No. of Recommendations: 8
OK, so much for my attempt at levity. I figure no task abroad can be either empowering or vexing than getting from point A to point B.
While my travel book ("Take The High Road - A Primer For The Independent Traveler") has separate chapters on many modes, I figured I'd post the chapter on taxis and ride shares as applicable to most people in most places.
The rest of the list of transport chapters:
MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
Cruises
Commercial Freighter Travel
River Cruise Comparisons
More Cruise Notes
'Short term' Taxi's, Ride-Hailing and Chauffeured Cars
'Long term' Chauffeured Cars
Foreign car rentals and Traffic
Airlines
Long-Haul Trains
Long-Haul Buses
Ferries
Subways/Metros, Trams & Local Buses
Hop-On/Hop-Off Buses
Using Porters
Enjoy,
Jeff
'Short term' Taxi's, Ride-Hailing and Chauffeured Cars
In many countries, there is a hierarchy of vehicles used as livery or taxis. At the top of the food chain may be a class of relatively new, sometimes luxurious, air-conditioned limousine-type vehicles. Uber and other local smart phone oriented services would generally fit in this spot as well. While ride-share services such as Uber are not popular with licensed taxis, they offer protection from many of the taxi problems and swindles listed below. Not only are they competitively priced, but you'll get the same price as a local as well as taking the shortest/most efficient route. Since you pick your destination with the App, the driver cannot claim he misunderstood where you were asking for. In addition, because the app uses a credit card, all of the currency based issues and scams are avoided. Finally, the app registers the name, license number, etc. of the driver and car you are taking in case you leave something behind or have a problem. All in all, it is a much safer option for a tourist than a traditional taxi.
We have been thrilled to use Uber in India (for a ride to Mumbai's airport at about 4AM) and Vietnam where the taxi's were adept at ripping us off, as well as Grab in Indonesia. While I downloaded the 'English' version of DiDi's app in China, there was still too much Chinese involved for me to use it. For two people traveling together, it is frequently cheaper to take Uber than the (very reasonably priced) Metro in Lisbon - and saves a lot of climbing hilly streets. Yandex, in Russia, uses Uber's software and works pretty much the same. In most countries, Bolt uses their own taxi cabs with 'Bolt' on the side on the cab's roof.
These ride-hailing services all use credit cards ' make sure the one you use does not have a foreign currency transaction fee.
Find out, in advance, where Uber picks up in any airport or train station that you'll be using them. Frequently they have a specific pickup location ' different from the taxi line and do not expect it to be easy to find someone in the terminal who knows where that is. If you call them, they come, but miss you because you are standing at the wrong place, they will charge you for the driver's time.
To use any of the following ride-sharing companies, generally requires downloading their app to your mobile phone, but in some countries, hotel concierges can set up the ride for you on theirs.
Uber, the world's largest ride-sharing company is available in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities (including New York, Paris, London, Prague, Amsterdam, Hanoi, Mumbai, Cape Town, Dubai, Lisbon and many others) is not alone in this field ' and may not be available in countries which have their own favorites:
Lyft is Uber's best-known competitor and is available in the US, Canada and some foreign countries
99 (99app.com) is popular throughout Brazil
Bolt (Bolt.com) is available in Budapest, Bratislava, Brno, Prague, South Africa and South America
Bouzāy is available in the Seychelles
Cabify (cabify.com) is available throughout Spain, Portugal, Latin America (and maybe India)
Careem (Careem.com) is available in many cities across northern Africa and the Middle East
Curb (GoCurb.com) available with licensed taxi drivers in more than 60 U.S. cities
Didi Chuxing (Didichuxing.com/en/) Covering hundreds of cities, the 'Uber of China
EasyTaxi (Easytaxi.com/en) uses licensed taxis in South/Central America, Africa, Middle East, Asia
Flywheel (FlywheelNow.com) works with licensed drivers on USA West Coast
Fo Taxi (fotaxi.hu/) Used in Budapest
Gett (Gett.com) offers service in Israel, Russia, and London, as well as Manhattan
Goamiles (
https://goamiles.com/) Goa, India
Grab (Grab.com) Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
Heetch (heetch.com/en) Widely used in Paris
Kabbee (Kabbee.com) London-based minicab-hailing app
Kapten (Kapten.com) Daimler/BMW owned app covering France, Lisbon, London, Geneva
KakaoTaxi ' Popular in Korea
LineTaxi ' Popular in Japan
FreeNOW (formerly) MyTaxi (MyTaxi.com) in five European countries as well as Washington, D.C.
Ola (OlaCabs.com) India's biggest ridesharing company
Safr (GoSafr.com) Created by an Uber driver after driving home an extremely drunk male passenger
Takkun (Takkun.Taxi-Tokyo.or.jp/english/index.html) is Tokyo's largest taxi-dispatching system
Taxify/Bolt (bolt.eu) used in Estonia and Budapest
Yandex/Ytaxi (yandex.com) Available in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet nations
Yugo (
https://www.yugo.mu/) is available in Mauritius
Zip Taxi (
https://www.get-zip-taxi.com/) in Maputo, Mozambique
A more complete list is found at end of this section.
In some 'emerging' nations, lower in cost and comfort, would be a class of ancient taxi's where ventilation would be dependent on whether the window handle actually worked (seat belts and sometimes mirrors are optional equipment in some cases).
Despite the advice and cautions listed below, hiring a car and driver or taxi is generally pretty easy. Ship port lecturers will try to throw the 'fear of God' into everyone (presumably so they can sell expensive excursions) saying that there are few cabs near the port. But they may neglect, for example, to mention that the bus or metro stop in front of the port will bring you to the town's center for less than a buck ' or that there is a cab queue outside the port gate with hundreds of cabs. They are not always wrong, but they are frequently misleading as independent travelers like us do not contribute much revenue to their employers, the cruise line, while those who book the ship's excursions do.
Taxi drivers in many third world countries seem to have been cast from a common mold. They drive, depending on traffic conditions, with the abandon of a Formula 1 race driver, the nimbleness of a halfback doing broken field running in a football game and the nonchalance for human safety of a kamikaze pilot. There are sometimes no seat belts (and enough of the windshields have cracks emanating from a passenger head strike to be disconcerting), frequently no side mirrors, an attitude towards traffic lights which indicates that they are for suggestion purposes only and an apparent complete disregard for the lives of any pedestrian dumb enough to set foot into the street. I am far from a blushing flower when it comes to offensive driving (having 'learned how to drive' as a cab driver in New York City in my youth), but these guys can be absolutely nuts. Fortunately, the absence of actual accidents seems to indicate that there is actually some rhythm to driving 'safely' in a rough environment ' it is just one I have sometimes not been able to discern and there are places in the world where I'd rather leave the driving to these experts.
If in doubt, have a hotel doorman flag you a taxi as they generally log the cab number. At airports, make sure that you take either a ride-sharing service that you call with YOUR phone app (like Uber) or a taxi approved by the local authorities to pick up fares at the airport. Even at NYC's JFK airport as well as the Manhattan cruise port, there are crowds of 'taxi and Uber' drivers who, in fact are not either and who will charge far more for your ride than either legitimate service will. In other countries, getting into an 'unofficial' cab can be dangerous.
The difference between a taxicab and a limousine can sometimes be as subtle as the color of the paint job, but the cost of the ride can be significantly different. Be sure that the 'cab' someone might tout you to is a real taxi and not some sort of an 'unofficial' substitute. There are 'cabs' in some places, which are nothing more than a regular car with a piece of cardboard in the window labeled 'TAXI'. This last group should be cheaper than a legitimate cab, but it can be risky to get into a strange car with a stranger in a strange land who might not have the proper insurance for carrying a tourist ' use your head. Always put the fare 'on the meter' or negotiate it in advance ' being clear whether it is for the cab or by the passenger.
Note the driver's name on the picture identification badges, as well as the license number as well as take a photo of the cabs license plate, if possible. Never share a taxi with strangers and make sure the driver doesn't pick up other passengers along the way to your destination. Always have some small denomination banknotes and coins as third world taxi drivers, especially early in the day, may not be carrying enough money to break a large denomination banknote. Expect a lousy exchange rate for US dollars (if they will take them at all) as in most places they are not considered legal tender.
While technically known as 'auto-rickshaws' the worldwide common name for the vehicle that is the poor man's taxi is 'tuk-tuk' - a name descriptive of the sound they make. They generally have a driver sitting in a cab over a single wheel and a seat for two in the rear covered cab ' but some can be larger. The old joke about how the 97% of lawyers who are scoundrels give the rest a bad name applies to tuk-tuk drivers worldwide. While many have meters, most will try to take advantage of a tourist by naming a ridiculous flat fare first. Sometimes they will 'misunderstand' and attempt to say that the charge is per passenger rather than per 'lawnmower'. While they may appear to be money savers, unless you are comfortable with uncomfortable arguments for an uncomfortable vehicle which could bring you to unexpected destinations, maybe it is better that you avoid this form of transportation if possible. If you insist on taking one of these contraptions, one should never get inside without negotiating the price (along with a 50 page contract making sure both parties are in complete agreement as to the terms and conditions), and even then, be prepared for an argument when the driver attempts to rip you off or bring you to 'the best jewelry store'. Of course, you could always attempt to get them to use the meter, but half of them are 'magic' in any case and fares will still be 'variable'.
Lower on the usual pecking order is the 'motorcycle cab' ' where you sit as a passenger behind a hired motorcycle driver. These are even uniformed and licensed in many countries and should be cheaper than even a tuk-tuk. It is my personal opinion that these are too dangerous to contemplate except in dire emergencies, but locals seem to depend on them for everyday transportation.
Other new options are popping up nowadays. Rental bikes have become common in most major cities around the world, but lately, they are being joined in cities like Paris and Lisbon by rental electric scooters (like LIME-S). Since you just leave them at the end of your ride, the streets are now cluttered with them. They all have built-in GPS, so you can locate them with a phone app. In Lisbon they cost about .17 Euro/Km.
Well, this does not limit your choices, as almost anything with wheels can be used for hired personal transport, ranging from traditional rickshaws used by tourists in Nara and some areas near Kyoto, Japan, to the home-built contraptions one sees in Manila, Philippines.
In Amsterdam, different cab companies charge different prices and while the trip from the Central Station to your hotel should cost 10 Euros, with the wrong cab off the same cab line, the identical trip will cost 15 Euros ' live and learn (the prices they will charge should be printed on the side of the taxi). In Jakarta, 'Bluebird' cabs are far cheaper than black cars. And so it can go, city by city ' ask a local if you are not sure.
In some cities, such as Paris, reserving a cab ahead of time to pick you up in the morning will cost you an extra 10 Euros as you are responsible for paying for the taxi's time to get to your hotel.
There are some cities (such as Beijing ' there seems to be no similar restriction in Shanghai - where it can be very difficult (possibly illegal) to flag down a cab from the sidewalk. In this case, head to a train station or hotel to find a cab line. In those cities where it is legal (other than, say, Beijing, China and St. Petersburg, Russia, where cabs may only take you from official taxi lines), flagging down an official cab on the street will generally alleviate most tourist scams (as the ones who practice them hang around the specific spots where tourists congregate).
As a general rule, unless taking a cab for the day, the price on the meter will be cheaper than any price you are likely to negotiate 'off the meter', but sometimes a flat fee is just simpler if it is not outrageously expensive.
Rates per kilometer are clearly posted on the side of cabs in most cities. In some cities (such as in Beijing), after some pre-set distance (15km in Beijing), the rate jumps by 50% if the driver has pushed the "one-way" button on the front of the meter. This button is for one-way trips out of town and usually should not be pushed, but always is. As a result, it is rarely worthwhile to have a Beijing taxi wait for you with the meter running and take you back as catching another cab for the return will save money. Get locations written in local language as many taxi drivers abroad do not speak English. Take a business card or matchbook from your hotel, or have someone local write the name of the cruise ship dock in order to get back home at the end of your trip. Mobile phone GPS apps have also helped me when the cab driver could not understand me (most can read a map).
