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During your travels,
there may be times when you need to take a taxi. If you are planning
on tacking a taxi, you need to do some research ahead of time.
Try not to take a taxi without having researched
the route and knowing what to expect to pay.
In some cases, you may need to negotiate a flat
rate with the driver prior to departing on your
ride. Look for what others
have posted on line about their taxi experiences.
If possible, it's a good idea to have cash in the local
currency in amounts that will allow you to pay
for your ride and tips without expecting change in
return.
Here we have mentioned several
things to consider when taking a taxi as well as
some good and bad experiences we have had using
taxis on our travels.
Ride Sharing
Services
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Uber's
Smartphone app connects
driver-partners and riders.
In cities where Uber
operates, use your rider app
to request a ride. When a
nearby driver-partner
accepts your request, your
app displays an estimated
time of arrival for the
driver-partner heading to
your pickup location. Your
app notifies you when the
driver-partner is about to
arrive.
Your app also provides info
about the driver-partner
with whom you will ride,
including first name,
vehicle type, and license
plate number. This info
helps the two of you connect
at your pickup location.
Use your app to enter your
preferred destination
anytime before or during the
ride. When you arrive
at your destination and exit
the vehicle, your trip ends.
Your fare is automatically
calculated and charged to
the payment method you’ve
linked to your Uber account.
Immediately after a trip
ends, your app will ask you
to rate your driver from 1
to 5 Stars and it's possible
to tip immediately or later.
See our
Mobile Apps page.
https://www.uber.com/
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London Black Cabs
Taxis can be
expensive, especially in England and the
exchange rate with the British Pound. The
taxis you will see everywhere are their
famous 'Black
Cabs'.
The best, fastest and
most economical way to get around London is
via the 'Tube' or subway although there may
be times you will need to take a taxi. For the
experience, if you simply want to be able to
say you have ridden in a Black Cab, we
recommend taking a short ride somewhere in
downtown London. Be aware, even a
short ride can be expensive, especially if
you end up stuck in traffic as with most
cabs you are charged by the distance and
time it takes you to reach your destination.
In general, taxis charge riders per mile
when moving and per minute when idling.
Black
Cabs are nice and roomy, so they should easily
accommodate anything you are carrying.
As they are so roomy, you will keep
your luggage with you in the large open
space that is designed for both passengers
and luggage.
For our 'to say we have done it'
ride, we took a Black Cab from
the Harrods Department Store in London to another
destination a few blocks away. The
short ride we took ended up costing us
around 10 GBP, or close to $20 USD with the
conversion rate at the time. We could
have walked the distance in about 10 minutes.
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London Black
Cab |
Harrods
Department Store, London |
London Heathrow Taxis
- 5-Star Taxi Service
Having lived in
Windsor England for several years, we often
took trips from Heathrow Airport.
When you exit the terminal at Heathrow, you
will find a large queue of Black Cabs
waiting to take you wherever you need to go.
Windsor is about a 20-45 minute ride
depending on traffic
and the Black Cabs can cost anywhere from
35-50 pounds. If you are used to
paying in USD and depending on the exchange
rate, this is a pricy ride at around
$50-$75, and that's one way.
We always used the
5-Star Taxi Service when living in
Windsor. They cater to executive
travel, so the cars are very nice and clean;
more on the end of luxury type cars.
To use their service,
call ahead to confirm they will go to your
destination and ask for the rate. They
charge a fixed rate, so you will know
exactly what to pay. When you arrive a
Heathrow and have cleared customs, simply
call and request a ride. They
will tell you where to meet them just
outside when exiting the main terminal.
Watch for them to drive by having a
large star with a 5 in the center, placed
on the car's windshield. When we lived
in Windsor, we used to pay a flat rate of
around 15
pounds to Heathrow for up to 4 passengers.
5-Star Taxi / Phone: 01753 858888 /
http://5starwindsor.com
Depending on your plans, it can actually be
cheaper to arrive at Heathrow, take a
5-Star Taxi to Windsor, play tourist for
the day and then take one of the two trains into London
compared to taking a taxi from Heathrow
directly into London.
If your plans permit, stay the night in
Windsor so you have a place to drop off your
bags before heading into London or to
other destinations. Windsor has two
train stations, one having a direct train to
London while the other requires you to
change trains in Slough for London or other destinations.
There is plenty to see and do in Windsor
including a tour of the castle, so seriously
consider stopping here for the night if
possible.
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Windsor
Castle - Windsor,
England |
Research taxi cost - A
good and bad experience in Bucharest Romania
Spend some time researching
the cost anywhere you expect to take a cab. Be aware that some
taxis will not start the fare at zero, so
don't be surprised if the ride starts at 1
or even 5, but keep an eye on the meter.
Here we describe two
cab rides we took in the city of Bucharest
Romania, one good, one bad.
On a Halloween trip
through Transylvania, we flew to Bucharest
Romania where the best way to reach the city
from the airport is by bus which takes about
an hour. We had researched the
bus route so that from our off point, the
hotel was only a short walk away. The
next morning we needed a taxi to the
train station for our next destination.
We had researched the distance and cost
on-line so we knew what to expect to pay. The hotel
called the cab which picked us up and took
us directly to the train station. The
cab charged us an amount right in the range
we had researched.
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Bucharest,
Romania |
Upon
returning to Bucharest at the end of our
trip, we stayed another night before
returning home the next day. Arriving
back at the train station, we needed a cab
to our hotel. There
was a cab rank outside the train station
where we caught our cab and showed the
driver a map of where we wanted to go.
We knew what the trip should cost and now
had some history based on our previous cab
ride. With this cab,
we had only gone a few blocks and the fare
was already twice what we had paid on our
first trip for a shorter distance. Something was not right.
We told the driver to pull over and stop.
We paid the
fare we had accumulated and decided to walk
the rest of the way to our hotel. If we had taken this cab to our hotel, it
would have cost us over 100 Euros. We
felt we were being taken advantage of by a dishonest
driver. The
bottom line is, if we had not researched the
cost and paid attention to the meter, we
would have had to pay an extraordinary
amount for what should have been a
relatively inexpensive ride.
Flat rate taxis through Transylvania
On this Halloween
trip through Transylvania (yes, Transylvania
is an actual area in
Romania), we had purchased a
rail pass for all our stops outside of
Bucharest. We took the train from
Bucharest to Brasov where we stayed the
night. In the morning, we made it back
to the train station for our next
destination of Bran to visit Ban Castle or
'Dracula's Castle'. At the station,
you will find taxi drivers
approaching you asking where you are going
and offering to take you there for a
fixed 'cash only' rate.
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Brasov,
Romania |
Don't just get into a car with some
stranger. Verify they have a taxi
license and their car is a true taxi.
By taking a car from the taxi rank outside
the train station, you can be fairly sure
they are legitimate. If you are not
sure, don't do it. If you feel
comfortable, negotiate
the rate before entering the car. Get an
estimate on the travel time and clarify that
payment will be made at your final
destination.
Do not pay up front. Pay only at the completion
of your journey.
We told the driver we
wanted to stop in Bran and then continue on
to Sighisoara. The driver told
us he would do it and include a stop in
Rasnov which was on the way to see the Rasnov Fortress. He
told us the rate and we considered the cost
which would now be in addition to the day's
rail pass we had intended to use. The
rate was reasonable for our own private
taxi, additional stop in Rasnov to see the
fortress and we would still arrive in
Sighisoara around the same time as our
original train; we decided to do it.
If you are
adventurous and want to skip the train for
something different, this may be something
to consider. Our recommendation is to
plan to travel by train with a rail pass as
we did but be open to other alternatives
should they arise. Of course, you can
play by ear and wait to
purchase a point-to-point ticket at
the station or take a taxi.
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Bran Castle,
Romania |
Rasnov
Fortress, Romania |
Sighisoara,
Romania |
Flat rate taxi around India
The
dollar and other currencies are very strong
against the Indian Rupee (INR). It's
important to know your exchange rate so that
you can easily determine the value of
something in your own currency. Once
you know the value, you can determine if it
is worth paying for.
Driving
in India is an
adventure. Riding in a cab is also
an adventure. You probably do not
want to rent a car and take the chance that
you would be involved in any kind of
accident. In India, it's inexpensive
and easy to hire a private taxi for the day to take
you wherever you want to go. In
fact, there are several all-day taxi rental
companies you can find on the internet and
we have listed one below as an example.
You may schedule something ahead of time, or
your hotel should be able to help schedule
something for you. Either way, do some
research ahead of time to familiarize
yourself with the costs and what to expect.
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Elephant in
Traffic - Delhi, India |
You can hire a cab
at a fixed rate for the day
to take you around Delhi to see the sites or even
to Jaipur and the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Some companies may have set locations they
will visit but you should be able to request
a specific location if it is not on the
list. At each site,
your driver will let you out and wait for
you to return. The time you spend
at each location is up to you, keeping in mind the
return time.
At your
hotel, ask them to confirm with the taxi
company the date and time they will pick you
up, the rate and drop off time at the end of
the day.
Your
driver may not speak English, so our advice
is to bring a physical map of Deli having
circled your hotel and the sites you
would like to see. This will help to
ensure there is no misunderstanding on where
you want to go.
In some instances, your driver may pick up
another person to act as a tour guide
without your consent. If this happens
and you are interested in the guide, ask for
the flat fee fixed rate. Keep in mind
that having a guide will definitely slow
down the time it takes to visit each site as
they will explain history and other
information
in detail. If you are not interested,
you may have to state over and over that you
are not interested in the guide and you will
not pay any additional fees. You need
to be firm in your statements as they can be
persistent.
Your driver may also stop at a shopping area
not on your list as they receive incentives
to bring you in. You are not obligated
to go and may have to insist to continue on
with your original plans if you are not
interested.
Your driver may also state that some things
are not safe or closed. You need to do
your research ahead of time on any specific
location that may be in question. You
can always request to drive by to
see for yourself and then make the decision
if you want to explore it. For
example, our driver told us the Jame Masjid
Muslim Mosque was closed, but we asked to go
anyway to be sure. As it turned out,
the mosque was open so we were glad we went.
The mosque is located in Old Delhi and your
driver will actually stop a distance from
the mosque where you will take a Rickshaw
the rest of the way. Again, negotiate
the round trip rickshaw fee before
leaving on the ride. Similar to your
taxi, the rickshaw operator will
wait for you to finish exploring the Mosque
and then give you a ride back to your taxi.
This was an amazing
place to see and experience and we highly
recommend it.
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Rickshaw Ride
- Old Delhi, India |
Jame Masjid -Old Delhi, India |
Our past
travel experience in India was on a business
trip and the company arranged a private taxi for us
every weekend. As our arrangements
were taken care of for us, we did not have to schedule
the service ourselves. As an example
for what we experienced, we have listed the
site below. The site shows
several different tour options that are
available and what you should expect to pay.
The prices are well in line with what we paid
during our time in India.
- I
Love My India Website Example
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- 1400 INR
is about $22 for the entire day taxi rental
for the Delhi attractions
- *See
website as additional nominal fees may apply
- Another
example on the same website is a
day trip to Agra to see the Taj
Mahal
- 7000 INR
for an all inclusive trip costing
about $108 for up to 4 people
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Taj Mahal -
Agra, India |
Cash &
Currency
If you
intend to take a taxi, try to have enough
cash on hand to cover your journey and any
tips you plan to pay. In some
countries, drivers may only accept cash in
their local currency, Euros or even American
Dollars, but it's best to carry cash in the
local currency to be safe.
Be aware that drivers in other countries may
not be equipped to process credit cards, so
having exact cash in the local currency is
the best option.
Drivers
may not have change for large bills leaving
you to pay a large tip or no tip at all.
We recommend carrying enough cash to cover
the ride with some to spare in all
denominations so that making change and
tipping are not issues.
Be sure to
read our page on
Tipping
Taxis Europe.
See our
page on
Foreign Currency for more information.
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