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.
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?
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