taxi experience at New Delhi station

RPG

I don't think of myself as inexperienced in India travel. We had never had problems getting prepaid taxis at the airport, for example. But I was startled by what happened when we arrived at New Delhi station.

I thought there was a prepaid booth; we saw it in the distance and headed for it. We were assaulted by people shouting that there were no prepaid taxis, but they would make us a deal, etc. When we got to the counter, the people behind it confirmed that there was no prepaid system any more except for scooters; all taxi travel was by meter. I don't know if this is true or if they were in cahoots with the touts, but no one else was getting prepaid cabs either.

So we got into a taxi. (We needed to go back to the airport.) Then we got a pitch about how the meter would cost us more, but they would graciously give us a flat rate of Rs. 450. We of course laughed at that and said "meter, meter". Flat rate came down to Rs. 300, we still didn't agree. (None of this was from the driver, but from a tout outside the taxi who seemed to be giving orders to the driver.) Then they started the meter, but instead of starting at some base amount Rs. X.xx it started rapidly counting 0.00, 0.01, 0.02 etc. This smelled and was not consistent with our previous taxi rides in Delhi, so we protested. They assured us that the number was in paise. We called bullshit and screamed until they let us out of the cab. We walked to the street (calls of "Rs. 250" following us) and managed to get our luggage into a cruising scooter. Long and bouncy ride to the airport, but no hesitation about using the meter.

What happened here? I am still bemused by all of it. Does New Delhi station not have prepaid taxis any more? And how did they get the meter to start from 0.00?

machadinha

All I know is when the system was relatively new there it got me more expensive rides than I could arrange myself ("Police"-approved booth and all though. Could well make sense btw in that you can really over-haggle it and get someone to accept a lesser price than they should, thinking well it costs me more than it's worth but at least it's money today).

btw Airport's quite a ride though; can't remember price, but what did you pay? Don't tell me you went by scooter, you mean a rickshaw? They're not even allowed there I think but I've had one take me. If they're fun in the city, cruising down the highway in one at full speed desperate to make your flight is really hilarious

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RPG

A "rickshaw" is either a human-pulled rickshaw as in central Kolkata, or a human-pedalled rickshaw everywhere else ("cycle-rickshaw").

A "scooter" is a three-wheeler (gasoline-powered, with meter).

Cost slightly over Rs. 100 including the Rs. 5/bag surcharge for luggage. Yes, long ride, but we had the time to spare.

ba9rn

machadinha is referring to auto-rickshaw (which you are calling a scooter). Scooters are normally 2-wheeled (Lambretta, Vespa, etc.)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa

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crvlvr

I am sorry but AFAIK no one really calls an auto-rikshaw a "scooter" in India. Its either called, "auto" or "rikshaw" or "rick" or "phatphati" (remanants of the old mortorcycle rikshaws or "tuk tuks" by people who have been to Thailand.

A flat rate of Rs 300 for taxi compared to an auto ride of Rs 100 seems reasonable. for example prepaid Taxi's at the Bangalore airport costed me Rs500 for a 15km ride.

PeakXV

Might be a generation thing or an older term .... but "take scoo-ter" was the of the first hinglish? phrases I learned for these contraptions albeit from an older colleague in his 60's (circa:1995)at the time

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

RPG

In Delhi, the taxi rate is double the autorickshaw rate.

(No one says "tuktuk" in India except tourists, but people do say "scooter" since the contraption is built on a scooter base. But OK, "autorickshaw" is the best term.)

Anyway, my post was about the scam running at New Delhi station, which hasn't been reported here to my knowledge. My post was not about autorickshaws.

machadinha

<cross-posting>

Discussion on semantics wasn't what I was looking for. We seem to understand each other, which to me is language's primary function. And btw I've commonly heard them referred to as autos, not scooters. Whatever. I considered adding "auto-" above even but I figured you'd get me.

100+ Rs. doesn't strike me as exorbitant no, good for you. Having it all arranged for you for 300 (and in taxi vs. auto indeed as CRV rightly notes) with no ado might have saved you some hassle.

You lived to tell the tale right? I indicated above I've never been too sure of those prepaid deals, but if I advocate taking the public bus (10 Rs. or so?) you typically get laughed at here, so I'll keep it to myself. Which won't stop me from taking them, I think it's fun.

ba9rn

Thank you for pointing the 'scam' out. I am surprised that there is no pre-pay at NDLS though.

PeakXV

I foolishly took a metered(first and last time) scooter that must have had a clock crystal driving its spin ..... because the rupees and seconds were advancing at par ..... never again.

machadinha

I think what a lot of us whiteys don't get (it took me several months to figure it out, and I never managed to use the system myself) is autorickshaws function as mini-buses and so will take on as many passengers as they can who will get on and jump off here and there (contrary to appearances maybe all those people hopping on and off won't necessarily be the driver's "friends"). If they slip the driver 3 Rs. this doesn't mean you've been ripped off for 15. It will naturally be assumed a pale-faced wants to rent the entire vehicle for their own private ride, which is usually what you want anyway, and with your packs and stuff there's not much room left to begin with.

To make use of this system you'd need to speak the locally applicable language and know your way about though. Otherwise, just accept you're a stupid tourist, and be wary of crying "scam" too soon. The drivers typically aren't rich (but they may well have studied medicines or so), and there's stiff competition to get those licenses. Advancing from a bike rick to an auto is quite something I gather, and of course plenty a mafioso bribe deal comes into play.

RPG

Yes, I am giving away my age.

And it is pronounced "suh-cooter" in N. India.

crvlvr

RPG,

Thanks for reporting the scam, as you call it. But, I am not convinced that it was. the fact that the taxi driver agreed to Rs 300 flat tells me that he may have been honest. However, you insisted on the meter. Unless you took the entire ride and observed if the meter rate was unreasonable, we will never know for sure.

However, your experience is quite typical of a visitor who arrives in any Indian city and attempts to take public transport. There are many threads about autos in Chennai with similar experiences. As much as the govt tries to protect the consumer, it is impossible to compete with overzealous and dishonest business men.

RPG

I'm afraid you've gotten things mixed up here. There are metered or negotiated-rate "taxi-type" autorickshaws, and then there are shared autorickshaws plying fixed routes where you jump on and off. They may look the same in some cases, but they are not the same, and no one should jump onto your metered autorickshaw in Delhi. Generally the autorickshaws plying fixed routes are larger.

Anyway, this thread wasn't supposed to be about autorickshaws.

RPG

Well, the flat rate from the airport to Connaught Place (not far from NDLS) was something like Rs. 225. Since the flat rate is always somewhat more than the metered rate, we know for sure that the metered rate is not Rs. 300. And if it were the same, he would not have offered a flat rate.

Anyway, it is not the money (I was in fact looking for an AC car from Megacabs or other private operator but found none at the station). I just don't like being scammed. I know many tourists prefer to negotiate an inflated fixed price and are happy if it is cheap in dollars, but perhaps because I grew up in India, I don't do that. It makes things harder for locals who also need to use the same products and services and find prices inflated by freespending tourists. If taxis have legally set rates, they should be paid the legally set rates.