Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.
This was at Dunhua North Road and Mingsheng East Road this afternoon.
Fortunately it seemed as if nobody was injured. I had seen the very same ambulance driving around no twenty minutes earlier around the same neighbourhood. I specifically noticed it as it was travelling through traffic far too slowly at the intersection I was at. I even wondered if they were a learner ambulance driver. I couldn’t tell who’s fault it was as I had turned up after the event had taken place.
Just one more example of taxi driver reckless antics.
Driver should have his driving license taken away.
Clearly one cannot argue that he/she did not notice the ambulance.
that’s one thing that was a shock to me when I first got to Taiwan: the blatant disregard drivers have for ambulances with their sirens and lights on. My first week in Taiwan I was on a Ubus going to Hsinchu and an ambulance was trying to merge onto the highway. The bus driver gave him absolutely no clearance and nearly drove the ambulance off the road. I have a taiwanese friend whose relative died because they were stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital.
[quote=“petrarch1603”]that’s one thing that was a shock to me when I first got to Taiwan: the blatant disregard drivers have for ambulances with their sirens and lights on. My first week in Taiwan I was on a Ubus going to Hsinchu and an ambulance was trying to merge onto the highway. The bus driver gave him absolutely no clearance and nearly drove the ambulance off the road. I have a taiwanese friend whose relative died because they were stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital.
Shameful Taiwan.[/quote]
hey man, that cab driver is an important person who had to be somewhere…how dare you!
Ha, when I crash my bike racing out at LongTan back in November, I was taken to a hospital in LongTan. I had 6 busted ribs and internal bleeding. I had to get transferred to Taipei as the LongTan Hospital didn’t have a chest trauma unit. Well the ambulance ride to Taipei was most exciting. The driver speeding through the traffic on the freeway, switching lanes, rocking me from side to side. I was actually in more pain in the ambulance being shaken around. I asked my friend to ask him to slow down as I would rather die from the injuries I already have than dieing in an accident on the way to hospital…
Every night I get off the bus opposite Taipei Hospital in HsinChuang and there are taxis parked in front of the ambulance emergency gate. I have seen it a few times, the lights on the gate start flashing and the gate opens as the ambulance approaches as they must have a remote,and then they need to wait as the taxi has to try to get out of the way…
What I find is ironic is that the taxi drivers go as fast as possible with passengers in the backseat.
Would it not be more profitable for them to go the actual speed limits (longer duration from point A to B), obey the laws (if the customer complains they can say ‘it is the LAW’) and in turn make a larger fare from the passenger.
I know, I know, Chinese Logic in play on their part currently.
That’s my 2 cents worth on that, thanks for reading.
That depends on initial flagfall and the manner in which mileage and time are factored into the meter. If flagfall is high and the rate by time is low, they’re not going to make more your way.
That is, the drivers see the relatively high initial flagfall (edit: that’s the flat $70 rate they get when you step into the taxi) and a fixed rate per km, and they value these, but the small amount they make on time stuck in traffic is quite low, so they hope to move quickly, turn over as many passengers as quickly as possible (plus, many locals just drive like that as a matter of course). Edit: This provides incentive for them to take you straight to your destination instead of taking the long way about, so it’s not entirely a bad thing.
[quote=“tcarnagan”]What I find is ironic is that the taxi drivers go as fast as possible with passengers in the backseat.
Would it not be more profitable for them to go the actual speed limits (longer duration from point A to B), obey the laws (if the customer complains they can say ‘it is the LAW’) and in turn make a larger fare from the passenger.
I know, I know, Chinese Logic in play on their part currently.
That’s my 2 cents worth on that, thanks for reading.[/quote]
Don’t more fares mean more money though? What is it , 70 nt as soon as you get in one of those taxis?
I agree with both the responses since my post. However how many times do you see a taxi with no person in it. Is it more profitable to just go 70nt (petrarch1603 thought) or to keep your passenger in the car longer.
There is a set standard to the time waiting in traffic and to the distance traveled. So my thought was the longer any fare was in the cab the better. Should see the dirty looks I get when my fare happens to be only 70nt for the whole ride. Figured they wanted to keep me in the car as long as possible, not just pick up and dump within the 70nt start price.
So hypothetical: From Taipei to Keelung for example (yet it is a long distance but a nice reference point). By the meter. They pick me up, go like a bat out of hell and we arrive on the meter at 600nt. Or they stop at red lights, drive the speed limit and it costs more then the bat out of hell route. From what I read the bat out of hell route with less price to the rider is better? How can this be?
Ok more fares because I am out of the car and they can pick other fares up and get the 70nt initial cost again. But like I mentioned before how many times do you see a taxi with no people in it…a lot! Person in the car has to be better then hunting for the next fare, wherever the destination.
According to the above, which Dragonbabe copied and pasted for me, the driver gets a measly 5 NT for every 2 minutes stuck in traffic (e.g. at red lights or in a traffic jam), but can quickly earn that in a mere 300 meters (might be 250 now) of distance covered (after the first 1.5km), so between that discrepancy and the high flagfall, he has no incentive to go slowly, and not much incentive to go the long way either.
Taxi drivers driving fast and dangerous is good for them.
They get more money if they go as fast as they possibly can and will be sure to tell my next taxi driver to run over anyone in their way, as long as they make it to my destination fast = their most profit gained.
