Taxi drivers. Best and worst. ?

[Skyring]

Getting a cab from Sydney airport is the worst. I live quite close to the airport so always cop attitude when I get in an tell them my destination. Nothing like arriving back after a 15 hour flight to be greeted by a driver muttering obscenities under his breath. Something is amiss with planning when there is a snaking queue of passengers waiting to be picked up and a long line of taxis waiting to pick people up. Where possible I opt for the train these days (if there's no track work that is)

Head to the drop-off zone and grab a cabbie who has just delivered passengers. He'll be happy to have an immediate fare rather than waiting in the long cabyard line.

That's why cabbies are pissed off at getting a short fare. They've been waiting an hour or so, hoping for a long fare when they could have made more money by working. At JFK, they have a "shortie" system, where cabbies getting short fares are able to come back once they have dropped off and skip the queue.

 

[lang_13]

Head to the drop-off zone and grab a cabbie who has just delivered passengers. He'll be happy to have an immediate fare rather than waiting in the long cabyard line.

That's why cabbies are pissed off at getting a short fare. They've been waiting an hour or so, hoping for a long fare when they could have made more money by working. At JFK, they have a "shortie" system, where cabbies getting short fares are able to come back once they have dropped off and skip the queue.

thanks for the tip - will give it a try. I thought they had a similar system here whereby the taxi driver mentions that it's a short fare to a guy standing at the boom gate and they get to skip the queue if they're back at the airport within a certain amount of time.

 

[dajop]

Head to the drop-off zone and grab a cabbie who has just delivered passengers. He'll be happy to have an immediate fare rather than waiting in the long cabyard line.

At some airports, cabbies are extremely reluctant to do that as they risk fines, last time I did that for a short fare they said no, apologised and said it wasn't worth the risk of a $2k fine (I think that was SYD, domestic).

they have a "shortie" system, where cabbies getting short fares are able to come back once they have dropped off and skip the queue.

I've seen that in operation too, good for the very short rides. I am sure though it would still mean a torrent of abuse for some fares that are still relatively short but take 50 min roundtrip (like the abuse I got for a $35 fare from MEL).