardens by stretching the backs of black garbage over the roofs with bamboo frames, adding soil and seeds to grow tomatoes , cucumbers and green beans., and more.
The beauty of an urban garden spouting out of colorful cars looks more like an art installation than a response to a deadly virus, a vision the company wants, which hopes it serves as a form of protest and attracts attention. on the fate of taxi drivers during confinement.
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By Meghan Yani, contributor for Ripleys.com
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Source: Taxi Cemetery Garden used to feed Bangkok drivers
