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No only Shanghai has bad taxi drivers. My friends arrived in Beijing airport yesterday and took taxi to San Yuan Qiao. I know the destination is near and does not worth the long time waiting for the taxi driver (see more explaination in this entry), but the taxi driver cheated them by going to the farther way.
The trip should cost 50 RMB at most, but the taxi driver asked for more than 100 RMB accordign to the meter.
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at February 11, 2004 12:16 PM
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and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040211_watch_out_bad_taxi_drivers_in_beijing.htm
The title of this might hurt Beijing people ( I am not Beijingness). It is like the feeling when you hear "Bad Taxi Drivers in China". Of course I noticed you wrote about Shanghai driver too.
My view is that it is a common sense that people are good and bad every where. You might got cheated when you take a taxi in a foreign city. Ask for an estimation before you go, if you are over charged, (Provided it is safe) you argue with the driver when you arrive the place, or tell him that you complain to the company. If it is not safe( in the night, nobody around), you better pay the money and go.
Anyway, safety is the main thing when you travel.
Ellen, you know I didn't mean anything bad to people in Beijing. There is no imply of the percentage of bad taxi drivers are higher than anywhere in the world. It is just a personal experience that the taxi driver took the wrong way when they are less lucky to pick up the smaller business (nearer destination). :-)
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on February 11, 2004 5:06 PMHey Jianshou, do you tip taxi drivers or hotel staff (i.e. your cleaning lady) I was just curious what is the common practise, and if people expect to be tipped.
Posted by: JL on February 13, 2004 8:46 AMNever. I never tipped anybody in China. No body would expect tipping (taxi drivers, or hotel staff)... There is no tradition of tipping in China.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on February 13, 2004 9:12 AMLove your blog. I'm moving from New Zealand to Beijing in January, and love the photos lots.
In Christchurch (where I've been living), taxi drivers will sometimes rip off foreigners too, it happens everywhere in the world.
Awareness is the best asset.
Thanks for the read, it's been very enjoyable.
Posted by: Greg on November 5, 2004 8:25 PMI think it's probably related to the huge population China has.
Say if the average ratio between good people and bad people is 100 to 1. Then in a small country like new zealand we'd probably meet 1 bad persons a day, and in China we might meet 10 bad persons a day. (just my point of view)
Posted by: JMC on November 26, 2004 8:05 AMIf you got ripped off, Imagine the number foreigners got got rip off!
Posted by: Tony on June 18, 2005 12:30 AMI believe taxi drivers in Shanghai are very frightened of being reported for ripping off customers. For example the other day a taxi driver accidentally went the wrong way. The meter said 20RMB and he said he would charge 15RMB. I knew that the trip normally costs 17RMB, so I gave him that.
The number for reporting problems with taxis in Shanghai is 63083200 (open during office hours).
Posted by: Martin Kellerman on March 14, 2006 2:41 PM