Illegal Taxi in Shanghai
Posted by admin | Posted in General | Posted on 30-03-2010-05-2008
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5-6 years in Shanghai, and I still got tricked.
I had just come back from Thailand, arrived at Pudong airport, and wanted to get a cab quickly, it was cold and raining and 2am in the morning.
The South African girl, who I had met on the plane, decided to split a cab with me. Her hostel was on the way to my house anyway. She knew zero Chinese and felt comfortable taking a taxi with this `seasoned vet`.
The queue for the taxis was long and was moving slowly. Few taxis are around at that time. We get approached by a Chinese guy all dressed in black, `taxi` he said and motioned that he cab was across the road in the parking lot.
I had taken an `illegal` taxi before and the price on the meter I paid before was usually about the same as a normal taxi. I thought the only difference was that it`s not a real taxi car. So I thought `why not`, I don`t want to wait in this cold any longer.
The trip from Pudong to Jing An area is usually under 180 rmb and maybe up to 220 at night time. We were almost at the South African`s hostel, about 15 minutes south of Jing An and the meter read “280 rmb“. I thought it was a bit steep, but whatever, it`s split between two people anyway. The S. American was nice enough to pay 200rmb, she insisted.
By the time I got to my house, the meter jumped up to around 380 RMB, which is absolutely ridiculous. It wasn`t up until then did I realize I really got tricked. The meter was totally fixed, charging almost double.
I was too tired to put up a fight, so I give him 400 and he gives me back 10. I say, “what happened to the other 10“, he says “you need to pay for this too“ and shows me parking lot receipt for 10 RMB. I managed to get the extra 10 back.
Looking back I thought if I was really feeling frisky at the time, I might just given him 200rmb for the ride and then threaten to call the cops.
Anyways…beware of the hei1che1 黑车！
