Jasbir Banwait

Jasbir Banwait

Jasbir Banwait hails from India, but has resided in the New York area for nearly thirty years. Jasbir shares his experiences as both a yellow cab driver and a limousine driver in New York. Jasbir also shares his perspective on his relationships with his passengers, with other drivers, and with the taxi owner. Jasbir's interview reveals the strong role of religion and the importance of family in his life.

March 6, 2011

Samantha Gibson

All rights are reserved by the New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project unless otherwise noted.

We ask researchers and public viewers to understand the following:

1. These interviews were conducted keeping in mind the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History provided by the Oral History Association (2009). The Oral History Association states that those using oral histories “should strive for intellectual honesty and the best application of the skills of their discipline. They should avoid stereotypes, misrepresentations, and manipulations of the narrator’s words. This includes foremost striving to retain the integrity of the narrator’s perspective, recognizing the subjectivity of the interview, and interpreting and contextualizing the narrative according to the professional standards of the applicable scholarly disciplines.”

2. As we believe that the audio version of an oral history is the primary source and contains important silences and intonations, we have provided access to the full length audio interviews on this website. As these interviews contain verbal stammers, repetitions, stutters and grammatical mistakes that are natural when conversing, please be respectful of this when listening to and quoting from these interviews.

4. The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project is a documentation project and is designed to document the voices and perspectives of selected taxi drivers at a given moment in the history of the NYC taxi industry. The project directors have not and do not intend to cast judgment, interpret, or draw conclusions based on these interviews.

5. The opinions and perspectives recorded as part of The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project reflect only those viewpoints of the drivers themselves. The project directors do not necessarily share any of the opinions voiced by the interviewees.

6. Citations must take the following form:

"Narrator’s Name," in The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project, Item #, http://nyctaxisoralhistory.com/project (accessed Month Day, Year).

Audio

English

Samantha Gibson

Margaret Fraser

Jasbir Banwait

Carteret, NJ

WAV

29:23

1,411.2 kbit/s

Start - 10:00 : Introductions, Jasbir's background, entry into the taxi and limousine industries; comparing taxi and limousine industries; typical daily schedule; leasing relationship with owner, broker; hard work; providing for family; approach to rude passengers; relationship with other drivers; role of religion in daily life; leasing relationship with driver-owner; profits from fare increases

10:00 - 20:00: taxi driver union as media representative; perspectives on the union; TLC rules and regulations, particularly regarding cell phones; passengers asking "where are you from?;" early impressions of New York City; living in New Jersey; smoking passenger; violent encounter and robbery

20:00 - 29:23 [end] : success as hard work and owning a medallion; Jasbir's experience owning a medallion; importance of family; perspective of Jasbir's niece on family and religion; need for more vegetarian food options or opening a deli; importance of hard work and honesty