Taxi Tricks

CEBU, Philippines - Coming from a place where taxis are virtually non-existent (except for maybe three or four that occasionally roam around the city and goodness knows where they come from), one of the things I’ve had to cope with really, were the taxis apart from my previous ordeal with the jeepneys.

The taxis are a tad more complicated than I had previously thought, considering that they weren’t just expensive to begin with but that you’d also have to equip yourself with the street smarts to keep you from getting ripped off by a few very, shall we say, entrepreneurial drivers who are on the loose.

For probinsyanas like me, the Taxi 101 experiential learning bout I’ve had in the past months have taken quite a toll on my pocket and really, some taxi drivers have this habit of assuming that if you don an expensive looking bag and a few baubles, they have the license to take more than what the meter suggested.

Here are some of the common money-making tactics some taxi drivers have the habit of employing with a grin that can often be read as “it was a pleasure ripping you off, ma’am”.

No Change Technique

Perhaps this is the most common of them all. Here’s the scenario: say you’re headed for Ayala and when you get there the meter reads Php 52.50. You hand the driver Php 60.00. He scratches his head, pretends to fumble through the little coin container somewhere in front and then turns to you and says, “Hala ma’am, wala ra ba koy sinsiyo…” A moment of silence and then because you are in a hurry you have no choice but to wave it off and let him keep the change. This has happened to me quite a number of times already and if you think about it, if the driver keeps at it for say, ten passengers or so, he’ll have enough money at the end of the day for bottles of beer with his buds.

Moral of the Story: break down your cash into coins and smaller bills so as much as possible you’ll be able to give the driver the exact amount, leaving him with no pathetic excuse. Otherwise, insist on receiving the exact change. The above situation is perhaps a variant of stealing and you wouldn’t want that kind of habit to persist, believe me.

Two Rides

My friend and I went home together considering that our houses were just along the way. It so happened that after I got off the taxi, the taxi driver insisted on restarting the meter even if my friend’s place was just straight ahead. I don’t really know if that was illegal but seriously, that was just plain unfair, considering that we had to pay substantially and needlessly more.

Moral of the Story: don’t let the driver get away with it. What my friend did was that she told the driver that he could restart the meter but that she would have to report him to the authorities. The driver naturally shirked at the thought of being reported and instead forgot about restarting the meter. Now, come to think of it, if what he was planning wasn’t illegal, he wouldn’t have to be so scared about it now, would he?

Although the thought of arguing and insisting on what’s fair and right can have it’s share of inconveniences, it’s nonetheless an essential way on disciplining those of us who try to veer away from an honest way of making money. The two situations above may be nothing really major but as they say, great things come from small beginnings and cancer cells start small before they spread out and become uncontrollable.