If you travel a lot, you soon realise that getting a taxi abroad is an interesting experience.
Sometimes you get a taxi, which I think of as ‘very religious’. I have been in taxis with a cross hanging from the mirror, and one did have the radio set to play gospel songs, but that is not what I mean.
‘Religious taxis’ have passengers who may pray for the first time in their lives. They pray that they will survive, that they won’t hit the cars looming up in front and that the driver can keep at least two wheels on the road as he hurtles round a corner with a bottomless drop only inches away from the wheels, spelling instant death if he doesn’t make it. When we get into one of these ‘religious taxis’, I always want to kiss the ground afterwards as I am so pleased to be back on my own feet and alive.
It is often a question of luck or maybe bad luck when you have a terrifying experience, but having been in some really scary taxis, I do appreciate the taxis we have in the UK. Not all the drivers are good, but they are perfect angels compared to some other countries.
When talking about taxis, I include ride-hailing drivers such as Uber or Bolt; they aren’t the same, but they are close enough. Traditional taxi drivers are generally more likely to be better drivers, but this is not always the case worldwide.
What makes a good taxi driver?
- Good driving skills
- Good geographical knowledge
- Honest with the cost
- Polite with the customer and other drivers.
Driving skills
Good driving skills are the most important attribute, yet sometimes, this is lacking. My first experience of a scary taxi ride was in Rome, and I was a very inexperienced traveller. My future husband and I arrived at a railway station and went to get into a taxi, but a big argument broke out between our taxi driver and three other taxi drivers. I had no idea what they were saying, but it should have been a red flag.
We needed to get to the university accommodation before they closed the doors at 10 pm, so we asked the driver to be quick. This was a big rookie mistake. Every time we got to the traffic lights, he put his foot down and sped up. We went through countless red traffic lights without the driver pausing once to see what was coming the other way. The driver weaved in and out of traffic, braking sharply and seeming to think he was a rally driver. We arrived back in time, but it took ages to recover from the terrifying journey.
Geographical knowledge
Some taxi drivers, like the black cabs in London, have excellent knowledge of locations. The New York drivers used to take geographical tests, but now a satnav is used; it isn’t considered so crucial since technology can help.
GPS navigation systems are great, but most taxi drivers should know the main destinations.
When you think of Dubai, the top attraction is probably Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world. Our taxi driver couldn’t find the right place to drop us off. He took us to one wrong place and then to another. Eventually, he took us on a road by a shopping mall, and I asked him to stop. I recognised where we were in the mall and knew we could walk from there. We got out quickly before our driver could take us further from our destination and charge us even more.
In New York, the taxi driver took an extra 10 minutes to get to the airport because he didn’t know his way around JFK. He wasn’t deliberately adding on extra miles but just missed the turning, and you could see he was frustrated.
In Cyprus, our car hire firm put my oldest children in a taxi, and I was driving behind with the rest of my family in a small car. I lost him when the taxi driver left the airport car park by the entrance, not the exit. He had to stop at a house on the way to get directions.
I don’t expect every taxi driver to know every road, but they should know airports and major attractions. One problem is that many taxi drivers come from the countryside to make money in the cities, or even from another country, and they don’t have the local knowledge.
Honest about the cost
Taxi drivers have scammed many people, making them pay more than necessary. They will say they don’t have any change, drive the long way to the destination, do not have a working meter, ‘forget’ to start the meter, or have no meter at all and charge as much as possible. If you are a foreigner, they feel justified in charging more. You probably won’t know what the correct fare is, and all foreigners are thought to be rich.
If you go to Oslo, Norway, you will probably want to walk as much as you can. The taxi drivers aren’t known for sneaky pricing, but they do have the most expensive taxis in the world.
Polite with the customer and other drivers
Some taxi drivers are chatty, and others don’t say a word. When you don’t speak the same language, you can’t have a good conversation, but a driver can still communicate through gestures and ask if the music is okay, etc.
Some people don’t like their drivers to be chatty, but I do. By being chatty, you can learn more about the country and its people. In Hong Kong, for instance, several of the taxi drivers had children at university in the UK.
We have had taxi drivers who pull off before we close our doors properly and never say a word, but we have never had a rude driver. Maybe that’s because a rude driver won’t get a tip.
However, plenty of people have encountered rude taxi drivers worldwide, and a small number have lost their taxi licenses because they were rude or threatening.
When we travelled in Ecuador, we were warned to get only the official taxis as there had been several express kidnappings happening from unofficial taxis. The official taxis often have reassuring video monitoring. In major tourist spots, the tourist police will help you get a safe taxi.
Car safety
Even if you have the best driver in the world, you are at risk if the car isn’t safe.
Many times, the seatbelt in the back doesn’t work. I was in a taxi when the driver put the handbrake on and started to get out, but the car began to slip backwards. Fortunately, he jumped back quickly and put his foot on the brake.
Sometimes, taxis look very battered and don’t inspire confidence that the rest of the vehicle is in any better condition. Official taxis might cost more, but at least you know the money is spent on keeping the car in working order.
So, which taxi drivers are the worst?
There isn’t an extensive international survey that can provide a definite answer. However, some countries stick out as having certain problems with taxis.
Kuala Lumpur reportedly has a large proportion of taxi drivers who dislike using meters or take a long, indirect route to the destination.
Singapore drivers often don’t know how to get to your destination, so don’t be surprised if they ask you how.
In Mumbai, the greatest worry is the state of the vehicle rather than the driver. Some cars look like they should have gone to the scrap yard years ago.
In Italy, instead of wondering what your journey will be like, you might wonder if you can get a taxi at all. Expect long queues, as there is a shortage of taxi drivers and the number of taxi licenses issued does not keep up with the demand.
Traffic accidents
I thought that looking at the countries with the worst traffic accidents might give a clue as to which country has the worst drivers. To make it fair, I compared it to the country’s population. The countries with the most traffic accidents are
The Dominican Republic is number one, followed by Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia, and Eritrea. Although the rankings change each year, these countries are always near the top.
The Dominican Republic has many battered taxis, and you definitely shouldn’t use motorbike taxis, as the locals aren’t very good drivers. You will sometimes wonder if the drivers have ever been taught to drive or just taught themselves. I haven’t heard a lot of complaints about taxi drivers in the Dominican Republic. I presume that isn’t because the passengers don’t survive. Be aware of thefts in taxis, as they happen quite often.
My personal opinion
With the lack of any surveys, I am going with my own personal opinion on which country has the worst taxi drivers. I haven’t been to every country in the world or taken a large sample of taxis in each country, so my experience is based on a limited survey.
Number 3 has to be Italy, which I already told you about. At that time, the limited number of taxis in Rome wasn’t a problem.
Number 2 is Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Before we even got into the taxi, my daughter and I spotted something that worried us, but I will tell you what it was later. The vehicle had many bumps and dents, which didn’t bode well. The driver then started to fight for every inch forward he could go. He squeezed into small gaps and created extra lanes. His foot brake didn’t work too well, as he always used his hand brake.
At one time, I had to close my eyes. Our driver was on the phone and taking no notice of the road; he had the phone up to his left ear and then turned his head to look at the phone by his ear. At the same time he was doing this, I saw a man step out into the road from behind a parked van and start to walk across the road. I closed my eyes, waiting for a thud on the windscreen, but nothing happened. I couldn’t tell you what happened to the man as I had my eyes closed, but I presume he jumped out of the way.
Eventually, we got to our destination, and my husband said it was an interesting journey, which is his way of saying the driver was dangerous. My daughter and I both said we weren’t surprised, as we spotted he only had one eye before we got in!
Considering his one-eyed status, he did fairly well not to kill anyone, but I think that was more by luck. Next time we get a one-eyed driver, I think we should refuse to get into the taxi. It might seem obvious, but at the time, it seemed rude to refuse him because of a disability.
Number 1, Russia, Moscow. The Russiantaxi driver was many years ago, but nothing since has terrified us as much. Having got off a plane that seemed to be held together with elastic bands, we headed towards our hotel desk, where we could order a taxi.
A man told us a price, and we agreed. He then led us out of the airport. Looking back at the transaction, we realised the man had been in front of the hotel desk talking to the lady behind it. He probably had nothing to do with the hotel, but we had spoken to the lady at the desk, and she had allowed the man to answer.
We had to wait about 5 minutes beside a grass verge, then the taxi pulled up and we were ushered into it. As soon as we got in and I had to push away the children’s toys in the back seat, I knew it wasn’t an official taxi.
My husband sat in the front, and I sat between our two children. Since there were no working seat belts, I just held on to them tightly. They both fell asleep immediately, which was just as well.
The driver had a large iPad in the front of the car, and at first, I thought he was using it to get directions, but even though we couldn’t read Russian, we could see he was looking at emails and answering them. His eyes were hardly ever on the road. I realised he probably drove the route into the city hundreds of times a day, but he still needed to look at the other vehicles. He then started weaving in and out of traffic, and the fast-asleep children’s heads kept rolling from one side to another. I don’t know how they managed to stay asleep.
When we arrived at a traffic jam, our driver saw a gap between two stopped cars that a bicycle couldn’t even go through, so he started to head towards it. Somehow, the driver made a gap and created another lane. He then did this same technique numerous times when we changed roads. Why did the other cars move out of the way? Were they all afraid of getting their cars damaged? No one was honking either as he pushed in front of other drivers and pushed them out of the way.
We then stopped for a few seconds at the traffic lights. There were about 12 cars in front of us in 3 lanes. Our taxi driver suddenly pulled into a petrol station on the right, drove through the forecourt, and stopped in front of the cars waiting at the traffic lights. We were now sticking out in the crossing, with all the traffic coming towards us from the right and left.
We survived the traffic lights, and our driver stopped at the roadside in the city, said something, and pointed somewhere. We woke the children up and gladly exited the taxi, both relieved to be alive. I felt like kissing the ground; I was so pleased to be out of the cab. I had never been so happy to be standing on my own feet.
Usually, I won’t leave a taxi until I have pinpointed our hotel, as I don’t want to be abandoned in an unknown city, but in this case, it was the safer option.
We weren’t that sure where to go, but we walked down the street dragging our suitcases, and after crossing a road, we spotted our hotel. We had no idea why he didn’t drop us off outside the hotel; it wasn’t on a pedestrian precinct or a one-way road. He probably needed to rush back to the airport to scare other tourists.
The other taxi drivers we took in Russia were reasonable, but we stuck to official drivers from then on. I think we were just unlucky with our driver. Don’t worry if you visit Russia in the future; not all drivers are like the one we had, and we did, after all, survive.
Russia wins first place for the worst taxi driver we have encountered, but as a nation, I am pretty sure there is a higher percentage of crazy drivers elsewhere. Quite a few Italian taxi drivers think they are racing car drivers.
Finally
In some countries, you can see some crazy driving, such as vehicles driving the wrong way on a dual carriageway or a car overtaking another car and another car overtaking that car simultaneously on a single road. In countries with lots of crazy drivers, everyone is used to it, and the drivers are experienced at expecting anything. So, having a local driver might be safer than you think, as they are very good at crazy driving situations.
We have had some excellent taxi drivers, like the man who helped us out when we couldn’t get into our hotel in Melbourne, because we turned up very late, or the driver in Tobago who took us on a guided tour for no extra cost when my daughter said she wanted to see more of the town. They both drove so nicely that even my mum would approve.
Although many taxi drivers seem able to text, reply to emails or watch YouTube while driving, the same drivers seem able to cope with the most chaotic traffic.
Every so often, you might encounter a taxi driver who makes you reassess your life choices, but remember: if they do crash, they will have to pay for the repairs, not you. Hopefully, the car will be the only thing damaged.
Enjoy your holiday, and don’t worry about getting a taxi. We have been in hundreds worldwide, and nothing worse happened than the occasional trip which caused disbelief or raised blood pressure. We are still in one piece.
I am on the lookout for another taxi driver who instils less confidence than my one-eyed driver. Let me know if you come across a one-eyed, one-armed taxi driver.
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