Am I the only one who keeps getting taken for a ride? The last three journeys I’ve taken have been mad with complete detours. The taxi I took just now from Jilong and Heping to Yong He to go over Zhong Zheng bridge turns left at Xinsheng, then right at Xinhai, then across Roosevelt, round Huanhe - which on a Friday evening is one of the most congested parts of Taipei and always has been and everyone knows this. Driver says if I’d wanted to do something as crazy as just travel straight down Heping and turn left at Chongqing I should have said. Are these people just useless? I mean the cost of the journey is the same, it just took much much longer.
On the other hand on Thursday to work I get a taxi on Yong He road telling the guy to take the Jian Guo Gao Jia Qiao and he just carries on past the turn off at the Taipei side of Zhong Zheng bridge which leads up onto it. Now that was a straightforward rip-off attempt plain and simple. :fume:
So I have given up telling these shysters my final destination and just give them directions. But am I imagining it? :loco:
This happens to me all the time coming to Taipei from Hsi-Chih (XiJr).
Its not so bad know because if I’m going to North Taipei I now know the bests way and can tell (instruct) the driver. It didn’t matter how long, convoluted or traffic jammed the routes they took, it always cost the same (give or take). I always wondered why they do this becuase surely the quickest route will get them back on the road again ready to get their next fare - it just doesn’t make sense. I think that unlike Taxi drivers in cities like London or New York they are genuinely ignorant of the best ways to get from A to B…
Although, it really irks me when I get a driver who obviously know what he’s doing and takes me a route that will cost me more - is that just a waigoren thing???
Of the last 3 taxi rides, all 3 have been 3-4x the length they needed to be. I have another friend who wanted to go from the train station to Taipei 101 and by the time she finally screamed loud enough for the driver to stop, they were in Tienmu. I kid you not.
If I get the feeling they are trying to cheat me, I get out and don’t pay them. There are lots of taxis around. If I’m almost at my destination, I might continue, and then tell the driver that going from X to Y usually costs $100, and so that’s what he’s getting. If they don’t turn on the meter, and I notice right away, I tell them to turn it on; if I don’t notice until we’ve gone a ways, I just get out; if we’ve arrived, I give them NT$70.
I haven’t been threatened with a tire iron yet.
It’s funny to read these stories, I am surprised, but not really. I have been in Taiwan for a while and NEVER HAD A SINGLE COMPLAINT ABOUT TAXI RIDES. I mean some of them were dirty, or smelly or driving a bit crazy, but never got ripped off per say.
Did you guys spoke Chinese to the cab driver or showed him a card with directions?
I admit some of them are a little edgy :loco:
I’ve actually been fairly satisfied with the taxis here. It must be said, however, that part of the reason I am satisfied is probably because I have slowly incorporated some of the tricks that hexuan and others have mentioned into my repertoire. I tell the driver which roads to take, for example, and I also often give a destination close to my actual destination, but one that I know they won’t screw up. Take a few precautions and they are alright.
Taxi drivers here are also a great way to practice your Mandarin (or better yet, your Taiwanese), and to get some interesting political perspectives.
I almost never take taxi’s. I hate them…in fact, when I walk down the street, and one honks at me, I wave them down then just keep walking like nothing happened. Sooner or later, I’ll incorporate a middle-finger inbetween the waving them down and walking away part. Man, I know they’re just trying to make a living, but god, if I wanted a taxi, I’d pay attention to the traffic and wave it down. Honking at me isn’t going to suddenly make me realize my need for a Taxi.
But I digress.
Other means of transportation are cheaper and very adequate in and around Taipei, so I never have a need for a taxi…even for, if not especially for, long rides. (e.g. the bus to C.K.S. from LinKou is $60NT, whereas the taxi is typically $500-$600NT…spending an extra hour on the bus is definately worth 540NT). Busses also provide an alright outlet for practicing speaking, reading, and listening to Mandarin…old men who sit next to you love to talk…though the conversation doesnt typically get much further than a)您不冷啊 or b)Ni chi bao le mei?
Yes, about the people on the buses, but folks do not get much more opinionated here than the taxi drivers. Upon finding out you speak any level of Chinese, taxi drivers will likely launch right into political opinion and debate, most frequently about Taiwan independence. They are expensive, but they are a chance to talk about things you seldom would talk about with other locals (or at least you’ll have to sit through his soapbox routine).
I don’t think it’s a waiguoren thing. I just think it’s a taxi thing. Any taxi in the world might try to squeeze an extra buck or two out of you. BUT on the whole, I’ve found the taxis here in Taiwan to be better than average. Although, I usually just tell the guy where to go just to make sure he knows where to go (I have to know where I’m going anyhow (pet peeve)).
Got taught a new route from A to B that was either quicker, cheaper, or both.
a) Example - from ShiDa to NeiHu (CostCo). Take XinSheng north past ZhongXiao E. Rd. Turn right onto Bade Rd. Then jump onto the Civic Blvd. express. Takes ya right out to Neihu and CostCo. Result. Takes about 10-15min depending on XinSheng traffic and about $225. Can save ya about 20min going local and a lot more money.
On several occasions, I’ve gotten a discount on the fare. Cuz…
a) He missed the stop when I gave him the address.
b) It was $105NT/$110NT, he just said $100 was good enough
For me, interesting to get a view of Taipei (Taiwan) life from a taxi. They’ll tell ya some of the most interesting stories if ya let them. One told me about how as the economy gets bad, there are more taxi drivers. Makes a bit of sense if ya think about it. And another one late night after clubbing, the driver was telling me about his youth and what he did. We’ll stop here for the ladies.
As previous posters said, good practice for your mandarin. And just wait till you tell them you can speak Taiwanese. Wooooo. I got a free taxi ride just cuz of that.
I take a cab if I really need to get somewhere quickly.
Only once have I been in a taxi that took a blatant, unnecessary detour going north on Ruiguang St. in Neihu instead of going south to the entrance to the Ti-Ding Interchange adjacent to the Minquan Bridge. Cost us an extra 30 or 40 NT.
Otherwise, the little detours cabbies have made in my experience tend to make the trip faster and shorter by avoiding congestion. The better drivers tell you in advance what their detours will be.
On several occasions I’ve been given a discount, usually if it’s 105 ot 210 or something, rounding it to 100 or 200. Last week a driver in Hualien charged us 100 when the meter read 120.
And only once have I been in a truly dirty and run-down cab here in Taipei. The back seat had broken springs and was sloping to the side, the car smelled of cigarette smoke, and it was just old. And the cabbie was playing a tape of cheesy Christian music and he asked us if we had accepted Jesus as out lord and savior! Imagine that, in Taipei!
Generally, I’ve found the taxis here to be much more honest and trustworthy than in most parts of the world.
My taxi experiences have been mostly OK. Get in, say hello, and tell the person where you want to go, confidently like you know exactly how he “should” get there. Then sit back.
Drivers only try to talk to me maybe 10% of the time these days. My body language pretty much lets them know I just want to get where I want to get and am not interested in small talk.
Oh, and if the radio is turned to the news or some sort of talk show, I ask them to change it to music. And they do, 100% of the time. They’re actually required to if the passenger makes a request.
I guess a few times I have been ripped off by taxi’s but for the most part I don’t have a problem.
One thing I commonly do when waiting for a cab is wave on and refuse to ride in many of the older knackered or generally beatup taxis, I prefer spotting a clean/new looking cab to ride in. I mean usually there are so many cabs around it is easy to be selective. I guess part of my reasoning is having ridden in taxis with non-functioning A/C, stained smelly seats, etc. I just decided safest bet is to simply not ride them.
I’m quite surprised. I’ve never had a taxi driver try and rip me off. Sometimes they haven’t taken quite the quickest route (I usually know the way well), but it was close enough, and I can seee why they might have thought it quicker. They seem to think that expressways are quicker than they really are, and migth detour to get to one. That seems to be what happened in your first example Hexuan. I’d never do that route, but if you’d been lucky it would have been just as fast.
With the exception of the taxis that wait for the airport bus, these accounts are the first time in 6 years I’ve heard complaints of taxis ripping people off.
I hate it when you try to cross the road. Suddenly from out of nowhere taxi’s converge to block your path as they stop to offer you a ride. Many a time have I tried to cross the road and taxi’s have blocked my progress.
One day I’m just going to run across the top of them like James Bond did to the Crocodiles in one of his movies.
Would say in general the taxis are not bad here, very cheap and compared with 15 years ago when they consistently ran the night tariff the whole day, they are much better, cleaner and can say I have not been ripped off and I often take a taxi home late at night. Sure there are a few bad ones out there but there are bad example in every industry. I usually tip them just 10 NT$ above the fare on the meter unless the taxi is a very bad one.
