Friday, August 13, 2010

taxi worlds apart

it has recently been released by some study or other that London Cabbies are ranked the best in the world, Italians are at the bottom. The latest post by this London taxiblogger should shed some light on this: He talks about the unwritten rules of picking up and how the drivers shouldn't steal each others fares. In addition he had just purchased the credit card machine and it charges the passengers an extra 10%. in comparison New York yellow cab drivers have to pay 5% of the total cost of each ride paid with a credit card, this 5% is taken not just from the metered rate, but also from the MTA tax, and the road tolls, so actually we are paying more than 5% of the cost of our rides paid with credit cards. I don't think 5% is so terrible, but it is the principle of the matter, our credit card machines have become so popular lately, that i think the credit card fees should be paid for by our passengers and not us anymore. And in addition could you ever imagine a taxi world where drivers don't steal rides from each other??? Occasionally it happens here, a driver waves a passenger to the proper cab and tells them that the other has been waiting longer, but for the most part nobody has time to be so polite here. Anyway here is the link I'm referencing:

3 comments:

Kalei's Best Friend said...

Any surveys on Hawaiian cab drivers? My ex bf had to give directions to one and this cab driver was a local!!. had no idea where the address was...btw there is a speed limit of 50 on their freeway- believe me, they have no idea what speeding up means..

NYC said...

honestly I never change my lane if I see some cabbie in the proper lane to pick up that passenger. nor do I take anyone from the bottom of any line

John said...

Well good manners among taxi drivers is gone. It is dog eat dog, stealing fares, queue jumping, robbing passingers to some is the norm.
We have more taxis in Dublin than New York and believe me things are bad for the honest guy.