Taxi Drivers?

Question

In general, do you find taxi drivers in your country courteous, knowledgable (eg. routes), honest, hardworking & give good service........or the opposite of these positive attributes. Maybe you would like to describe one experience to illustrate your opinion of them. In Singapore, I find them generally positive in all aspects. Please share your view. Thanks

Answer 1

I don't take cabs often. I would say I have maybe taken 50 cab rides in my life, and all but one was positive. So that is only 2% negative experiences. Not bad.

Answer 2

In Singapore. taxi drivers can generally be divided into 2 groups.

First, an "old generation" of drivers of the 60's & 70's who are generally not formally educated and speaks mainly in local dialets, with a sentence or two of English. They are usually rude and don't have a clue on what is customer service. However, in the last decade or so, there is a "new generation " of taxi drivers here who are well educated and undergo a streneous 5 weeks of vocational taxi driving course. conducted by Singapore Taxi Academy. Most of the latter are "professional" in their job and give good service. In the next decade, we should have a new breed of taxi drivers who are service orientated in their vocation, just like any small business man.

My positive experience : Refused my "over payment" in US dollars when I had no local currency to pay the actual fare from airport after an overseas trip.

My negative experience : Lost my handphone in the back seat of a cab and never got it back. Either the cabby or next passenger took it.

My verdit : In Singapore, 80% are good, the rest terrible.

Cheers!!!!

Answer 3

In my town they are the best way to get around, if you can catch one. They are terribly scarce. But they're the funniest buggers on the road, courteous to other drivers, and boy do they know their stuff. Case in point: It's a Friday night and we had just left a small party and were heading home. We called a cab but we know the rules in our town. You call one straight away to act as your last resort. You have to get out there and hail one or you'll never get a ride. But there I was standing on the corner with a group of others when a cab rolls up. He calls out the window: "Are you all together?"
I respond, "No, there are three groups of two and one group of four"
"The group of four you all hop in"
So we sit and wait, and no cabs come around. About fifteen minutes go by and the same cab comes back
"I can take six more if you all want to squeeze in"
Two of the people would rather wait so my wife and I share a cab with another couple. We give him our address and the other couple give him theirs. We heard the address and thought "Oh boy, this is going to take awhile" They were to be dropped off first. Well they live probably a good 15 miles away by highway and we get to their house within ten minutes from the theatre (maybe five miles away) and then he says to us.
"You two don't care about breaking a few laws do you?"
"As long as we get home safe we're fine"
So he takes us through the best short cut you've ever seen. We go down to the end of the road the other couple lived on and he takes us up this bumpy back road. We're thinking he's crazy but he reasures us he knows what he's doing. Over the hill we go, down the other side, and he cuts the lights. Well this cabby knew of a farm that had a tractor run going from on side of town to the other and he flies along this (somewhat) smooth dirt road and winds up litteraly, at our backyard. The farm backed on to a forest that has an access road running right behind our house. How he figured that out I'll never know. I asked him and all he said was: "Sir, I'm a cabby, we know everything" And drove off.

Answer 4

The taxi drivers in our area are totally in it for the money. They don't care whether or not you're in a hurry or if you know of a short cut that would save them money. They take 'scenic routes' and make sure they're making your money work for them!!
I don't like the taxi drivers in our area. They're rude and smoke in the cars (even the ones that have no smoking signs in them), and they swear (even when there's kids in their vehicles).
I used to have to take a taxi to work, every day, and they would charge me a 'flat rate'. There was only one taxi driver who I thought really enjoyed his job and cared about his passengers. There was one time when I bought groceries, and had put some money aside for my taxi, back home. I called a taxi, and when he showed up, he just sat in the car. I had put all the groceries in the trunk and he looked miserable. I tried not to let it get to me, and when he pulled out of the parking lot, he was cussing and swearing at the other drivers, around us. I felt uncomfortable.
I started to go through my change purse, and seen what the rate was at, as we were driving. I realized that I would have been short, by a dollar, and some change, maybe. I told him this, and he literally drove just to the end of my driveway, and got out, and opened the trunk and in a fury, he started putting my bags of groceries, right along the road, and he started yelling at me. I was shocked, but yelled back at him that I didn't appreciate his attitude towards me and that I was going to file a complaint.
Well, he STILL wanted to get paid, and I refused. He sped off and that was the last time I seen him!! I called the company and filed a complaint, and I guess that was not the first time he did that!!
There were other times when the drivers seemed like they were always in a hurry and if I had to go 'out of their boundary zone', then that meant it was taking more of their time!! I mean, I was a paying customer, and they didn't care. They were rude and obnoxious, at times, and when I got my car, that was the last time I ever called on a taxi!!!

Answer 5

Sad to say that only a few taxi drivers are deserving of a compliment in our area. Most do not know how to say thank you when you give a tip. Almost none would give you your change since they expect that "that small change is a measly amount so it's theirs". Others would not budge from their seats to help you with your baggage and some have the nerve to ask you to "add some more to the fare" when you get to your destination since they dont get passengers on the way back. Ggggrrrrrr....
God help us.

Answer 6

Most taxi drivers know their way around very well in America. The only problem that I have seen is that they have a tendency of taking a longer route to your destination in order to get a higher fare.

Answer 7

About 25% of the rides I take are terrible. Mainly they refuse to take my directions and they make 'wrong turns' and 'get lost' while I'm yelling at them the entire way that I know how to get there. When that happens, I just pay them the amount it would have been if they didn't get lost. It makes them mad but it's their problem since I told them where to turn. The rest of the cab rides are fine and rarely do they even speak to me at all.

Answer 8

Okay here in Australia taxi drivers are nice but some are sleezy (I think.) That's why I sit in the back, in Kuala Lumpar (Malaysia) its really really cheap and they don't seem to talk much, some even smoke (But he was courteous to ask if I'd mind.)

Answer 9

I was in a car accident once and a cab driver stopped and stayed with me till police/ambulance came. I was very grateful. I say they are generally good even though I haven't used one in maybe 10 years or more.

Answer 10

I have never been in a taxi, but I know a taxi driver and she seems pretty nice.