The prayer room at the Independent Drivers Guild (IDG) offices in Long Island City, New York. Photo by Tori Luecking<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWe built the center with drivers in mind \u2014 to give them a nice rest area, a wudu area and a prayer room that they can access any time they want to. It is a step in the right direction, but it doesn\u2019t solve the overall problem,\u201d said Aziz Bah, organizing director of IDG New York and National.<\/p>\n
Originally from Senegal, Bah, who is Muslim, began driving rideshare vehicles in New York City in 2012 and knows the struggle of accommodating daily prayer while driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get to the central business district in Manhattan, it gets super complicated to find a spot,\u201d said Bah. \u201cYou just go in a circle until you miss your prayer time, or you might just risk parking somewhere really quickly to (go pray), and you come back and there is a $115 ticket waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there is no mosque nearby, drivers like Ahmed, who makes his wudu and prays at the midtown deli, are forced to find other suitable spaces. This is particularly an issue at airports, where rideshare drivers must be on standby in waiting areas, often located in garages and parking lots far from running water.<\/p>\n
A group of Muslim rideshare drivers at Newark Airport improvised a water station to perform their wudu by attaching a tap to a rain barrel and filling it with bottled water. It sits on a small table next to a semi-permanent tent meant for prayer.<\/p>\n
While this makeshift tap does the trick, it is still only a band-aid to a bigger issue, according to Sohail Rana, deputy director of IDG for New Jersey and Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a bathroom is not even a luxury \u2026 it is a necessity for people, and people who bring so much money to the city and pay taxes and fees deserve a proper system where they can park their vehicle and have a restroom available,\u201d said Rana.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A prayer tent and washing station for Muslim rideshare drivers near Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Sohail Rana<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nArifa Tirmizi, an organizer at IDG, has been a rideshare driver since 2016. She says IDG\u2019s advocacy to secure more relief stands, bathrooms and rest and prayer areas is vital for drivers\u2019 wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose things really help us because we can actually have peace of mind and know they\u2019re located on a map. We can park over there and then we can run to the bathroom and make our wudu,\u201d said Tirmizi.<\/p>\n
According to Bah, IDG met with the New York City Department of Transportation last month to continue the conversation about fixing the lack of relief stands in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne idea that I floated was for the DOT to develop something like a parking pass and to connect with the (ParkNYC) app,\u201d said Bah.<\/p>\n
The DOT also suggested a tentative plan to place more relief stands around city-owned parks, said Bah, so drivers could easily access public bathrooms inside the parks.<\/p>\n
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Photo by Dan Gold\/Unsplash\/Creative Commons<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nAhmed would like to see the city take distance into consideration with regard to building out more relief stations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be at least one restroom within a square mile (of the relief stand) where we can go,\u201d said Ahmed.<\/p>\n
He would also like to see dedicated prayer spaces in the city.<\/p>\n
For Tirmizi, the issue comes down to respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need people to be considerate. Because we as Muslims are also part of this community, we are also people of color, we are also citizens of the United States, and, most importantly, we are also humans.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This article was produced as part of the\u00a0RNS\/IA Religious Journalism Fellowship Program<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n