[Suess]

Excess fare cheating! it is everywhere e.g. i take taxi from home to go to airport it cost me only 240-250rs with meter but coming back i have to take prepaid taxi from same taxi company and they charge 550Rs to back home!

I asked them why and for what is the price difference. answer is they have to pay for the stall at airport! so, they are cheating you with the consent of government and government is having a pie of their profit. in the end it the public who get looted by these guys/shameful practices.

why we can't have taxi/taxi stand like in other civilized societies? you pay by meter always! it doesn't matter you took it on airport or you called it to home or just hailed it at road!

why we tend to make everything legal which would have been a corrupt/mal practice otherwise?

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Suess

Excess fare cheating! it is everywhere e.g. i take taxi from home to go to airport it cost me only 240-250rs with meter but coming back i have to take prepaid taxi from same taxi company and they charge 550Rs to back home!

I asked them why and for what is the price difference. answer is they have to pay for the stall at airport! so, they are cheating you with the consent of government and government is having a pie of their profit. in the end it the public who get looted by these guys/shameful practices.

why we can't have taxi/taxi stand like in other civilized societies? you pay by meter always! it doesn't matter you took it on airport or you called it to home or just hailed it at road!

why we tend to make everything legal which would have been a corrupt/mal practice otherwise?

We have the same case at Hyderabad. Gone are the days when NTR introduced pre-paid autos to rescue the common man from being fleeced.

I took an auto to Secunderabad station from my home at Hyderabad. The fare was Rs 80 for a 10 km ride. The route is longer by 2 kms because of a divider on Raj Bhavan Road.

On my return I took a pre-paid auto. Though the return distance was only 8 kms, I was charged Rs 110. The receipt shows that it is the fare for a range of 9 to 12 kms, which is incorrect. The actual distance is 8 kms.

See the attached receipt. This is a clear case of the Hyderabad Traffic Police being hand-in-hand with the auto gangs

[gauravdgr8]

What you experienced in Mumbai is nothing new to India. We as a country have been famous for this. It is us who have to be alert and ensure we do not get conned.

The worst thing to do in Mumbai is ask the cabbies or auto drivers "Kitna Hoga" (fare). It is the most clear indication that you are new.

[carwatcher]

Originally Posted by Suess

Excess fare cheating! it is everywhere...
why we tend to make everything legal which would have been a corrupt/malpractice otherwise?

+1 to that.
Infact I use to wonder that when we took taxi from Airport to South Mumbai the fare would come around 180-200 earlier but after pre-paid it is around 300-350. The worst part is no one can do anything against pre-paid system.
I think they calculate the fare at 1.5 times from one way distance so as to provide against risk of taxi coming vacant for some distance while coming back to airport something like taxis for outstation trips where the distance is calculated to and fro.
If one looks other way, the extra which we are paying is the premium for protection from overcharging, security threat from unknown taxi driver, taking longer route, etc.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by gjiyap1

There was a line-up of cool cabs (or is just the blue paint is similar, but no relevance to the cab service ?) and one of the fella guided me to his Maruti Wagon-R.

Got into the vehicle & told him - i need to go to Chembur and asked him 'How much will it cost ?' (is it my first mistake ?!?)

Driver: Saadey Saath So (750)
Me: Itna tho Nahin hoga. Are you sure ?.
Driver: Saab, yeh rate card dheko [And there is a list of destinations grouped under 3-4 categories & rate for cars (santro, Wagon R etc) & it did say for chembur, Rs.750] (is this my second mistake ?!?)

This has been going on for ages. In 2001, one of my friends got in their net too.

At that point of time, these crooks operated just outside arrival gate and offered to take your baggage right from gate.

Apart from Taxi, these cons also deal in all sort of forex as well. Of course they will pay inferior rates for that as well. Usually passengers arriving from International are targeted for selling Dollars/Euro/Pounds etc.

[SDP]

1998 - First time to US. Landed at JFK (New York) and the connection was from LaGuardia. The organization for which I work was into these cheap tricks that time to give you a connecting flight from LaGuardia to save some dollars. Anyways, the Air India flight landed late in JFK and there was around 1 hour left for the connecting flight. The next shuttle was after some 20-25 minutes. In the desparation, threw all caution to the wind and agreed to go with some old chap that approached and said he has his cab waiting outside.

Long story short, paid USD 200 for the short-ride and witnessed another crime -somebody ran away with some passenger's bag after he got off a cab- while getting off the cab myself. Felt like a warm welcome to America!

Needless to say, the organization refused to reimburse those 200 $. Had kept that receipt with me for next ten odd years as a reminder of my stupidity

[mmxylorider]

This was late 90s in Mumbai. There was heavy downpour around 9ish and I had to get to BARC colony from Sion and hailed a rick. Couple of them refused to stop - One finally stopped and as was the practice, just sat in told him the destination. The meter was 'downed' and reached the destination getting completely drenched.

For those unfamiliar with BARC colony, one is required to get down at main gate and get a pass made for the auto/taxi. This is to be returned back when exiting the colony. Local autos are aware and ask for the pass there itself lest the passenger forgets when he gets off. In this case, the pass was with me.

Reached my building and the driver demanded twice the fare since it was raining, he was wet, and he had to go back towards chembur. I offered him a choice, take the double fare and the pass goes into the water and he can take his chances at the exit gate or metered fare and the pass will be handed over. He thought about it and then relented.

He gave some abuses while leaving, which of course were responded to with equal enthusiam.

That being said, if such a system exists at destination where one is taking a cab/auto, it's better to keep that ace up your sleeve till the last minute.

[Suess]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

+1 to that.
If one looks other way, the extra which we are paying is the premium for protection from overcharging, security threat from unknown taxi driver, taking longer route, etc.

But that is how it is supposed to be! or isn't? make a taxi stand for all the pre-paid taxi and make them go with meter as they do anyway if you call them(radio taxi)! so, why it can't be done on airport,railway station etc.? they are just hand-in-hand in looting people. making big and glassy airport isn't everything but i hope it is a start for sure.

[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by Suess

But that is how it is supposed to be! or isn't? make a taxi stand for all the pre-paid taxi and make them go with meter as they do anyway if you call them(radio taxi)! so, why it can't be done on airport,railway station etc.? they are just hand-in-hand in looting people. making big and glassy airport isn't everything but i hope it is a start for sure.

Not sure on Mumbai but in Chennai this is the explanation that I got. FastTrack that operates the pre-paid at Chennai Central and the Airport, does not have it's own cars but instead has individuals pairing up with it. So if the cost for pre-paid from the airport is Rs.X, these owners only get Rs.X - Rs.Y. The amount Y goes to FastTrack. In addition these cars have to pay for airport parking and FastTrack I believe has to pay AAI. They are also allowed to do only the trips from and to airport and can't do anything else. So looks like there is a cost that makes this expensive.

[FarPatel]

Guys, bumping this thread for a slightly different type of scam. So far all of you have been giving your experiences of cab drivers that cheat you. This is about the prepaid cab counter guys themselves that take you for a ride. If you notice, the receipt you get will be for an amount that is Rs. 2 or 3 less than a round figure which the counter guy will call out. You are in a hurry, so you hand over the amount, get your change, grab your receipts-one for the cab driver and one for you, with the small 'airport convenience charges' stub stapled just above the total in the main receipt. So even if you do do a quick calculation you would probably ignore the 3 bucks owed to you and push off. But just extrapolate those 3 bucks over the whole day or week or month. It adds up to a tidy sum, pocketed by these clerks and probably their supervisors.
I have nothing against paying those 3 rupees, but I would want it to be reflected in the bill, so that the airport gets it legitimately and I don't have to explain to the finance dept of my company why my expenses don't tally with the bills. The pic below was from a couple of days ago, at Mumbai T2, for a colleague and I, returning from a day trip to Delhi.
Actually, we had booked a prepaid cab in Delhi T3 airport too, and were given a handwritten receipt for a proper round figure, without the airport convenience charges, so they are obviously oblivious to this scam.