Key points
- Daniel Ferreira is a Brazilian international student by day and a rideshare driver by night in Sydney.
- Decorated with colourful disco lights, his car offers karaoke and trivia games; he records his passengers’ performances using a dashcam.
- With nearly 170,000 followers on Instagram, he posts the content with subtitles in Portuguese and English.
A Brazilian international student by day and rideshare driver by night, Daniel Ferreira takes passengers for a fun ride as he goes about his job.
His experiences with some passengers drove the decision to install a dashcam in his car, little realising how life would change after that.
“The camera is useful when riders accuse drivers, for example, of harassment,” says Mr Ferreira as he explains the rationale behind installing the device.
Daniel Ferreira: mic, music and fun at work.
“The dashcam is to prove what happened, so I won't have my account blocked and lose my income,” he adds.
Like many other new migrants in Sydney, Mr Ferreira drives after hours as the income from higher taxi fares becomes more lucrative.
And a lot happens on those rides, apart from the extra cash.
With so many funny and interesting conversations happening during these trips, [I thought] why not post the videos online with permission from my passengers?Daniel Ferreira
This is how 'Canguruber' was born, which is a portmanteau word combining the Portuguese spelling of kangaroo with Uber, the rideshare service Mr Ferreira works with.
More than a year after he started posting his videos online, Canguruber now has over 168,000 followers on Instagram.
The videos display the content with subtitles in Portuguese and English.
Aprt from Instagram, Mr Ferreira also has account on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
This social media success is due to not only the interesting and funny conversations in his car but also because of its thematic decorations like those for the football World Cup and Mardi Gras.
And with karaoke and trivia games to boot.
Yes, you can sing and play during your ride in Mr Ferreira’s cab.
On top of that, there are lights — lots of them — which makes the car look like a flying saucer from the outside.
Live singing instead of radio
Unlike most cab drivers, Mr Ferreira doesn't turn to the radio for music and entertained.
He turns to his passengers instead.
“I wanted to do something different. I have many night shifts, so the riders have often already had booze, which makes them feel more comfortable to engage in a conversation,” he tells SBS Portuguese.
“I began to enhance the treats in the car. I now have trivia, even a Wheel of Fortune game where the passengers can win prizes. The ideas come up and I give them a go,” Mr Ferreira adds.
When the riders are outgoing and keen to talk, the magic happens.
Mr Ferreira doesn´t care if the passengers sing badly, which he says they “usually do’.
But then, there are exceptions.
“There was a rider, a shy girl called Karis. It so happened that she was a classical singer,” he recalls.
“I gave her the mic and… that was unbelievable. She sang a song by Rihanna. If I had a flipping chair, I would press the button, as they do in The Voice," laughs Mr Ferreira.
Dance and music on the go
The Cangaruber loves when Australians talk about Brazilian music in his car.
One of the most-seen videos on his Instagram account is about the day the rideshare driver also became a dance teacher.
“We were listening to ‘Dança da Mãozinha’ a chart-topping song from Brazil, which translates to ‘the little dancing hand'. This rider was all excited about it,” he recalls.
I asked if she would like to learn how to dance to the song and she said, ‘why not?’. So, I pulled over the car to teach her how to do that.
“She said I was ‘so random’, but she embraced it,” narrates Mr Ferreira, happy to show her a piece of his Brazilian culture.
No privacy breach
Despite the visibly outgoing attitude of many of his passengers, Mr Ferreira says others prefer privacy.
“I don´t tell everyone that I record [conversations with passengers] in my car. But I have a sign in the back seat which says that the person is being recorded."
“When I have a good case, I tell them I have social media channels and ask for authorisation to publish it,” he says.
There are people who, even after a pleasant interaction, tell me not to post the video. So, I don´t do it.
And not all interactions are good, of course.
Working at night, Mr Ferreira meets intoxicated riders all the time.
And he publishes their videos — albeit after blurring their faces.
A thin line separates the funny drunk and the unbearable drunk.
Mr Ferreira recalls an incident when he had to order a guy out of his car.
“He was completely intoxicated in what should have been a 40-minute trip,” he recalls.
“When I accelerated, he complained. When I went over the speed bump, he complained. I turned into a curve, and he said ‘no sharp turn’ around 20 times. Then he asked me to turn off the radio.”
“So, I stopped the car and asked him to leave,” he narrates.
"If someone throws up in your car, the driver must stop and clean everything, losing the money for the rest of the night," Mr Ferreira adds.
Are interior lights legal in cars?
Mr Ferreira is asked to pull over by the police all the time.
The Cangaruber says the colourful disco lights inside the car are not a problem for the police.
According to NSW Transport, there are no specific road rules in the state prohibiting driving with a vehicle’s interior light switched on as long as they don´t dazzle.
In one of his videos, he was stopped three times during a ride.
The passenger in the back seat got visibly scared.
The leased car Mr Ferreira was using, had an expired registration.
Daniel Ferreira in action in his car. Credit: Daniel Ferreira/Instagram
You might have ordered a 'Canguruber'.
To listen to the interview (in Portuguese), click 'play' above, or look for SBS Portuguese's profile on your favorite podcast aggregator.
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