Published July 2009 Vol. 13 Issue 6

text & photographs by D. Giles Clasen

After a three-year battle waged between Denver taxi companies, the Public Utilities Commission finally approved the creation of Union Taxi.

Ali Ahmed waits idle, fourth in line at a taxi stand in downtown Denver.  He worries about how his cab looks.  He takes a stocking cap from a cubby next to the driver side seat and cleans the side mirror before getting out of the car and walking to his friends, also waiting for fares, to talk.

The small group exchanges handshakes and hellos before their conversation goes one place—to Ahmed’s worn but newly painted orange taxi.

Ahmed is fourth in line today and will wait for his turn to give someone a ride.  But he is excited to wait; he has been waiting through a 3-year battle for the right to open a new cab company with 262 other taxi drivers.