Melbourne taxi drivers refusing to take fares under $15

[RB]

From Sydney Airport website


Taxi Tips

Drivers are required to accept all fares, big and small, from the airport. If you are only travelling a short distance, drivers can return back to their place in the queue after they have taken you to where you need to go. The kerbside management team will help you and your driver with this request.

Please note that taxis are not permitted to pick up passengers outside of the taxi ranks and the driver will be fined AUD $5,000 for breaking the regulation.

 

[JohnK]

In Sydney, probably all of NSW, it is against the law to refuse a fare based on how much it will cost.

I try not to bother with taxis these days but sometime last year I got a taxi from the airport to the golf club. As soon as I got in the taxi driver insisted it was a short fare. I had no idea what he was talking about but he explained that a short fare was <$15 but he also did not quite know where the golf was located. I assured him it was not a short fare and it came out close to $25.

 

[Mal]

Yellow Cabs in Brisbane claims that they will sack any driver that refuses a short fare: Rogue taxi drivers on notice - Local News - News | City News

It is also illegal, and there are other complaint channels that can be used (note it will probably just be referred back to the cab company involved anyway!)

 

[medhead]

Yellow Cabs in Brisbane claims that they will sack any driver that refuses a short fare: Rogue taxi drivers on notice - Local News - News | City News

It is also illegal, and there are other complaint channels that can be used (note it will probably just be referred back to the cab company involved anyway!)

Hollow threat, totally unless as a promise. How do you sack someone leasing a taxi yellow don't owe, via a base yellow don't own, who is a subcontractor to the really ower of the cab. Sure they can kick them off the radio network, but when I drove friday and saturday nights95% of my work was not from the radio.

Maybe refusing a fare because it is short is illegal, but it can never be proved. The driver has the right to refuse a fare for other reasons. All they have to say to the investigator is that they refused you because they didn't feel safe or that you wouldn't pay (I've had many "respectable" looking people do a runner on me), and then they only told you the short fare reason because they thought the real reason might anger you and put them in danger. The fact that the person has made such a big issue with the compliant is an indication of what made the driver feel unsafe.

Certainly, that's how I would spin it.

 

[anat0l]

I don't expect much out of MEL taxi drivers. I don't hold them in high opinion after my experiences - no major stuff ups or money lost, but pathetic taxi drivers.

Thankfully most BNE drivers can hold their own, as do SYD drivers; PER drivers are also pretty consistent.

As is said, taxi drivers can't really refuse blatantly only on the grounds of "too cheap a fare", but as has been said, they don't really have to quote that as the reason if they get audited.

More often than not, I don't know why some people have to book a taxi just to go a short two city blocks, especially when it's a fairly easy walk or free (or at least very cheap) bus ride. And no, "it's bucketing down" is a lame excuse. I can understand some (e.g. legal assistants etc. bringing cardboard boxes full of files), but other suits just hop in with no baggage. From a taxi drivers' point of view, I'd hope that the flagfall would cover more than half - if not all - of the frivolous journey.

 

[dajop]

I More often than not, I don't know why some people have to book a taxi just to go a short two city blocks, especially when it's a fairly easy walk or free (or at least very cheap) bus

Fully agree with your points, but I don' think we're talking about those sort of short fares. I'd say most taxi's cruising down a road would be more than happy doing that sort of run and getting paid for driving a couple of blocks they probably would have driven anyway.

My problem was with a pathetic little 9.5km/$20 fare ... as the driver who drove me said -- he was going into town to get a fare anyway, so it least he was getting paid for it and it was less than 10mins back into town (against the traffic) from where he dropped us.

 

[Commuter]

I had a blatant rip-off incident (driver intentionally drove the wrong way, thinking I would not realise it, it seemed) in Sydney which inflated the fare by around $20. I told him I would call the authority (I had no idea who the authority was, but never mind) if he did not re-set the metre on passing near the point where I was picked up, because he tried to fraudulently inflate the fare. He begrudgingly did so after I absolutely insisted, and proceeded to call me a 'thief' repeatedly all the way to the destination.
Who's the thief there? I wrote down his cab number and then I lost the piece of paper.

Luckily I have not had any bad experience in Melbourne yet. I had no idea where I was going so I tried to catch a taxi, thinking it must be about 20-30 min walk away, and the guy smiled and said 'I'm happy to take you there, but you can see it right there, it'll take you 5 min to walk there, or less. Would you rather walk? It's up to you' - and it was a lovely sunny day, so I thanked him, and walked

I had a refusal in London for being too close though - and in snow. I would have walked, but with a bag and inappropriate shoes, it wasn't going to work too well, so I decided to catch a taxi. I wasn't impressed at the refusal, but there was another one who drove by near the rank and he picked me up. He realised I'd been refused through being too nearby, and was really nice about it. I gave the guy £10 for a £5 ride.
I was going give him £10 anyway for the first driver had he not refused (I normally pad out the fare to what I feel is 'worth' - in that weather, it was worth at least £10 to me not to walk even a short distance), so he lost out by refusing.

 

[bambbbam2]

It's hardly a local only issue.

In LAS the drivers rip tourists off by driving the long way round the strip.

In SYD I always have the driver go up O'Riordan street rather than the freeway. I have seen some fares $40 ish to the city! crazy!

 

[oz_mark]

I don't expect much out of MEL taxi drivers. I don't hold them in high opinion after my experiences - no major stuff ups or money lost, but pathetic taxi drivers.

Thankfully most BNE drivers can hold their own, as do SYD drivers; PER drivers are also pretty consistent.

Certainly of the cities I have used taxis in to any great extent, Melbourne are the worst in Australia. Although they still have a long way to go to plumb the depths of Malaysias taxi drivers!

 

[millesm]

Certainly of the cities I have used taxis in to any great extent, Melbourne are the worst in Australia. Although they still have a long way to go to plumb the depths of Malaysias taxi drivers!

Melbourne are by far the worst in Australia if not the world.

I was verbally abused at JFK by a van driver for not taking his offer of a ride into NYC for $60 including tips and toll over my preference for a taxi. Taxi fare was about $30 plus tips, plus toll.

 

[UP4014]

I thought NYC had the worst taxi drivers until Melb. haha.

When in Melb I now use the Skybus shuttle as much as possible, with their free extention to the anywhere in the CBD including pick ups.

Tram and train now feature often on my trips to Melb, cheap and cheerful.

Have several taxis where I have had to read the street directory while a driver stuggles with the directions I give in English!

Just tired of poor taxis and the hit and miss of it all.

 

[Keith009]

Luckily I have not had any bad experience in Melbourne yet. I had no idea where I was going so I tried to catch a taxi, thinking it must be about 20-30 min walk away, and the guy smiled and said 'I'm happy to take you there, but you can see it right there, it'll take you 5 min to walk there, or less. Would you rather walk? It's up to you' - and it was a lovely sunny day, so I thanked him, and walked

I had a similar experience in Amsterdam. I didn't realise that the club was just around the corner from where I was standing. Nice taxi driver got out and walked part of the way with me. Ended up giving him a small tip for his trouble anyway.

 

[docjames]

Well, MEL sure are expensive, but at least i dont fear for my life every time i get in a cab there (unlike brisbane).

 

[Keith009]

There's also apparently a shortage of taxis in Melbourne. Call 131008 at "peak hours" (ie between 3.30-5pm) and you'd be lucky if they even pick up. Also during weekends it's neigh impossible to get a taxi at 3-4 am when lots of places close in the CBD - you either queue up for ages with fellow drunks at the taxi rank at Flinders St station, or walk up to Carlton and catch a cab returning to the city from the suburbs.

 

[Flashback]

There's also apparently a shortage of taxis in Melbourne. Call 131008 at "peak hours" (ie between 3.30-5pm) and you'd be lucky if they even pick up. Also during weekends it's neigh impossible to get a taxi at 3-4 am when lots of places close in the CBD - you either queue up for ages with fellow drunks at the taxi rank at Flinders St station, or walk up to Carlton and catch a cab returning to the city from the suburbs.

Or in our case pay the guy up-front to prove you're not a random non-payer.....

 

[Keith009]

Or in our case pay the guy up-front to prove you're not a random non-payer.....

Yes there's a prepaid fares regime in place between 10pm and 5am.

Oh to have the efficiency and availability of taxis in NYC and Berlin....

 

[notzac]

Well, MEL sure are expensive, but at least i dont fear for my life every time i get in a cab there (unlike brisbane).

Really? I've never had a problem with cabs in Brisbane (with exception of having to wait 45 minutes in a queue if I'm trying to get one at 2 in the morning) ... Melbourne cabs are absolutely woeful by comparison to most anywhere.

 

[simongr]

Try Shanghai, my colleague got out of the cab handed over RMB200 for a RMB209 cab fare and the driver sped off. It was only afterwards that my staff realised their mistake...

 

[anat0l]

Try Shanghai, my colleague got out of the cab handed over RMB200 for a RMB209 cab fare and the driver sped off. It was only afterwards that my staff realised their mistake...

I don't understand? Did they save RMB9, is it a typo or did they lose their luggage?

 

[docjames]

Well, n=6. Consecutively.