Taxis drivers are grossing me out...

[dot dot dot]

Some of them will even turn down a journey if it takes them to a part of London where they are unlikely to get a passenger on the return leg. Plavt.

Bangkok was a great learning curve for me on actually catching taxis. In general per taxi trip, about five taxi drivers refused to take me until one came along that did. The stock phrase was, "Get out. I not take you."

Dude, I really wonder what is happening to you...

Bangkok has very good cabbies, they are cheap (ask to turn on the meter of course), mostly new cars and they know all the shortcuts to avoid the horrendous jams there. Of course there is nowadays the Skytrain for long distances around the city, but the taxies there are just great.

I never ever encountered a cabbie who refused to take me anywhere.

I get the idea it might have to do something with your own attitude?

Eric

[sapphire]

Mumbai and Delhi - actually can't say many bad things about them, aside from that they should air their vehicles more - like only have a chassis, engine and wheels . . .

OMG! You have to be a saint to not have anything bad to say about Delhi cabbies! Lying, cheating rogues that they are! Its guaranteed that I'll have a fight with a cabbie in Delhi every time I'm there. Only good cabbies there are the Sikh ones, most of them are honest. When I used to head home after work, usually past midnight, always called for a cab which had a Sikh driver.

[dot dot dot]

Mumbai and Delhi - actually can't say many bad things about them, aside from that they should air their vehicles more - like only have a chassis, engine and wheels . . .

OMG! You have to be a saint to not have anything bad to say about Delhi cabbies! Lying, cheating rogues that they are! Its guaranteed that I'll have a fight with a cabbie in Delhi every time I'm there. Only good cabbies there are the Sikh ones, most of them are honest. When I used to head home after work, usually past midnight, always called for a cab which had a Sikh driver.

and a sick passenger, puking her alcohol...

(solly, couldn't resist)

Eric

[sapphire]

Nope, never puked in a cab, never drank while at work...well, not in Delhi.

[sapphire]

Oh the pun on Sikh and sick, I get it now, sheesh, poor pun indeed. Ok I'm off to sulk now, cya!

[Carpe Diem]

Once in Mumbai, I asked one of my local contacts to arrange a taxi pick up to go from airport to hotel. The guy came, gave me a ride, everything fine (he was paid in advance).

Then I asked him how much it would cost to use his services again the next day. When he gave me the price, I alsmost fell off my seat as it was 10 times what I heard before... But he was really insisting that it was the real price.

Finally I decided to call the guy who hired him (I was still in the car). In fact the driver was working for his company, all paid in advance! No need to say, I was very pleased to pass my handphone to the driver just to see his face when he got scold!

[dot dot dot]

Once in Mumbai, I asked one of my local contacts to arrange a taxi pick up to go from airport to hotel. The guy came, gave me a ride, everything fine (he was paid in advance).

Then I asked him how much it would cost to use his services again the next day. When he gave me the price, I alsmost fell off my seat as it was 10 times what I heard before... But he was really insisting that it was the real price.

Finally I decided to call the guy who hired him (I was still in the car). In fact the driver was working for his company, all paid in advance! No need to say, I was very pleased to pass my handphone to the driver just to see his face when he got scold!

exactly the same story here, but then in Beijing...

Eric

[Baron Greenback]

When I was a 16 year old lad at school in Yorkshire, myself & a few friends decided to have a trip to York (which was well out of bounds for boys our age).

The return taxi journey was a bit interesting as we had to jump into the taxi without being seen by a teacher who was picking up other boys in York legally at the same place at the same time.

Breathless & a tad worried we had been spotted the taxi driver turned around & asked "first time in York illegally? You may have heard of me I am Oscar the mad taxi driver". He then sped off the wrong way down a one way street.

He then informed us that as it was our first time we had to go through an initiation ceremony. He turned to Max who was in the front seat & told him he was to go first, we pulled up at a petrol station & he gave him a quid & told him to buy a fruit & nut Yorkie bar & a can of Ribena, he had 60 seconds & then he would drive off, with or without him. Max jumps out of the taxi & is frantically looking at the shelves, the taxi driver is laughing & through his tears of joy explains to the back seat that he does this all the time & that petrol station does not stock those things. "3-2-1 bye Max" and speeds off, we look behind & Max is waving from the forecourt. The driver goes a mile or so & turns around to pick him up.

Next is Will, the driver turns off the main road & goes down a dirt track, before long we are in a bit off a wooded area, he tells Will that he must stand by a large tree about 50 yards away & when he turns out the headlights he has 60 seconds to get back to the car. When he turns out the lights - it is pitch black. Cunning Will pulls out his Zippo & we see this flame bobbing around & occasionally bumping into trees on the way. He makes it in time.

Then it's my turn. Going through a small Yorkshire village he stops outside a pub & tells me I must get a pint of lager in 60 seconds. No easy feat for a 16 year old. I run into the pub which is tiny & a scene from the Slaughtered Lamb ensues from American Werewolf in London where all the gnarly old men look at me & the place goes dead quiet. I approach a table where they have recently got a round in & explain my plight, after a while I just hand the bloke a hand full of change (more than the pint is worth) & run out to the car where the driver takes a swig to make sure it wasn't shandy. I then return the beer.

Oscar didn't work for much longer as a taxi driver, although I have to admit that the journey back to school was much more interesting than what we got up to in York that afternoon.

(apologies for length)

[dot dot dot]

Baron,

keep 'em coming, great read!

We should give Oscar a call and ask him to come to Singapore, for sure he would make a hell lot of money!

Eric

[Strong Eagle]

Some of them will even turn down a journey if it takes them to a part of London where they are unlikely to get a passenger on the return leg. Plavt.

Bangkok was a great learning curve for me on actually catching taxis. In general per taxi trip, about five taxi drivers refused to take me until one came along that did. The stock phrase was, "Get out. I not take you."

Dude, I really wonder what is happening to you...

Bangkok has very good cabbies, they are cheap (ask to turn on the meter of course), mostly new cars and they know all the shortcuts to avoid the horrendous jams there. Of course there is nowadays the Skytrain for long distances around the city, but the taxies there are just great.

I never ever encountered a cabbie who refused to take me anywhere.

I get the idea it might have to do something with your own attitude?

Eric

Eric, I think this entirely depends on what kind of taxi you take. The metered, regsitered drivers are fine... but you only know you get one of those fer sure if at a hotel, airport, or what have you.

It's the other taxis, including the private operators you have to watch out for. I avoid them and if it is necessary to catch one, the price is agreed upon up front, lest I get a driving tour of all of Bangkok.

Tuk tuk drivers are absolutely the worst... you can't go around the block without one of them wanting to show you jewelry or the "best" statue of Buddha.

[dot dot dot]

Fair enough SE, in Bangkok I always look for the blue cabs, those are the 'official' ones. You can find them all over the place, not just at the airport. Flag 'em down and you're inside. And a few words of Thai do help a bit...

Eric

[sputnik]

And a few words of Thai do help a bit...Eric

Good point for the next trip to Thailand, this may help. However I don't know how much 'attitude' or 'non-attitude' can be incorporated into 'Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, please'...and I am not an armed warrior! I was told by hotel staff that it is the distance, or traffic, that is crucial to the final 'get out' or 'ok' decision from the cabbies...

I loved taking the tuk-tuk though!!!!!

[Bubbles]

Baron, that is such a funny tale, I love it. Mind you, in the context of todays scared about kids society your parents would have had that guy in the police station being questioned about goodness knows what if it was today.

I remember vividly thumbing a life everywhere when I was a teenager. You very rarely see that nowadays. Thank God nothing ever happened, apart from a lorry driver putting his hand on my knee when I was about 17. Think of the danger. I'd freak if my daughter (or my son for that matter) did it today.....

[Plavt]

Some of them will even turn down a journey if it takes them to a part of London where they are unlikely to get a passenger on the return leg. Plavt.

Bangkok was a great learning curve for me on actually catching taxis. In general per taxi trip, about five taxi drivers refused to take me until one came along that did. The stock phrase was, "Get out. I not take you."

Dude, I really wonder what is happening to you...

Bangkok has very good cabbies, they are cheap (ask to turn on the meter of course), mostly new cars and they know all the shortcuts to avoid the horrendous jams there. Of course there is nowadays the Skytrain for long distances around the city, but the taxies there are just great.

I never ever encountered a cabbie who refused to take me anywhere.

I get the idea it might have to do something with your own attitude?

Eric

That is very interesting Eric, I found a good number of cabbies in Bangkok a real pain. Not that they were rude or unhelpful but more often than not they did not know where something was or did not know how to get there made worse by the fact a good many are illiterate (around 60% according to an Australian I met who frequents the city). On several occasions I had to get out of one cab and get another simply because the driver was struggling to find the way. On another a cab driver from airport had to follow passer-by on a motorcycle. Although I am told by a tourist guide the yellow and green cabs are generally better as the drivers are full-time and consequently know the city better. Whereas the red and blue cabs are driven by part-time drivers who often speak better English but do not have the knowledge of the city their contemporaries have. However, I do not know if this is still the case not having been to Bangkok for some considerable time, like most places these things change.

My worst experiences in past years was in The Philippines where cab drivers were appalling cheats and brazen pimps but even that has changed from my first trip since nowadays very few cabbies there try the age old trick of not turning the meter on and the airport officials note the number of the cab you use.


Plavt.

[EADG]

er. back to Singapore....

is it me, or is that that more than a few cabbies here are immune to dead air? if this is about getting grossed out, that really does it to me

though I've finally acclimatised to the der rigeur "have you had your breakfast / lunch / dinner" banter, what still annoys me is breathing breathed-out air from those drivers who keep the windows shut all day with the aircon set to recirculate

or is it just me?

some people seem ok to have the aircon on stun all of the time, or are they doing it as a 'service'? (don't answer that...)