Cars & Transportation Taxis

[Gasometer]

Tis the season to whinge about Taxis.

Add you good, bad, ugly or interesting Taxi tales.

Once got into a taxi in Melb and the driver had his seat on a 45 degree recline...could barely see over the steering wheel and I was talking down to him from the height of my passenger seat.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus, on her knees behind the bike sheds.

 

[Igloo]

TAXI!

/L-Man

 

[Run n Spread]

Only generally use them for shortish trips or a ride home when pissed. As such I would deem the service excellent. A lift home for under $50 the last few times I have used them when God knows how the hell I'd have gotten home otherwise. From memory also had a good yarn with a couple.

Yeah there are shit drivers but that tends to amount when not knowing the directions. What do people really expect thou when hiring someone who has just arrived in the country on cheap rates to keep costs down? What really needs to be fixed is the absurd pricing to hold a licence.

 

[Gough]

I like the Asian taxi drivers, always good to chat cricket with, I had a Pakistani taxi driver who sat out the front of my house one day talking with me about Pakistani politics for fifteen minutes. Best still are the old wog ones who put the world to rights during a fifteen minute cab ride.
Plus Adelaide is so small it's bloody hard to get lost, so there is never that frustration.

 

[Doss]

Once had a driver try to convince drunk me that driving me home at 3am from the city to Fawkner would be better done by taking the Westgate Freeway and the Ring Road.

That would have led to a fare of roughly $70, as against $27-30 going straight up Sydney Road. At 3am in the morning, Sydney Road is deserted and not a problem traffic wise, so it was very dishonest of the driver indeed.

Anyway, I managed to slur my way into convincing him to take me home the normal way, saving myself $40 in the process.

That's the only bad experience I've ever really had.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Me+My brother (much darker then me) got told "you types always run away" and drove off once when we were pretty drunk and dark

I once locked out my keycard (too drunk to hit the numbers right) and had to leave my phone in the cab while i went inside and told my girlfriend she had to pay for the taxi. Getting home drunk on a monday morning at 3.30am sex did not happen

Also in baltimore some dude on the side of the road said "yo do you guys need a taxi" 6'6" black guy with a beat up 4wd, before we said No my mate goes "Yes that would be wonderful!" and threw me+his bags in the back, 5 minutes later and 50 dollars lighter....

 

[Smoooothy]

[quote="delirious1]Getting home drunk on a monday morning at 3.30am sex did not happen
[/quote]
Damn.. thats the best kind too

 

[Gasometer]

Also in baltimore some dude on the side of the road said "yo do you guys need a taxi" 6'6" black guy with a beat up 4wd, before we said No my mate goes "Yes that would be wonderful!" and threw me+his bags in the back, 5 minutes later and 50 dollars lighter....

delirious1

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Are the best places for scoring fresh khat

 

[JuddsABlue]

use them all the time and always get the bad ones for some reason

had taxi drivers that were falling asleep on the freeway

had a taxi driver stop literally on the westgate bridge because our prepay had run out (gave him $50 or something and as soon as the meter hit $50 he stopped the cab and demanded more of we get out)

had so many that just cant drive, just so bad at keeping in a lane on a freeway or cornering suburban streets

constantly on the phone mumbling to someone in their headset in another language

had one guy try to longhaul me from russel st by going through north melbourne then onto city link to get back onto the westgate and over the westgate bridge, fare was already at the cost of the normal fare home by the time we got to the bridge, he pretty quickly turned the meter off when I kinked up a stink so he knew what he was doing

had some terrible dirty ones

get knocked back all the time for shortish fares

bookings never ever on time

overall theyre terrible, really hate using them but I dont want to drink and drive obv

 

[dymot]

Give you all tiop. In China if someone says do you want a taxi then tell them no. They will most likely be a scammer / scammers and rip you right off big time. First thing I did was in Shenzhen was stupidly listen to the guy ask me you want taxi then listened to the officer who said its ok and went with them. Realised when it was a standard Toyota there and two guys in it taking me I knew it was fishy so asked them the price. When I started haggling with them they got pissed off and told me no and I got out fortunately I asked the info booth at the border on China side about how to get to the hotrel and they told me and the price that I should pay so knew how to haggle. I had to pay them off 20HKd or $$3 which was worth it for the mistake and the ease of resolution to it for my sake. Lucky that the guys in the dodgy taxi didn't run with my goods too as they are known to do that all the time.

Moral of the story is note down the colour of the taxi in the city on Chian you are going to and only get them from good sources such as at ranks, through the hotel or similar or from the road when you know what they loook like. There are some semi legitimate looking ones who have the meter ****ed or wired fast in them so best finding out information before using them in regard to cost and distance etc. This is a way you can safeguard yourself from bad experiences. Also take down details like the rego and rego id on the photo like we have for drivers in Australia. The authoritie do not take too well to rip off and dodgytaxi drivers.

Overall though I must state the legit ones are very very excellent, safe and pleasant even if you can't communicate with them through actually talking to them due to language. They will never take tips and will always round down so if you need to pay 20.15 they will make it 20. Also refuse to take 20 when the fare is 17 for example you have to push it onto them .

 

[Plugger35]

Heard a story about a drunk guy who paid his fare up front because the cabbie was worried he'd do a runner. He was so drunk though he'd forgotten he'd already paid and at a set of red lights near his house he decided to do a runner anyway. He probably wondered why the cabbie just drove off and didn't bother chasing him.

Only really dodgy cab I've had was in London with those unlicensed minicabs that are usually driven by dodgy Nigerians.

Got a minicab there once with a few mates back to our place in Acton from a bar in the Liverpool St business district. About halfway there the Nigerian driver told us he couldn't take us all the way to Acton as the area was too dangerous, which was bullshit as we'd never had any trouble there and he initially agreed to take us there. He ended up stopping in some deserted backstreet somewhere and told us we had to get out there, we told him to piss off and refused to pay the fare. Anyway we got out of the cab still arguing with him and then a couple of other Nigerian dudes emerged from the shadows and started threatening us. We were like wtf is going on here? I think it might have been some scam to mug us but it backfired on them as we outnumbered them and being 4 pissed up and pissed off Aussies were probably more agro then they'd bargained on so they backed down and took off.

The cabbies in Bangkok are pretty dodgy too, always trying to take you to suit stores or to brothels handing you cards and brochures selling their wares.

"You like suit, I can take you now, very good suit very cheap"

"You like lady, I can take you now, very good lady very cheap"

They're pretty harmless though, found them more amusing than annoying.

 

[JuddsABlue]

Heard a story about a drunk guy who paid his fare up front because the cabbie was worried he'd do a runner. He was so drunk though he'd forgotten he'd already paid and at a set of red lights near his house he decided to do a runner anyway. He probably wondered why the cabbie just drove off and didn't bother chasing him.

I double paid once

Was mega drunk leaving the casino with some mates and gave $100 up front expecting a fare of about $90-100

so about 50 minutes and 2 drop offs later, I'm 90% sure I looked at the meter, threw the guy another $100 told him to keep the change and jumped out

Wasnt until the morning I realised I double paid

 

[Plugger35]

I double paid once

Was mega drunk leaving the casino with some mates and gave $100 up front expecting a fare of about $90-100

so about 50 minutes and 2 drop offs later, I'm 90% sure I looked at the meter, threw the guy another $100 told him to keep the change and jumped out

Wasnt until the morning I realised I double paid

I don't think I've ever done that but I'm pretty generous with my tips when I'm drunk, mainly because I can't be arsed waiting around for them to find the exact change to repay you. Easier to tell them to keep the change and just gtfo.

 

[stmookeyj]

Exactly 364 nights ago I had a cabbie from India going from Ringwood to the City, we talked a little cricket. Most cab rides I find are reasonably quiet with the radio in the background. I tend to only take them to and from airports, particularly if I can't get access to a train line or bus.

 

[Gasometer]

Despite the first two reply posts....I knew there were some Taxi stories worth telling...and some of these are funny as ^

 

[WCErevival]

constantly on the phone mumbling to someone in their headset in another language

They all seem to do that. They do it so quietly you wonder how the person on the other line hears them.

 

[Borry]

Guy has taxi in Sydney CBD, it is flagged down by group of mates, guy has Sat Nav, we need to go somewhere close to the CBD, he doesn't know where it is and is reluctant to take us, ****ing idiot.

 

[Borry]

Have had a suprisingly good run with Indians and Africans in Perth, although that's not to say that there are incompetents amongst them across the country.

 

[bkozican]

ordered a taxi once (after a few drinks) on a rainy night so you can imagine its cold, dark and this bloke is waiting for me......He see's me come up the road with my hoody on......"you order taxi" yea man yea that was me......"what your name" I tell him my name walk around the front of the car, My hand just touched the handle and the bastard drives off.......Just left me in the rain.

 

[JuddsABlue]

Exactly 364 nights ago I had a cabbie from India going from Ringwood to the City, we talked a little cricket. Most cab rides I find are reasonably quiet with the radio in the background. I tend to only take them to and from airports, particularly if I can't get access to a train line or bus.

In general I find airports to be the cream of the crop

In saying that I generally only taxi from airport or city at 3am, but I did get some nasty ones from Church st in Brighton a couple of times that pick up people from a rank near a supermarket. Absolutely stank of a strange smell that was probably attempting to mask other smells

I love the sweat when in a long taxi line you're nearing the end and see a premium silver cab coming up, hoping you win the taxi lottery or doing some trickery to make sure you get it

 

[MrCharisma]

Got picked up from the airport by this Indian guy whose cab interior was like labyrinth of cheap Australiana souvenirs e.g those mini koala things, aussie flags, Anzac Day badges etc. he had a strong indian accent, but was using old school Aussie slang, asking me stuff like if I'd picked up any "sheilas" overseas and said "fair dinkum" or "fair go" after everything. Also had really bad road rage and swore a lot. Pretty funny dude.

Anyway, got talking about music and mentions he's recorded and released music, met all these b-grade celebrities like Kevin Rudd and had been on Good Morning Australia or some shit. He ended up suckering me into buying a CD for like $10 - pretty hilarious shit. The guy obviously has talent.

Here's a taste of it :

 

[PP34]

I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus, on her knees behind the bike sheds.

 

[Plugger35]

Have had a suprisingly good run wi. th Indians and Africans in Perth, although that's not to say that there are incompetents amongst them across the country.

It's usually Indians or African cabbies late at night in Perth.

Indians you just talk cricket with them and Africans you just talk football with them, great way to break the ice on those long trips home..

I got an African cabbie one night who was a silent grumpy bastard at first, found out he was from Ghana so I namedropped Michael Essien and told him I was a Chelsea fan, He changed completely after that and we talked and laughed non stop about football, Ghana and Chelsea from that point on. I think he was a bit disappointed when I eventually got home and had to get out, gave him a generous drunken tip though as always.