Cebu Taxis

We recently had a few days staying in Cebu City and i have to say what joy it is to use a taxi there compared to the trauma induced blood pressure raising experience of getting a taxi in Manila.
In Cebu every taxi we took knew where he was going and not once did we have to ask them to turn the meter on.
In Cebu no hassle = tip, in Manila hassle =

 

It's not only tourists !
I saw a news report this morning that a Filipino couple got a taxi at Manila airport that refused to turn on the meter so they got out and he drove off with their luggage.
The police were involved so now that driver is in deep
Will the rest of the drivers learn from that....NO they will just carry on.

 

Even harder when in jail.

 

I had a bad experience in Manila when I refused to tip a driver because his driving was terrible and he stopped to pee up a wall while carrying me and wife. I told him that he did not deserve a tip because his driving was sh*t. He took it badly and as we got out, he jumped out of the driver's door and shouted something obscene at me. As we walked away down the narrow and crowded street, he got back into the cab and tried to follow us, but it was too crowded and he could not move the cab, so we melted into the crowd.

Similar experience in China. Going from airport to hotel about 2 miles away. The cab driver quoted a price and then as we were on the way he started telling me that it was much more, as he had not realized how far away the hotel was. I stuck to my guns and told him I would pay the original quoted price. When we got to the hotel he jumped out and tried to block our way into the hotel entrance unless I paid extra. We just pushed past him, went into the hotel and reported the incident to the hotel reception, just in case there were any repercussions. Their view was that this was fairly common with tourists.

I guess it's an issue worldwide.

 

Circa 1970 and I was a long-haired student in London - so relatively broke. Did not tip the taxi driver and so as I was crossing the road he turned his taxi and aimed for me - took a quick hop to avoid being run down!

In Vietnam's Siagon airport more recently, was shown a taxi and went in (big mistake as I had already read not to use any other than Vinsun) - was told there was an exit fee and unknown to me my wife handed the guy our money wallet (!). By the time I realised and told her to take it back the taxi driver said there was not the correct denomination and of course money disappeared at this professional magician's hands. Checked this on the web later and it is extremely common - so much so that the cops there must be aware and getting backhanders for ignoring it.

 

Everyone has a taxi story or two. My favorite was in Bahrain.

It's a 4 dinar fair to my apartment from the airport. When I arrive out front I give the guy 10 dinar and ask for 4 dinar change. He argues the fare is 8 dinar and starts pushing buttons on his meter to ad baggage and stops. I had no baggage and we made no stops. He insisted I pay him 8 dinars as it was late at night. After several minutes of arguing I surrendered.
I said to him. Okay I can see your life is very bad and you have to steal from people. You keep the whole 10 dinars, this is my charity to you. As I walked into the lobby of my apartment the driver follows me. I told the concierge to send him away. Getting charity from a Christian pretty well blew this guys mind.
The next morning the front desk told me I have pierced the driver heart and they had 6 dinar change for me.

 

Last February I picked up a cab to Makati. I wasn't that far from Makati, once I got in the guy asked for a set rate. He said take it or I'll drop you back where I picked me up. I didn't want to mess with it since it had already been a long day so said ok. When we got to the hotel, he even had the nerve to ask for a tip, for which I told him he had already received it. My wife and I used Grab from the hotel to the airport and hotel to hotel and it worked great. The concierge will call the Grab for you, so you don't even need the app. If you have a lot of luggage, it is definitely is the way to go. Unfortunately, I don't think you can catch Grab at the airport, but I could be wrong. I'm sure if you could catch one there there would be no issues. However, I don't think they have the placards like Uber and Lyft so figuring who is a Grab driver and who isn't might be a challenge. Very reasonable too.