A question about taxis

LoLth

First off. I really dont want to start a rant about taxis or a string of the usual "gouger scum" remarks.

I have a question that has been bugging me for a while now:

This morning i called a taxi and when I sat into it the meter read
3.40 and €1.50 extras rate 1

€1.50 extra is the callout fee
rate 1 is the time of day etc
3.40 is the minimum charge

all fair enough however, by the time the taxi pulled out of the driveway the 3.40 had gone to 3.55.

surely , like almost everything else in the world "minimum fare" means that is the least you will be charged and you get charged more if your journey goes beyond that amount. In the case of taxis it appears that minimum fare should really be called "surcharge" or "hiring fee".

can anyone in the taxi trade tell me if this is the case or how this minimum fare works?

solskjaer20

A lot of taxi's around here charge by either the time or the distance.

But whenever you're about to get dropped off, some of them change to whichever ones gives them the most money.

dubtom

The 3.40 is the initial charge which increases by time or distance.90 seconds from the turn on or 1/9th of a mile. Was the taxi waiting for any amount of time for you. He is entilted to turn on the meter when he reaches the pick up point, basically paying him for waiting for you. If he wasn't waiting, ie, you got in the car as soon as he arrived, then he turned on the meter before he reached you. Your entilted to insist that he restarts the meter.You should always take the reciept, his number will be on it, if you have a complaint contact the carriage office.

A lot of taxi's around here charge by either the time or the distance.

But whenever you're about to get dropped off, some of them change to whichever ones gives them the most money.

That can't happen in Dublin or indeed the 26 counties from september, we work off a sealed meter, it decides time or distance.

seamus

dubtom wrote:

The 3.40 is the initial charge which increases by time or distance.90 seconds from the turn on or 1/9th of a mile. Was the taxi waiting for any amount of time for you. He is entilted to turn on the meter when he reaches the pick up point, basically paying him for waiting for you.

Well, not necessarily. The taxi driver couldn't turn up five minutes earlier than he was booked and just leave the meter running. He would also have trouble justifying it, if he turned up at the house and didn't annouce his arrival (even with a beep of the horn).

dubtom

seamus wrote:

Well, not necessarily. The taxi driver couldn't turn up five minutes earlier than he was booked and just leave the meter running. He would also have trouble justifying it, if he turned up at the house and didn't annouce his arrival (even with a beep of the horn).

Your right he could do that, me being an honest bloke never considered it, but you can still insist that he restarts the meter if you arrive at the proper time.
The customer is always right and untill it becomes the norm that customers insist on fair play with taxis and assert themselves, their will always be rip off artists.The problem is that most punters want the quite life, their willing to accept crap like this and complain to anyone who will listen after, rip off mercahnts will try it on untill it becomes clear to them that punters just wont accept it anymore. Believe me, if there in the wrong and you insist that they restart the meter, they will comply, their job is at stake.

Hobbes

It looks like he switched on the meter before he got to you. AFAIR hes not supposed to start it until your in the cab. Although if you made him wait it might ok.

It didn't click over that much, 15c. Is that the normal click for Rate 1?

I have seen taxi drivers that had thier clocks altered so they could drive with rate2 during rate1 times and there used to be a trick with the taxitronic meters that you could freeze the front screen, so it would click up but you wouldn't see it. Although it generally flipped over by a euro or more when it did deactivate.

tbh

seamus wrote:

Well, not necessarily. The taxi driver couldn't turn up five minutes earlier than he was booked and just leave the meter running. He would also have trouble justifying it, if he turned up at the house and didn't annouce his arrival (even with a beep of the horn).

I used to work an early shift at work, and would book a taxi for 5:40 (i.e. twenty to six). The crowd we used would typically send a taxi for 5:20 (i.e. twenty past five - sound so similar don't they :rolleyes: ) and would charge me the waiting time. The first time it happened I didn't say anything, but it became so regular that I rang and complained and ALWAYS made sure they reset the meter as soon as I sat into it (assuming I was on time of course). One taxi driver gave it the old "I've been waiting 20 mins" - I said "thats not my fault, the cab was booked for 5:40" and he said "you'll have to take it up with dispatch, it's not my fault". I suggested that he reset the meter and take it up with dispatch himself, or I'd cancel the contract.

LoLth

I dont have a problem with the fact that the meter ticked up. I know thats time/distance thingy (nothing worse than sitting in traffic and watching the meter tick by! I had to get out of a taxi once and walk the last 5 miles home because it ticked over what I had in my pocket and the taxi driver wouldnt stop at a banklink for me. fair enough and the walk did me good!). What I was wondering about is, should the 3.40 flat fee that is on the meter when you sit into the cab tick on immediately or should it be static until the time/distance has reached 3.40 and then start ticking up?

He didnt have to wait for me, I was outside waiting for him when he arrived.

dubtom

LoLth wrote:

I dont have a problem with the fact that the meter ticked up. I know thats time/distance thingy (nothing worse than sitting in traffic and watching the meter tick by! I had to get out of a taxi once and walk the last 5 miles home because it ticked over what I had in my pocket and the taxi driver wouldnt stop at a banklink for me. fair enough and the walk did me good!). What I was wondering about is, should the 3.40 flat fee that is on the meter when you sit into the cab tick on immediately or should it be static until the time/distance has reached 3.40 and then start ticking up?

He didnt have to wait for me, I was outside waiting for him when he arrived.

No it shouldn't click on immediatly, he must have put it on earlier. If he puts on the meter at rate 1, 3.40, it shouldn't change unless 90 seconds have past while under 10kph or stopped, or 1/9th of a mile at normal speed.

I have seen taxi drivers that had thier clocks altered so they could drive with rate2 during rate1 times and there used to be a trick with the taxitronic meters that you could freeze the front screen, so it would click up but you wouldn't see it. Although it generally flipped over by a euro or more when it did deactivate.

Thats impossible now, meters are calibrated and sealed by metroligy, although tx34's meters(taxitronic) lose about 1 minute a week.There is no way of manually changing a rate on my meter, a tx30,or the tx34 which I used to have, but the 34 would eventually click on to rate 2 well before the rate was supposed to because of the dodgy clock. Their been fased out, because they dont accept a 3rd tarrif, which will come in september.

Emmo

Whats the 3rd tarrif going to be?

Emmo

Hobbes

dubtom wrote:

Thats impossible now, meters are calibrated and sealed by metroligy

Its always been like that. There are drivers who break the seal, get it reset and put a fake seal on it. Or have a letter saying it hasn't been calibrated yet (so I had to accept the fare). Likewise I had one where it was rate2 at 6pm. I argued with the guy and he said the car was owned by the company so he had no control of it. I got out before we got far from the rank and he shot off not returning to the rank.

although tx34's meters(taxitronic) lose about 1 minute a week.There is no way of manually changing a rate on my meter

I forget the model but it requires holding certain keys for a certain period of time and it will freeze the price on the screen. So it looks like its just been switched on, but is in fact ticking away. Then pressed a key to stop it being frozen. I've been in two taxis where this happened (neighbours are taxi drivers so had heard of it). In both cases the drivers nearly wet themselves when I pointed out the meter had jumped a euro or more within a minute of entering the taxi.

dubtom

Emmo wrote:

Whats the 3rd tarrif going to be?

Emmo

Well all the tarrifs will change, A will be up to a certain amount,(dont have the figures to hand)lets say 11K or x amount of minutes, B upto say 30K and tarrif C over 30K or x amount of time.It will mean that previous journeys like bray or maynooth will now be included on the meter, which is a good thing. Although I'm not sure if they will cost any less than they do at the moment.

I forget the model but it requires holding certain keys for a certain period of time and it will freeze the price on the screen. So it looks like its just been switched on, but is in fact ticking away. Then pressed a key to stop it being frozen. I've been in two taxis where this happened (neighbours are taxi drivers so had heard of it). In both cases the drivers nearly wet themselves when I pointed out the meter had jumped a euro or more within a minute of entering the taxi.

That may well have been the case, I would hazard a guess though that the people who do the software, like scan atm, wouldn't risk including stuff like that in it now, they would have too much to lose. I'm not up on meter software, but I'd imagine that a thing like pushing a couple of buttons to change a tarrif would have to be software enabled.I dont think they would do it as a 'favour' to a chosen few, they wont even include a function to stop printing reciepts, because 90% of my punters dont take them, it's a total waste of paper.I hear what your saying though, hopefully the scamming days are coming to an end.