⌛ traveling via pedicab

how much do they charge?
i know its 8 pesos but how do i know how much i should pay.
i dont really know how to speak cebuano so what is a way that i know how much is the right amount to pay?
thanks

 

Get a Filipina GF.

After a year here I still don't know how much to give the pedicabs, but that's largely because I let my GF deal with it. I believe it's 8 pesos per KM. From downtown to anywhere downtown, eight pesos. From downtown to the airport is 16 - 25 pesos depending on whether or not the driver wants to go that direction.

If the driver asks how much you want to pay and doesn't like your answer then there are an unlimited supply of replacements ready to take you.

Sometimes if I'm not sure then I will just hand the guy a 20 and look irritated / in a hurry to get my change. Don't ask "how much," that will cost you more.

You can always negotiate.

 

Basic fare is P 7, not 8. However, give them a 10 coin or larger and the amount of change one gets is variable. Some don't want to give any change for a 10 on a short trip. I just sit in the trike and keep my hand out.

I know the fare goes up with distance, but I have no idea how. I live 6 km out of town. The first time into town I saw the locals paying P 8 so that's what I pay for a ride into the Public Market. Going back ranges from P 30 to 50, depending on if the driver has any other riders going that way.

Public Market to Robinsons or Hypermart I give them P 7 and nobody has complained yet. Some ask for 20 for those trips, I try the next trike.

Sky's the limit for trips where you're hauling luggage. Best I've gotten to the fast craft at Sibulan is P 70, best coming the other way was P 80.

 

lol actually i have one, unfortunatly she has work and when im not with her, im going to need to travel by myself.
i guess the only way to really know is if i do it.

 

One thing that could confuse is the rate is 'per person'.

A 20p ride for 2 people is 40p.

Just keep some loose 20p notes and coins for tips.

It's such small change, why an expat would fuss is beyond me.

I've over paid many times. It's appreciated and it's good to have trike friends, word gets around. Not as a chump, but as a good tipper.

I did have one bad trip. Was going home after a gig, cold sober. Got a trike at Whynots, hop in, at the corner 6-8 boys jump on the trike horsing around. They followed, jumping off and on all the way to the hotel off of Real st. on San Jose, not far.

The trike driver wants 300p fare.

I tell him, "Fine, the police station is around the corner down the block. I'll pay you 300p infront of a policeman as a witness..., let's go!"

He declined the offer. I payed him 20p. The nite-staff at the hotel chased off the boys.

Remembering the trike #, i complained to the trike captains at the whynot the next nite.

Never saw the trike nor the driver again on the boulevard.

1 bad trip in 100s of fares. I like trike drivers [i like Moro too] salt of the earth.

I feel embarrassed when i see an expat curse and berate a driver over what? 20 cents? A simple misunderstanding?

We're all brothers,

chris

 

One thing i forgot to mention is when a trike driver picks you up empty, drives you where you want to go, without picking up anyone else, That's vip service.

He didn't pack the cab with 6 people, 3 chickens and a wenner pig 'cause you're a big fish.

Pay for service.

Hey, i've ridden into town standing up on the back rail, holding on to the roof for dear life.

8p is good..., 10p coin, keep the change.

Trike drivers mostly figure a expat wants the trike to his self and will pay extra for it.

Account for the the difference, pay well.

Besides, trike drivers are the last people you'd want to squeeze coin out of.

Only a small person would do that,

chris

 

Too true....40 pesos is about ONE Dollar....one San Miguel at top price.
How many do you drink in one session?

 

Is paying the same rate the locals do squeezing them?

I used to travel to the same remote beach in Baja California several times a year. The residents of the fishing village would carry baskets of fish to where the gringos camped. Prices started at less than what one would pay in a market in Ensenada and went up once the beach got more popular. Eventually the fishermen stopped trying to sell fish to the campers. The norte americanos wouldn't pay the inflated prices and the locals were too proud or stupid to sell it for less than they had in the past.

Throughout the word clueless tourists and expats overpay and that resets the expectations of the locals. Newbies think 'wow, that's cheap' when in fact they are paying twice the going rate. It takes a small brain to not see what that does to the going rate.

 

If the expat rides like the locals, then no. Pay the posted rate.

However, few expats share the cab with others.

See the difference?
We pay extra for exclusive service.

As to, 'driving the price up'. The fares are regulated and posted for all to see.
But remember, the fare is per person. A driver needs to pack the trike to turn a profit.

Another aspect of the trade is avalibility. If expats only paid the posted rate, drivers would stay home at night with their families --how would you get home from the bar?

Imagine 5 drunk germans trying to fit into one trike....

I'd pay to see that,

chris

 

Then I'm one of the few.

Any every public transportation driver in this country follows those rules to a T.

There are two types of rates. Fixed rates and market rates. If I ride from National Book store to MacDonalds at mid day, for example, both the driver and I expect the fare will be P 7. (Unless he thinks I'm a newbie then it's P 10 or whatever). If I want to ride from downtown to Valencia at 2am then the driver is going to weigh the costs of going out with one person and probably coming back empty. But that's nothing to what he estimates the utility to me is of getting home. We'll negotiate and unless there is a swarm of empty trikes around, the fare will be high. I can't imagine getting a fixed or regulated fare in this situation.

Me too. I'd even buy them a few rounds before they attempted it.