Soviet movies about Taxi drivers: Gentlemen of Fortune: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/btp6g66E35yrkas.html Three Cottonwood Trees: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kM2VeLqZzszSfZc.html City Folk: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d8iXbMKlrZjLqZ8.html Green Signal: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qKthlqd9zLjJhnU.html Hello, comrades! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on www.sputnikoff.com/ (Russian or English versions) or Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/ Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/

I had a cabbie in Kiev who was an airline pilot who made way more driving than flying. We hired him all day for $100 cash, he took us and escorted us all over the city. Super nice guy. Another day we had a guy who was lawyer who had a cab for extra cash.

It doesn’t cease to amaze me how similar the experience was in Cuba and CCCP. Even calling the shady business “left side business” was common also in Cuba. Salaries, prices, types of stores, the housing process everything seems Castro copied from his masters.

Things weren't so different in the capitalist world. Taxis in my city used to be highly regulated. The number of plates was fixed - artificially low - so in peak times you could wait 2-3 hrs for a taxi. Drivers had to use the meter so they couldn't ask for a fixed fare, but they could, and would, take you on the most RIDICULOUS routes that were 3-4 times longer than a direct route. The service was TERRIBLE. Taxi plate owners made a lot of money, and buying a plate cost $500k. Uber shut all that down, though. Good.

It would be interesting to find out how much is the bribe that a taxi driver had to pay to get and to keep doing this job.

Sergei is the king of Soviet content on KZfaq.

5:30 "go see your girlfriend before you go home and see your wife" LMAO

In Soviet Russia, taxi picks up you.

OMG, the cunning Taxi drivers where I was born. How many a fight did passengers get into with Taxi drivers, arguing over the taxi fare. "THE METER IS RUNNING FASTER THAN THE TAXI!" and other such excuses. Man there was an entire Taxi culture. One guy said that some Taxi drivers loved to go to hotels at nights, and they will be well groomed and have perfume on and clean out their taxis and everything. This is because many of them would get some action. I.e when a young drunk girl from the phillippines asks for a ride hom, sometimes the girl comes on to the driver and starts giving him a fellatio. Many of them also used to chew on these dried balls of tobacco called Naswaar. I never tried it but apparently it gives you some sort of a high. But one of the weirdest thing that happened to me is this: Since my eyesight is really bad, I had a friend help me get a Taxi and have the taxi take me home. Now the streets of my city of birth was so easy to navigate, that you can possibly drive with your eyes closed if there is no traffic, and still you wouldn't hit a light post. Anyways, after a few minutes, the driver wanted me to marry his yound daughter. Now these drivers are usually from the region of Pakistan fka NWFP, now called KPK, near the Afghan border, so for them, child marriage is still a thing. I was so freaked out, I just said no, and didn't speak a single word. Paid ultra attention on the road, to make sure he didn't take a detor and try to kidnap me. But other than that, on good days, our taxi drivers were some of the most fun loving and funniest people! Just don't get into a fight with them. Of course now, everything is much more disciplined, the drivers wear uniforms, speak proper english, and there is no arguing about thefare. It's all standardized. The taxis are not even allowed to break the speed limit.

There was an American reporter (stationed in Moscow back then) who said that when he needed to take taxi, the fastest way to get one was to hold up a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. Flash one of those, and he'd never have to wait.

I agree that first person accounts are a very rich source of information but only the vast collection of many different individuals. Sometimes, an individual may simply percieve something wrong or merely be wrong. Also, scholarships can illuminate understanding without the bias of feeling.

I've seen some amazing documentaries on life as a musician in the USSR. Can you do a video on if you were a musician as a hobby and a profession. How you got an instrument and the different musical instrument makers. Was there a standard government musical instrument for schools that everyone used the same model? I imagine getting a real instrument worthy of famous performer was really hard. Not just music but art as well. If you were a pro musician how did get a high end instrument? Did that involve bribing people ? Could you get in trouble if you had an expensive instrument not built in the USSR. Chairman Mao burned a bunch of priceless violins and certain musical instruments were forbidden and we're considered contraband. What was life like for artists and how you could survive as a artist in the USSR. Did the Soviet government view artists as non essential jobs? Could you make extra money performing at night? The ideal of a celebrity who was a rebel like the USA had alot of in that time did Soviets have a "cool" rebel like famous figures regular people admired? Or at least in private if it was too dangerous to admire them publicly? Could regular people become famous artists or performers ? What was the difference to be famous in the USSR vs the USA? Was there a Soviet Hollywood people flocked to make it as a performer ? I love your channel very much. Sorry for all the questions but I imagine just like in the US people had dreams of becoming a famous actor,musician, artist, or athlete etc.. Curious what you would go through if you committed yourself to suceeding in those fields. Best of luck to your channel.

The videos of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people are good way to learn the history of the USSR

Thanks for the videos Sergei. I was born in 81 and grew up watching Action movies about evil soviets, but was always fascinated and still am about the life under communist regimes.

It is dangerous driving a taxi. They get robbed alot. Old statistics I read had taxi drivers more likely to be shot and killed on the job than cops. They do know where the hookers are though.

Yay it's nearly Friday! Thanks for the upload Sergei, interesting and enjoyable as always!

Artyom is a good boy, I hope he can continue to find more stories to help you so you can share with us. Thanks for sharing Sergei.

I heard somewhere that some of the taxi Volgas at Moscow sometimes had millions of kilometers driven on them. I think it was at the Hotel Viru's KGB museum tour. Some fine taxi cars!

Very informative as always comrade,thank you Mr. Cheeseburger,best channel around by far!

Have you seen the 1990 Russian film, Taxi Blues ? It's one of my favourite films- quite crazy and pretty dark . Love the videos, Bruce Stayloose in Vancouver, Canada

Dear Comrad, As usual your stories of life are most interesting and fascinating. Just a life that we do not know about. Thank You Comrad. Not too bad for a guy who’s name is John Wayne Cheeseburger. That always makes me laugh. Some people are just plane idiots. I hope all is good for you in Michigan. Winter is on the way. Not here in Florida. Hurricane season is only 1/2 over.

WHY are there so many bots on KZfaq?! They’ve taken over!!!!!

As Kid I womited in a Taxi in Dresden GDR... my Dad had to pay a shitload of money to the taxidriver cause he could not make any side buissiness any more :)

Hello comrade! On your 46,000 subscriber special you briefly mentioned Soviet tractors, As a big fan of your Soviet car videos, And as a rural Minnesotan (I know a guy who still has a Belarus tractor) I would love to hear any knowledge that you have about tractor ownership, or perhaps non-ownership? Did they belong to the collective farms?

Nice rooster u have on beginning

1:23 Me listening intently even though I don't understand a word! 1:35 I think he said Harry Potter

My uncle was a taxi driver here in Greece in the 70s nowadays he owns 3 apartments and 2 summer homes 😁 I mean there's a good reason why we was calling them" asphalt ship owners "😁😁😁 Not to mention the sexual favors for free rides their involvement with the prostitution business ( see call girls) and many many more 😁👌

I think that phrase about whether Soviet citizens use a taxi to buy bread is from Бриллиантовая рука rather than Джентльмены удачи, isn't it? I've watched both, though the latter only once and don't remember it as well.

Your videos are very interesting. Have you done any video about how the Fall of Berlin Wall has been communicated across the USSR?

Comrad John Wayne 🍔

The car shown at around 9:20 with a "route taxi" caption is actually a rear-engined concept taxi cab developed by VNIITE R&D institute in 1964 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VNIITE). Only one was built. It successfully passed a testing program on the streets of Moscow and was recommended for mass production, but due to regular Soviet "organizational issues" it never happened. It was designed for operation as a regular taxi cab, not a shared taxi.

Just hit play. Looking forward to this one.

I remember hearing that some east German cosmonaut ended up as a taxi driver after reunification.

👍👍

Hey, what can you expect from person with a job where the only education required is driving licence. Still the same all over the world.

This is The Greatest Channel Ever....Love it....Subscribe Already If you Haven't yet....TKS Sergei.... I love the Taxi Driver Stories....

Can you please tell us about Soviet time movies? Also suggest names of the movies to watch

me being native american and hearing chef instead of chief brightened my day, someone probably already commented but a chef is a cook basically and a chief would be a a leader of a tribe

Quick question, is your book available as an english audio book?

How common was it for someone to defect and how hard was it?

YAY! I have long heard you say that taxi drivers earnt the big roubles in the USSR but never understood how. Let's find out...