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What is the proper procedure in Chengdu? In America, you flag down the taxi and when it stops, get in and then tell the driver where you want to go. If the driver gives me any shit, I would respond with several threats to report them, piss in the taxi, etc. to get the driver moving.
In Chengdu yesterday, my girlfriend flagged down three taxis, including one at a taxi stop, went to the passengers side window and told the driver where we wanted to go (just a few km, not far). The taxis then gave some excuse and drove off. How would a local handle this?
May be she was too scary?
Never happened to me, about the only reason i couldnt take a taximan to drive me somewhere was my poor chinese. In that case i just catch another one till one of them finally understands WTF am i saying 🙂
I always hurriedly get into the taxi first, then tell him where I’m going. He’s a lot less likely to refuse a large laowai once they’re already in the cab
Usually it’s a procedural miscommunication/misunderstanding.
I’ve gotten pissed when a driver refused to take me to a destination but then I later realized it’s because a lot of the two way roads here change to one way lanes at peak periods making travel by bus one of the only options.
Many drivers also refuse to make U turns to get to your destination. You have to be on the right side of the road in the direction of your destination. This is true for a lot of the major cities that I’ve been in.
Thanks for the replies. It sounds like my girlfriend was just too timid. I’ll have to take the lead next time.
It might have something to do with Chinese New Year also. A lot of taxi drivers are preparing to return to their hometowns, or are dreading the increased traffic in Chengdu right now because of the holidays.
Usually Chengdu taxi drivers are pretty agreeable though, especially compared to Beijing and Shanghai.
I just came across an article on this today: How to Pass Your Next Taxi Audition
While it is about Beijing, some if it does apply here. Getting a taxi out in the north east of the city where I work is a nightmare around rush hour.
It seems Chengdu has slowly increased the number of taxis though and allowing non-Chengduren to drive them. This resulted in me having to tell a driver from Suining where to turn/drive for one memorable journey.
Quote:piss in the taxi, etc.Sitting, standing, squatting?
I always plant myself in the seat, and if the driver refuses to take me where I want to go initially I just sit there and keep some humorous persistence. So far this has always gotten me to where I’m going, but for rare instances where the driver digs his heels in.
It also depends on the time you are trying to get a taxi. For example around 7pm lot of taxidrivers will ask you where to go opposed to just wait for you to say it. Mostly even from outside the car, this is because they almost finish working and have to give the car to the next guy. So they like to stay in a specific area. Always two, sometimes three drivers share a taxi, with 12 hour work shifts.
Quote:It might have something to do with Chinese New Year alsoIve noticed it is harder to get a taxi now and yesterday a driver told me that lot of drivers are around the airport, trainstations, where they try to get customers without using their meter. During this time, he said, lot of drivers dont want to use the meter, since its so busy with people coming in and out of the city.
Once you know a city well enough you can sometimes negotiate a better deal not using the meter anyway. Not using the meter really just means the cabbie is going to keep a larger amount of the fare in his or her pocket. As long as you know it’s not 300kuai from the airport to Tianfu Square you’re not gonna get ripped off.
But really the biggest reasons they won’t take you are that they are changing shifts and they don’t want to go anywhere out of the way from where they need to go to fill up/hand over the cars, or that they just don’t want to deal with foreigners who can’t speak Chinese and have no idea where they want to go or how to say it.
I haven’t come across the latter as much in Chengdu as I had in other cities around China, though.
Re: pissing in the taxi, this is a strategy that works if applied correctly. If the cabbie isn’t afraid of being reported, he is afraid of having a smelly cab. Here’s a sample:
“Please take me to my destination. I really have to piss and I don’t think I can hold it long enough to wait for another taxi. I don’t want to have an accident here in your taxi, so please just drive.”
It did happen sometimes, especially in shift hours.
As a local, it happened to me occasionally.
In CD, 2 drivers joint rent 1 cab. Generally speaking, 1pm or 5pm is the shift hour. However, shift time can also be different according to the agreement of themselves.
That means if u flag down a taix when they are shifting, they WILL REFUSE u if your destination is in different from his direction.
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