Taxi drivers!!

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In the UK there are cabs you can hail from the side of the road or book in advance. In Chile it is the same but there are also cabs called Collectivos.

Marvellous idea, the Collectivo. It is basically a taxi that drives around the same route, the same as a bus, only it's a saloon car. It's a fast and cheaper way for the community to get around the area. Once full it can speed off to its prearranged destination without all the pick ups and drop offs. They all have the number of the route they take displayed on the roof and aslo the places they go to. They do not deviate from that route.
Did i say cheaper?
The trouble is when you first use one you are not sure of the price.



I recall last year being ripped off by a taxi driver in Mui Ne, Vietnam. The price was 12.5 dong. The taxi driver just showed me the display and through my Mohito full eyes read 125 dong, the decimal point being tiny. Instead of him 30 pence gave him £3.00. Travveling from Hong Kong, where the decimal point is larger and more prominent I failed to see it.
Why is it not until you get the next cab with the honest driver that you realise the first cab had you right over?
The price was the same, 125 dong. Gave him the money . He showed my the decimal point and returned my money less 12.5. Gave him a tip and as swore at the last cabbie under my breath.
You would think I would learn wouldn't you or pay attention more.
In Chile while the prices are displayed on the windscreen they cannot be read well from the inside, and not at all from the back.
Hopped in the collectivo with Anita to travel to the beach. "Cuanto es?" .. How much?
"1,800 pesos" says the driver. Excellent. That is around £2.40 or $3.50 each.
7 km for under a fiver.
Sounds good. About the same as Weston-super-mare, and cheaper than Taunton or Bristol. Definitely chaper than London.
Pay the man 3,600 pesos.
You are ahead of me already here , I can tell.
On the return journey the fare was 1,800 pesos for the two of us. 900 each!! First scumbag driver had ripped me off for 1800 pesos as I am a Gringo. I fucking hate them.!!
When shopping you can see the price of an item on the package or shelf. At the petrol station the price is displayed on the forecourt and on the pump. At the restaurant the cost of the meal is listed. You know what you are about to pay when 'la curenta' arrives. Yet the taxi driver,a different breed from the rest of us, is the person who can take advantage of the language barrier and treat you like some sort of twat.
The first time you make the journey you have no idea of the cost, or of the tiny decimal point, or the cost of travel displayed in bloody font 6 or smaller on the front window or the other scams they pull. Drive you around the houses and running up the meter when your destination is just up the road. Bastards!!!!
You recall I met Andrew on the train Heathrow Express. He left is I-phone in a London black cab the night before. He rang the cab minutes later and the cabbie answered and assured Andrew that he would swing back found with it after his next fare was over. Andrew was going to give him a crisp £50 for his trouble. Did he return? Did he fuck!
A black cab too! Of course with no cab number and leaving for the states the next day all he could do was curse the theiving driver who now had an I-phone.
I don't know why but I found myself apologising for his experience in England. Black cab drivers are generally honest hard working people who would lose their licence if found to be stealing customers property. I mean, the fares are legalised theft anyway, so why keep an identifiable object that can easily be return with a reward sometimes too.? Dishonest and corrupt taxi drivers everywhere "Shame on you!" you have darkened the name of your honest colleagues and good luck with getting into the next life.
Rant over.

Disco out.

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