What it means
دربست (darbast) describes a taxi or vehicle hired exclusively by one passenger or group, with no strangers sharing the ride. The word is a native Persian compound: در (dar, “door”) joined with بست (bast, the past stem of بستن, “to close”), giving the literal sense of “door shut” or “sealed off.” The opposite of دربست is تاکسی سواری (tâksi savâri), where the driver follows a set route and picks up multiple strangers along the way. In everyday speech you will hear دربست as both an adjective (تاکسی دربست, “darbast taxi”) and an adverb (دربست رفتن, “to go darbast”).
How to use it
- میخوای دربست بریم یا مسافر بگیره؟ (mikhi darbast berim yâ mosâfer begire?) “Do you want us to go darbast or let him pick up passengers?”
- دربستش چنده؟ (darbastash chande?) “How much is it to hire it all to ourselves?”
- تاکسی دربست گرفتیم چون بچهها خسته بودن. (tâksi darbast gereftim chon bachehâ khaste budan.) “We took a darbast taxi because the kids were tired.”
- اگه دربست نگیری، تو ترافیک وایمیسیم. (age darbast negiri, tu terâfik vâymisim.) “If you don’t go darbast, we’ll be stuck in traffic.”
Cultural note
Iran has two parallel street-taxi systems: shared taxis (savâri) that follow set routes and stop for anyone, and darbast hires where the fare covers the whole vehicle. Negotiating a darbast price on the spot is a normal, expected interaction, not a special request. Ride-hailing apps such as Snapp and Tap30 have made the concept digital, but the word دربست remains the everyday term passengers use when booking a private ride through those platforms as well.