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Comment by paperpunk | Hacker News Reader

Apropos of nothing, but you mentioning that brought up a memory of when I was in Helsinki this summer: I took a taxi back to the airport early in the morning and the taxi driver (a black man) asked me (white) to sit in the front rather than the back, otherwise he would get stopped by police. Not necessarily something I was expecting in Norway. But what do I know?

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One reason why they might have asked you this is because working for services like Uber is illegal in Finland (Helsinki is not in Norway), and they might suspect that a darker skinned person driving with a white person at the back is more likely to be an Uber driver (Uber drivers are predominantly from an immigrant background, from personal experience).

Still racial profiling, but maybe not as bad as being stopped for "only" being black.

>they might suspect that a darker skinned person driving with a white person at the back is more likely to be an Uber driver

I think in Finland official taxis say "TAKSI" and have a yellow sign on the roof, so maybe they might suspect any unofficial-looking car with a driver in the front and the sole passenger in the back as being an Uber.

> working for services like Uber is illegal in Finland (Helsinki is not in Norway)

Not really true. However, you do need a taxi license, and many/most Uber drivers didn't have one.

That does not ring true. I live near Helsinki, use taxis quite a lot - mostly to and from airport but also elsewhere - and half the drivers are dark-skinned people. They are never stopped although I always sit at the back.

If you're an Uber driver (unlicensed taxi) then things are different. A driver in front (of any colour) and a single adult passenger at the back, starting off from the airport in an Uber-looking car, might get attention.

Was it a licensed Taxi or an Uber? Or some unlicensed driver at the airport?

A licensed Taxi is very unlikely to be stopped by the police in Helsinki, and lots of taxi drivers are black or other immigrant background.

There is something odd in this story, doesn't sound at all typical.

Not that Helsinki is in Finland, apparently :-)

It is standard for taxi passengers to sit in the front in Finland, though.

Though it seems to me that especially in Helsinki the trend is shifting. A couple of time I've gotten momentarily confused looks there when I've sat on the front passenger seat.

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