Qantas 'Limousine' Service

[JohnK]

Nor while both the SYD (build "For" the Olympic games) and BNE ("Friendship" games) railway lines continue to struggle financially.

Have you seen the prices they are charging? It is $16.90 return ($12.80 one-way) to get from Kingsgrove station to Domestic Airport, which is only 6 stops!

 

[serfty]

I have often bought an off peak return ticket to/from city circle for ~$13. (After 9:30am) However I still buy one-way tickets as I find it a good way of avoiding Taxi's.

You should see the look on Sydney Taxi drivers faces when I ask them to take O'RIORDAN ST to/from the airport when I can't really avoid taking a cab.

 

[kpc]

Three guys coming to OZFest decided to share a Cab from MEL to the city; they mentioned later the total fare was over $80! :shock: This should have been around $45. After querying this it seems the taxi driver took advantage of their lack of MEL knowledge and went via the 'western ring road', adding over 20km and 20 mins to the travel with a correspondingly inflated fare.

 

[Tooner]

A rail link to MEL was proposed during the Kennettworld experiment, but the cost of resuming land was considered too much IIRC:-|

 

[SF&]

what about a maglev train that wld be neat!!!

dream on!!!!!!!!!

 

[nlagalle]

Not going to happen while the Taxi lobby is strong.

Actually it was the Citylink contract. Not the taxi lobby. They aren't strong in Melbourne. We won't get a rail system there until the City link contract expires in around 26 years.

I use my own driver in Melbourne. He has been driving me for 13 years. And he has another couple of drivers who he works with.

 

[QF WP]

I have used QF Drive a couple of times from my home to the domestic airport where it has been more cost effective.

Used them last week to get from ADL airport to Holiday Inn. It is outsourced to Hughes Limo's. Ended up being the cheapest method (I think $55) and guaranteed a child seat (although we had to connect it ourselves due to liability). Others were charging $70 to $75 and we didn't want to hope that there were taxi's available.

Interestingly, I then used Hyatt's eConcierge (as I was staying in Hyatt at the end of my trip there) to book the return to ADL airport. It was only $40.

 

[serfty]

IIRC, normal Cab fare ADL to city is no more than $20?

(Of course, it's BYO Child seat)

 

[Skyring]

I found the best way to get a clean, reliable, "nice" drive home is to book a Silver Service, stump up the extra $10 and then if you like the car/driver get his personal card and then you can call him direct in the future and avoid the extra charge.

I drive Silver Service, but if I get repeat customers giving me a private call, I still charge the $11 booking fee. Most of the time it's government or corporate passengers who aren't paying for their own fares anyway. They don't really care how much it costs.

But yeah, Silver Service is the way to go. You get a nicer car and a more experienced driver. Leather seats and lots of legroom.

I enjoy having regular passengers. Gives me the chance to get to know them and satisfy their needs. Like what sort of music they prefer, exactly where they want to be picked up and so on.

For many travellers, the taxi ride between office and airport is a chance to relax, and I do my best to make the journey as stress-free as possible.

 

[Skyring]

Not sure - I know that when I compare my Amex/Dinres statement with a manual Cabcharge receipt I always need to gross up by multiplying by 1.11 - always works...

It's not so much whether they are a taxi or whether they have use dthe cabcharge system. I will have a look at a docket I have at home to see if it is disclosed there.

Don't we have at least one resident taxi driver that can shedsome light on this?

Ah, that would be me. If you use a card to pay a fare, there's 11% added on. This all goes strait to the bank and the poor old cabbie gets none of it. This information should be displayed inside the cab or on any booking website.

It happens automatically - I enter what's on the meter and the docket comes out with an extra charge for the passenger to sign off. Always makes me feel a bit uneasy, as some passengers must think I'm padding the fare.

Besides, when people pay by card, they very rarely tip the driver.

 

[Mal]

Ah, that would be me. If you use a card to pay a fare, there's 11% added on. This all goes strait to the bank and the poor old cabbie gets none of it. This information should be displayed inside the cab or on any booking website.

I thought it was displayed in most cabs on the sticker that shows charges. May just be certain states where I've seen it.

BTW, welcome back! Been a while of non-posting here!

 

[Skyring]

I thought it was displayed in most cabs on the sticker that shows charges. May just be certain states where I've seen it.

BTW, welcome back! Been a while of non-posting here!

It's displayed in my cab. Mind you, who reads the fine print? And a lot of my passengers aren't sober enough to read anyway.

Thanks for the welcome! I drive five twelve-hour night shifts a week, so I don't get a lot of time free.

Plus I took a couple of months off from February for a cruise and holiday in Europe with very spotty net access.

Contemplating a quick DONE4 in October, so checking in to see what's new.

 

[Skyring]

Agreed

The SkyBus takes no more than 25 minutes between the City and MEL. Aside from the early morning hours it departs every 10 minutes on Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun and 15 Mins Sat, Tue & Thu.

Three guys coming to OZFest decided to share a Cab from MEL to the city; they mentioned later the total fare was over $80! :shock: This should have been around $45. After querying this it seems the taxi driver took advantage of their lack of MEL knowledge and went via the 'western ring road', adding over 20km and 20 mins to the travel with a correspondingly inflated fare.

Skybus is a good cheap service. I like the way you can get a feeder bus to your city hotel included in the fare.

I hate hearing stories of overcharging. It's totally wrong. One, the cabbie is inconveniencing the passenger by taking a longer time than really needed. Two, the passenger has to pay for the inconvenience.

I tell my passengers that if they think they are being ripped off, just pull out their cellphone and video the cabbie explaining himself. It's one thing to bamboozle passengers, another thing to justify the spiel to the fleet manager - or the police.

 

[serfty]

If you use a CC, there's 11% added. If you use Cabcharge (E-voucher/Card) there's 10% added.

Look here (especially some post from #24 to #37):

• http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...ual-cab-fare-charged-your-5956.html#post68969

 

[oz_mark]

Ah, that would be me. If you use a card to pay a fare, there's 11% added on. This all goes strait to the bank and the poor old cabbie gets none of it. This information should be displayed inside the cab or on any booking website.

I am sure you mean by 'the bank', you mean 10% goes to Cabcharge, and the 1% is the GST on that, which will swirl through the system on the way to the govt.

 

[Flashback]

Welcome back to AFF Skyring (I believe it's been a while?), and thanks for that info.

 

[Skyring]

I am sure you mean by 'the bank', you mean 10% goes to Cabcharge, and the 1% is the GST on that, which will swirl through the system on the way to the govt.

Well, from my point of view, it's whoever's on the other end of the electronics that clutter up my bit of the car. It doesn't find its way into my pocket, except indirectly in the sense that people with bank cards are able to pay fares.

 

[JohnK]

I drive Silver Service, but if I get repeat customers giving me a private call, I still charge the $11 booking fee.

A booking fee of $11. :shock: Is this only in Canberra? If I remember correctly the booking fee in Sydney is ~$1.80 for Silver Service or any other taxi.

 

[medhead]

A booking fee of $11. :shock: Is this only in Canberra? If I remember correctly the booking fee in Sydney is ~$1.80 for Silver Service or any other taxi.

$1.80 sounds like the flag fall charge. This usual changes between peak and off peak times, being more expensive in off peak times (night/weekend). It is set as part of the fare structure by government and is a fee to cover the convenience of having taxis available, i.e. sitting around on taxi ranks, not earning money waiting for your to hire them.

In some states, (i.e. QLD), you pay extra on top of the flagfall when you make a phone booking. To cover the extra for the cab to get to your house from the taxi rank. In SA their is no extra for phone booking but the flag fall is about $3.

Now the $10/$11 is the charge from Silver service for booking one of their cars. This is only charged for a phone booking via the silver service system. If you hire them via the taxi systems - rank or phone the taxi company - you pay the normal taxi fee. If you read silver service website, the $10 is to pay for the rarity of SS drivers and cars. My dad used to drive SS and there where limited drivers of that vehicle. Booking one for a special time might mean that the driver is just there out of normal shift time for the one job or that the owner might be doing the job.

 

[JohnK]

$1.80 sounds like the flag fall charge. This usual changes between peak and off peak times, being more expensive in off peak times (night/weekend). It is set as part of the fare structure by government and is a fee to cover the convenience of having taxis available, i.e. sitting around on taxi ranks, not earning money waiting for your to hire them.

Unless I am totally confused I have never paid $11 to book a silver service taxi. The flagfall is something like ~$4.20 and the booking fee, whether by phone or internet, is ~$1.80. The taxi fare from my place to SYD T1 and vice versa is ~$25 and that is all I have ever paid even when I have booked a silver service taxi.