 The creep driving cab number 1195 should be avoided.
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For a one mile ride to the hotel from this spot near Central Station this cabbie demanded 15 Euro ($19). This is ridiculous since licensed cabs should be using the meter. Most cab rides in Amsterdam were oriented towards gouging the tourists. The Amsterdam government should put a stop to it. Why bother even licensing these cabs if they can do whatever they want? This was cab 1195 (above). I simply got out and some new sucker (above) came along.
9,
Well, why don’t you just contact the number listed in his cab for complaints? Or, call the Taxi company directly? or the tourist bureau. Perhaps you require a card that says “John, if you need to complain about price gouging, please call this number.”
One thing that is standard in N.A. cities is gouging… but on parking. You go to a lot near a major sporting event on a non sport night and parking is 6 bucks. Go on a sports night and it’s 25. I guess that’s OK since it’s not a cabby trying to gouge customers on the most touristy day of the year in Amsterdam.
The government licenses taxis (and whatever else it can) to raise revenue. And as a barrier to entry, providing the license holders at least a partial monopoly.
The question you meant to ask is why don’t they regulate them, perhaps by spot checking and weeding out those who abuse their passengers? Simple: To do so costs money. See the first reason taxis are licensed.
No different in any country I have ever visited. Tourists don’t vote and are therefore fair game.
#9 The incident scared me…It occurred to me I could easily be on the business end of that rubber hose…
Back then, a long haired freak radical like myself didn’t look to the police for protection…
Ah..yes, the stupidity of youth…
It just now occurs to me, the cabbie may have been jumping ahead of the others…that explains his going to the end of the line after …it may be the policeman was actually keeping the peace…doing his job…
At the time, my first thought was he didn’t get his bribe…but, there was nothing supporting that hypothesis at all.
#9 ps…no numbers on rickshaws and your sarcasm is unmerited…I’ve done precisely what John did in similar situations…I now…because I am familiar with the business…realize complaints to the company have their desired effect.
It is TERRIBLE when the richest people in the world (tourists) are given a bargained for price for services to be rendered and they can accept it or not.
Just terrible.
When I’m all jet lagged or forget the currency exchange and get cheated, I think its all part of the travel experience.
Grow Up.
John, go to a ‘coffee’ shop and relax a while
#25 Your so against the rich…even when they earned their money the old fashioned way…
But you howl your praise of Obama and Democrats who like a moonbat in heat, even though they are transferring billions of public money to the rich…
Its odd…when I was a radical…if Wall Street and the Rich overwhelmingly supported a particular party…and that party, when it got in power on the rich man’s money, proceeded to transfer the wealth of the public treasury to them…there would have been riots in the streets…
Now,those who work for a living are reviled…and those who steal from us, to give to those who manipulated and stole their way into riches…are praised…
This is a bizarro world, we have entered the twilight zone…
Of all the places I’ve traveled, India had the most rip-off taxis.
(ten years ago, anyway, but I doubt it’s improved much)
I’ve had them take me to the completely wrong hotel, (because they got a kick back there) and then charge me for going to the right one!
As a habit, I always snap a photo of the taxi card with my mobile phone whenever I get in to a cab. There are two reasons for this. (1) If I forget something I can tell the company what cab it was. (2) In case I have to file a complaint later.
Don’t iPhones have GPS? Has someone written an app that tracks miles and time? That way you can verify distance/time against the taxi meter.
Amazing how some can politicize anything – esp. a taxi ride. Corruption is corruption – cheers to John for posting this!
I find it hard to believe that the travel worn John C. Dvorak would even get into a ripoff cab. I used to get ripped off by cabbies. A few simple rules can avoid it. 1. Don’t get into a cab where the cabbie doesn’t speak a language you do. 2. Negotiate a flat rate per destination or insist on using the meter, before getting in. 3. Ask about any ‘extras’ – baggage, airport, bridge, highway, nocturnal, urban, etc… Cabbies feed on tourists. It’s a good thing to control the situation from the start.
Very good that you just got out. If you would file a complaint with the taxi company then that usually would result in a much more direct action then the Amsterdam governance could ever do.
But… You could probably have avoided this hassle by taken the tram or bus instead of a (usually expensive) cab.
You should’ve known this simple rule. Do not ever, I repeat, DO NOT take ANY cab near the Central Station. This applies to every country, but especially near Amersterdam, because there’s been a war going on between cab drivers for years.
Their latest trick is to tell you that they don’t have any change e.g. your fare is 25, you give them 30 and they say they have no change or no 5 euro notes…..if your appointment is time-sensitive, you don’t always have the time to argue with them, but this is the latest in the thieving bastards’ armoury of tricks.