With Uber, Lyft and many others becoming new methods of transportation, it’s becoming increasingly easier to see why cabs are very slowly going to disappear soon, but not just yet. With the decline in cabs in the last few years, and becoming easier than ever to hail one, it has become a more fast city to get around in. This week, that was not the case, as commuters who still rely on the yellow cabs, found it difficult to hail a cab, and it was not because they were all busy.

With President Obama being town this week, and all the rave on fashion week, it is easy to think why hailing a cab would not be easy. These two, were not the case at all. In fact, a holiday was the reason. A holiday? Did you miss something? Yes, a holiday and no you did not miss one. Eid-al-Adha, is the cause of New York City’s shortage of cab drivers this week, as many were celebrating the Muslim holiday. The holiday began on Monday and ended this past Wednesday.

With one-third of the yellow taxi driver population being from Muslim countries, it is easy to understand why many would take off. Becoming somewhat of a problem to New York City taxi’s, many Muslims took off in order to be with their families. The absence of many of the cab drivers during this time is considered to be ‘normal’.

According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, the leading country in taxi drivers was Bangladesh, making up a total of 24%, and with Pakistan following suit at ten percent. Overall there are drivers from 167 countries.

This is not the first time there have been shortages of cab drivers, as when the Jewish dominated more of the taxi’s there was a shortage of drivers on major holidays for them, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, etc.. With the slowness of taxi’s this week, Uber and Lyft had more business. Business is expected to return to normal this upcoming weekend with the cab drivers returning back to work after a much needed few days spent away from the crowded streets of New York City.

Featured Image Via Flickr / Via: Pascal Subtil