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Taxi etiquette

A lesson learned...

17.05.2007

About a month ago, I posted about airport etiquette (do you obey the Maland Line?). While my wife (:)) and I were in Sydney, I learned a little something about taxi etiquette.

images.jpeg
Photo from Retro Pedal Cars.

Emerging from our hotel in Sydney one morning, bags packed and on our way to the Blue Mountains, we were greeted by a line of hopeful taxis. Given that our bags were a hefty weight, we headed for the nearest taxi and asked if he could take us to the train station.

"No problem."

Just as we were unloading our bags into his boot (Aussie for "trunk"), the taxi driver from the taxi in front came over to our taxi driver and complained that we were breaking the rules. What rules? Our driver explained to us that according to the rules of taxi etiquette, we should have gone to the first taxi driver in the line, since he had (I assume) been waiting there longer.

Given that our taxi driver admitted this was etiquette, we shifted our stuff over to the other taxi, perplexed and somewhat annoyed at the hassle of having to drag our bags those extra couple of metres. But hey, when in Rome...

To be honest, we felt a bit duped, so later that day when we caught a taxi in Katoomba, I made a point to ask the driver if he thought that was true taxi etiquette. He didn't.

Argh.

Have you ever heard of this rule of taxi etiquette, or were we the victims of a conniving, passenger-desperate taxi driver?

Posted by dr.pepper 22:39

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Comments

Absolutely, I always try and take the one in front. If you've ever stood at a counter and saw someone who just arrived sneak in in front of you, you know how the first taxi driver felt. The only variable here is if there are different cab companies with different prices and you prefer the cheap one, even if it is three cars back (in Oslo the 'law' is that you can pick whatever company you prefer, but most people always take the front one anyway). Of course if there is a line to start with is another variable :)

18.05.2007 by Sam I Am

Yes, I always approach the cab in front. Of course, I think I have some sort of inate need to queue, probably from my English heritage.

Anyway, in Canada, if there is a line of taxis, you are supposed to take the first one. Nice drivers will come out and help you with your heavy bags.

18.05.2007 by GregW

Yeah, I agree that it is etiquette. Though the taxi driver should have pointed you to the one in front before loading up his cab. In fact, the etiquette really applies to the cabbies and not to the passengers. It was the cabbie at the back who was guilty of bad etiquette ;)

20.05.2007 by Peter

Hmmm, very educational... On Sam's point regarding different cab companies, it did occur to me to complain that the two cabs were from different companies, and we had some sort of preference for the one we'd picked initially ... but I just couldn't handle making the barefaced lie!

20.05.2007 by dr.pepper

Aye. Taxi etiquette (in most places) is to go to the taxi at the front of the queue. On more than one occassion I have seen arguments (and fist fights) because a driver was irate that a taxi well behind him in the queue had picked up a passenger without waiting his turn. This only generally works at places like stations, hotels and airports where there is a fairly large turnover anyway

21.05.2007 by Gelli

Speaking about lines and queues: I wonder if it is possible on pages like this one to remove the empty line between the comment and the author and then add another line after the author's name. I find myself getting the wrong cues as to who wrote what.

21.05.2007 by dadmin

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