Hi all I have experienced this alot! The taxi drives me around and around to get double or more money. Why? I mean forget about 10-20 zt. more but think about the time wasted. I remember my first time in Warsaw, I took a taxi to a place and it costed me 28 zt. I wanted to take another time, the taxi driver told me it's on the other side of the street! Not even 30 seconds to walk! LOL! Is there any control so people don't get ripped off all the time? This is really crazy!!!
Never been ripped off in Warsaw and I take a taxi to the airport twice a month for the last four years, I guess it comes down to common sense and asking how much it will cost before you leave.
Always choose the official licensed taxis and always agree a price before you leave, as I said common sense prevails here!!!
Living in Warsaw for two years and I also have never been ripped off. On the contrary my experiences are very positive, Once I needed to visit a friend and the building wasn't easy to find, Taxi driver parked the car asked some people and led me to the building where 200-300 meters walk was necessary. As some ukpolska already said,
- Always choose official licensed taxis and choose companies you already know, - If possible call the taxi by phone - Make sure there is a taximeter and it is started, check the increase in the taximeter after first kilometer - If possible check the destination/distance you want to go using ZUMI, - Be more careful if you are looking for a taxi in centrum or other central areas,
This question should be approached more broadly -- why do so many people everywhere nowadays lie and cheat and even steal with no regret, remorse or pangs of conscience? How can they shave or apply make-up in front of a mirror and see their own image without feeling disgust? That is a more salient question than why some New York, London, Warsaw or Mexico City taxi driver took someone for a ride.
I have experienced this alot! The taxi drives me around and around to get double or more money
Do you speak Polish? Maybe your instructions are not clear enough. Unlike many other cities in Poland, there is a price war on taxis in Warsaw, at 1.60 PLN per Klm, running a 10 year old car and getting 6-8 Klm per Liter of petrol/Diesel ( 5.20 PLN per Liter). The drivers are literally working for peanuts
In Poland the taxi market is what we call the 'amerykanski rynek' meaning american laisre faire capitalism, that is anyone can put a taxi sign on their car and call themselves a taxi and there is no enforcement to stop it. 70 percent of the taxis you see in warsaw are fake and not regulated.
There are only three real taxi companies in warsaw, i suggest you use one of them and you will always get a fare ride. i recomend MPT. The taxi drivers who pay go to the trouble and are legit regularly have big fist fights with the fake taxi drivers..
I wanted to take another time, the taxi driver told me it's on the other side of the street! Not even 30 seconds to walk! LOL!
The fact that the taxi driver told you it’s just across the street instead of taking you for a ride proves otherwise. How would you know they drive you “around and around” when you didn’t even know that the address you were looking for was directly across the street from you? Besides after this comment do you still wonder why you are being taken advantage of? As they say there’s one born every minute, You are confused all right.
I am living a boring life, I guess, based on what some of you write here. When I need I order a spic'n'span clean taxi at 2,40 for short distances which is called WAWA taxi and when I want to go to Podkowa Leśna, for that matter, I call NightDrivers at half price..... Great service either way..... Clean and courteous :-)
Only ever had someone try to do me once in Warsaw and that was a market trader at Kola antique/flea market. I asked him in Polish "how much" he said (I can remember the exact,lets say) 40,the mate I was with(a local) said something to me in English, I double check the price and now its 400 :)
And no,I didnt miss hear,my mate gave him a gobfull and a lecture about giving her city a bad name :) Best thing was the other traders on there were amazing,they found out I was a Brit interested in Polish history and I walked away with free gifts galore,lovely bunch of people.
The fact that the taxi driver told you it's just across the street instead of taking you for a ride proves otherwise.
OH! You mean every tourist has to check the address of the destination! I didn't say every1 is a cheater, I said some and you might be one cheater Taxi driver who takes side!
Is there any control so people don't get ripped off all the time?
It's the same the world over in my experience, if the taxi driver senses that you're new in town and you don't speak the language then you're more likely to be ripped off. It happened to me a few times in my early days in Warsaw but rarely now.
They are not nearly as bad as they used to be. And much better than in Prague or Budapest.
But there are probably 20% who will try and rip you off. So
1 Use whatever Polish you have when you get into the cab - even just show that you can use numbers in Polish. 2 Where possible use one of the main firms - there are more than 3 but less than 10 that I trust ! 3 If leaving a pub or restaurant ask the waitress what would be a fair price and tell that to taxi driver before you start.
this happens everywhere. even in some other countries. I think the government should do something bout it if they are serious in promoting tourism in poland
They do. At the moment taxi drivers in Warsaw are terrified that they'll be reported by a passenger due to the control process that follows and as well as that, the bureaucracy involved in keeping a taxi licence is increasing all the time.
In my visit to Poland I have never had this problem, in fact I find most very helpful, and good people. Many are just mistreated by the user, who want everything for free.
Just to share a strange experience from last night.
Myself and two friends got in a taxi on Nowy Świat. It was from ELE taxi which I've used for years without problems. The driver started fiddling with a meter that didn't look quite right but I didn't read anything into that at first. As soon as he started driving, he offered to take us to a brothel which is bad enough in itself. Then I noticed the crazy rate that the 'meter' was running at and the fact that it had no tariff number on. nor was it connected to anything. By this time we were at the start of Miodowa. Obviously I asked him to stop immediately, told him why and didn't pay anything. I also took his taxi ID card as I left and dropped it down the nearest drain. The last thing I saw as we drove off in an honest taxi was him trying to fish it out.
The whole thing was quite bizarre - my friends were sure he was behaving like that because he heard a foreign accent, but he must have been pretty stupid if he thought that someone who speaks perfect Polish and asks to go to a residential address rather than, say, a hotel would fall for the same sort of trick as a visitor. I also wonder if he thought the two people with me would go along with his scam for whatever reason.
Talking to a friend today who's a reputable driver with the same firm, I found out that the ELE company's so large and the turnover of staff so high that they can't really keep track of the people who work for them and sometimes have to employ out-of-towners who the other drivers don't consider trustworthy. This guy's accent was pure Podlasie. Another strange thing is that the amount on his window sticker was suspiciously low.
A shame really, since one bad egg even if spectacularly incompetent, spoils the reputation of all Warsaw drivers.
I also took his taxi ID card as I left and dropped it down the nearest drain. The last thing I saw as we drove off in an honest taxi was him trying to fish it out.
good show....lol
This taxi crap business happens all over the world, in London a black cab is expensive but at least you know they aren't going to try and screw you, however, all the mini cab companies legal and illegal will often try and shaft you especially if it is late at night and you are drunk.
I remember falling out of a nightclub in London's West End at 3 am and desperately searching for an unoccupied tax, despite the area being gridlocked. I spotted a car with a guy stuck in the traffic and assumed he was an illegal cabby, i open the passenger door jumped in and slurred, " just get me south of the river".
Eventually after about 10 minutes we arrived near Vauxhall and I told him to stop and asked him how much. He replied, " I don't know I'm not a taxi driver, i'm just returning from work!". Poor bloke was terrified. I apologised quickly stuck a £10 in his hand and jumped out. whoops!
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Thanks to TakiChecker, everybody can calculate the approximate cost of the fare. And it is so easy to use it- all you have to do is to enter the rate intro the application when getting into the taxi. With the help of the GPS you'll know how much you'll have to pay at the end of the trip. In this way you'll also check if you have been cheated or not.
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Taxi drivers - 50% in warsaw are *****, charging foreigners almost 10 times more , have this experience so many time. Now UBER is in warsaw, Am going to start using them , Hope uber takes the business away from this drivers.
They do same in new york.Just try giving written adress to a cab driver and ask him in accent and see how he will take you to manhatten and it will cost 5 times more.Not all but most cab drivers do.Dont forget the medallion of yellow cab costs 1 mil $>
Most are ok and the bigger firms usually take care of their reputation. Using something like uber or one of their rivals (theirs an even cheaper one I use sometimes) is taking a risk. You could be getting in a strange car with anybody...
Most are ok and the bigger firms usually take care of their reputation.
Of course, generally taxis in Poland are ok. I have had it sometimes that a driver would take a different road, allowing him to earn 1 zloty more, however cheating himself out of a 2 zloty tip which i normally give to drivers who go the right and the quickest way.
I guess we can all agree that a statement such as "charging foreigners ten times more" is utter nonsense.
We had been so careful about taking offical (safe) taxis in warsaw until we came away from our segway tour at Krakowskie Przedmieście 66 (warsaw). Excited about our trip, and having had all good experiences up then, we were asked outside this address if we wanted two taxis to take us back to our hotel. We were party of 4 women and one man so two women and the man went in one of the two taxis being charged 35 Zloty for the journey. Myself and the other lady went in the second cab and the driver drove extremely fast and erratically all the way to our hotel scaring the living daylights out of us. When we got there he demanded £280 Zloty stopping at the back side street of our hotel. When we said that this was not a fair price as we had taken many taxis on the same route he locked the doors and drove madly up the street until we agreed to pay the price he asked. DO NOT TAKE PRIVATE TAXIS AT ALL, ESPECIALLY IF ONLY FEMALE PARTIES. His number on the cab was 12181 and although we tried to report him in the hotel customer services told us that he can charge any price he likes. Not sure why he should get away with locking doors and intimidating his customers though. Lesson learned - do not drop your guard and ALWAYS check for official taxis.
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