People use cars to get to work, to visit family and to transport their animals and homes to different places if they are nomadic. However, especially in Ulaanbaatar, driving is dangerous. Many of the streets of Ulaanbaatar were not built to be used by so many cars, and traffic is so terrible that not everyone is allowed to drive at the same time. Depending on your license plate number, you can only drive on particular days of the week. Because of this, people have to rely on others to get around, and ninja taxis offer a great way for someone to pick up a little extra money on their way home while helping other people who don't or can't use cars. The easiest way to get a ninja taxi is to stand on the side of the road and stick your hand out until someone stops. Then, you tell them the location that you want to go to, and they can either say yes or no. Once you arrive at your destination, you pay them some money, usually between 1000 - 6000 tugrugs (about 50 cents to 3 dollars).
I first used ninja taxis with my Mongolian friends, so I had a pretty friendly introduction because they were able to help translate and navigate everything. Even though a ninja taxi is a common way to travel, just like anything else, it's important to be safe when using it. I usually only take ninja taxis during the day, and I try to go with friends, especially at night. If I want to use one, I know that I need to be able to tell the driver the address of where I want to go (as they may not know where to go) and know how much is a reasonable amount of money to pay for a ride.
