Prepaid cab from IGI Airport

barodian

I totally disagree with this comment. This may happen to people but to conclude 'all' is not valid. I have never expereinced this but to generalize is totally wrong.

onajourney

I agree. One or two incidents have become sensationalized and made into "all". I have traveled through the Delhi airport about 10 times and have never had a problem with a prepaid taxi (except for the one that broke down 1 km from home!).

RPG

EVERY TIME I take a prepaid cab in Delhi, the driver drives some distance towards Delhi and then asks me if I have a reservation at the hotel I want him to go to. And I am of Indian ethnicity! I tell him firmly to go to the hotel, and I don't have any further problems. But I know what the conversation is intended to lead up to.

Old hands may post that such problems are rare, since they themselves never experience it, but newbies must encounter these scams much more frequently.

barodian

This happens pretty much everywhere! India is no exceptions. Any profession a person is in will create contacts and will try to build on that relationship. Either by getting commission or just doing a favor.

The first time I took a taxi from the Mumbai Airport, I never encountered the scam. The driver did ask if I had reservations and all but once I told him that I do, he was okay with that. He did offer another hotel in case I didn't have one.

I believe one of the purpose of this forum is educating newbies. You should not make them scared or try to lead them to believe that 'all' taxi drivers are certain way. We all should be providing good guidance and informative information.

That was my two cents...

shashank.aggarwal

well..over here you need to read the entire thread again...we were talking about pre-paid taxi VS Radio cab..I am not saying that Pre Paid taxi is useless, I am just making a point that Radio Taxi is better service.

The matter of fact is, that there has been a huge reduction of usage of Black and yellow cabs by the Delhiites themselves, people are going for radio cabs now. Its more comfortable. reliable and only 10-20% expensive.

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barodian

So, basically you are saying that Prepaid Taxi drivers try to rip customers off and Radio Taxi don't?

In my case, I had better service from Prepaid Taxi versus Radio Taxi's!

Shashank, on one reply you said you have not used the service and another one you say you have? You are contradicting yourself my friend!

barodian

Sorry to call you out like that!

shashank.aggarwal

I guess I have been misinterpreted, its not that I have not used the service, (I am a resident of Delhi, there is not way that i could'nt have used them all thislong)..

Its that I have had no nasty (real bad) experience, however none of my experiences with these cabs has been a very good one..

I am not sure what view you have, for Delhiites, they are a menace, which we wish to do away with, if thet do not improve.

barodian

..

I just read what you wrote and I don't think I interpreted the wrong way. But, forget that part...I don't think people who live in certain part of the world would have tried everything. I have known people who have not used certain transportation in India and they live there. I know people here in California who have never used train and some who are born and raised here.

My only concern was that we should not single out any particular service(s). We should just share our information and give our valuable knowledge. You can encourage someone to try prepaid taxi but let them know that they shouldn't give their ticket to the driver before reaching your destination. What I mean my encouraging is let the reader decide what they should do and not lead them to your choice.

shashank.aggarwal

see, when you do a discussion, specially wehere you are comparing two things, someone will give the pros and someone with give the cons, thats the rule of the game.

You are saying that I leading the reader to my personal choice, well I may say the same thing, as you have not experienced radio cab however are still professing for Prepaid cabs..

Its just a discussion, and our readers are sensible enough to look for all the points before making a choice..

Mickey S

I don't think your question's been adequately answered yet, has it?

At the pre-paid taxi booth there is a clear list of destinations and the fare to that destination. You tell the chap in the booth where you want to go, give him the money and he gives you a receipt/ticket with the destination written on it.

You then go to the waiting taxis. The first time I used a pre-paid taxi I was told which taxi to use (the last four digits of the taxi's registration number were written on the receipt); on the other occasions I've just gone to the nearest one. You tell the driver where you want to go and get in the cab. There's almost never a queue, as there are always far more taxis waiting than there are passengers.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky. The driver will try to take the receipt off you, and you should really try to hang onto it until you reach your destination. The driver's motives are not necessarily suspicious; before leaving the taxi rank the details of the vehicle and the journey must be entered into the police logbook, and maybe it's easier for him to provide that information to the police if he has the receipt. But once the driver has the receipt (and will therefore get paid for the journey) he has no incentive to take you where you want to go, so don't give it to him until he has dropped you at your destination.

It all sounds a bit dodgy but, as I stated above, I've never had a problem with pre-paid taxis. The whole system works well and is very convenient. It's quite possible to be in the city an hour after touchdown.

Nick-H

Shashank, it seems to me that you are saying that you have, from reading various posts, guidebooks, etc, got the impression that things like the fully-booked hotel scam are commonplace.

What is dangerous here, is that, because people know that you are a resident of Delhi, they will take it on your authority that it is part of your experience.

Doubtless the scams happen --- but if were to go by some of the guide-book warnings, we would never set foot in India, expecting to be scammed all the time.

My experience of Chennai's three pre-paid booths is that their prices vary quite widely --- but the cheap one has the older cars! I've used them maybe three times with no problems. Of course, there's little scope for scamming when they are headed for a residential address, and the distances/cost comes out of the computer, I think, so they can't argue about that either.

My experience of chennai auto drivers is somewhat different.

Those arriving in India with pre-booked accomodation can always ask their hotel/guesthouse to send a car for them. It may be more expensive, but the less there is to think about at the airport the better! And the hotel-car man probably wants to get back to his sleep; not mess you around trying to demonstrate what a long way it is!

It's a strange form of egotism, perhaps, but I also rather like seeing that board with my name on it being waved in the crowd!

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shashank.aggarwal

you are right nick, but again as you said that you can ask your hotel to send a car, that is my point exactly..if you would be staying in a small guest house, they probably wont offer the service. So in that case the radio cab is the right option.

I understand that most of you are looking to the point for only Airport to Hotel transfer as any toursit in any other city would do. My concerns are much wider than that, and when I am walking in the street, I OR millions other like me do not have a prepaid booth to get a cab. I have to haggle and argue with the cab driver for lot of things..5 out of 10 cabs wont be willing to go where I have to go, and remaining wont have their meters working.

So end of the day I end up paying what they 'Demand' as per their whims and fancies.

Even as a tourist, if you look beyond the airport-hotel transfer or the 'pre-paid' scenario, you will realise that how important radio cabs have beecome in Delhi and how comfortable they have made travelling for an average commuter..

and I am not sure why people are so fixated with those yellow and black cabs, these guys have made merry till this time, but now its time to move on and make them a part of history..

PS : and by the way..because these guys have been making merry at the cost of commuters, that is the only reason that Pre-Paid scenario came into being to keep these yellow and black cabbies in check..and it is actually quite expensive when compared to metered fare.

Prashant.M

This is true for other cities also. Hiring taxis and autos became such a hassle that pre-paid counters were introduced at airports and railway stations. Not sure if there are pre-paid counters at bus stands.

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Darryl

Hi again

thanks Nick for the benefit of your experience...

regards
Darryl