Apparently, Chinese taxi cab drivers aren't alone in ripping off tourists...

A couple of friends of mine just got back from a weekend trip in Shanghai. It was their first trip there (not their first in China fortunately) and upon his arrival after a weather delayed flight, he was forced to take a taxi because the ultra-cool maglev train and the bus services don't run at 2am. They were quoted a price of 260RMB for the 30km ride into downtown Shanghai from Pudong Airport which is to the east of the city. If you click on the Pudong airport link above and then click on the transportation links on the left, you'll notice the links lead to no where and provide no information, pretty much how you'll feel when you get to Shanghai for the first time. I find it ironic Shanghai authorities can construct a cutting edge Maglev train but can't properly maintain the Shanghai airport authority website. If you've not taken the Maglev it will probably be one of the highlights of your trip and I'll admit that it's a really cool ride but it smacks of a big white elephant infrastructure project. Although to many foreign tourists or businesspeople the $6 US one way fare isn't much, the cost is high to regular Chinese travellers and the train runs at less than half capacity. Costing over $1 billion US to build, its revenues are $27 million per year which doesn't even cover half of it's operating costs per year let alone paying for the cost of construction!

Back to my friends' story, luckily they had read from the a Shanghai guidebook which stated that a taxi into the city should cost about 150RMB and he negotiated that price. Of course, that is rarely the end of the dramatics in China. Once they reached the city, the taxi driver conveniently 'forgot' where the hotel was and demanding more money because he would have to drive around-keep in mind this was a hotel very close to the Bund and Nanjing road, the tourist centres of Shanghai. Although tired, my friends got out of the cab and walked away since they were in the middle of the city and taxis were everywhere. It just so happened that the driver 'remembered' again where the hotel was and told them to get in, no additional charges needed. If there are any native Shanghai folks reading this, please let me know how much the taxi ride should cost on the meter or what local Shanghai people would pay to get from Pudong airport to the Bund should cost…

This isn't the first time I've heard this story and it's happened to me before but I've never fallen for the trick. Many taxi cab drivers, (especially in the bigger cities in China) are scum bags, although I never had a problem in Shanghai, I have had a multitude of taxi disputes in Beijing. They better clear things up there before the Olympics or they are going to shoot themselves in the foot, tourism-wise, if they haven't done enough damage to themselves already with the pollution!

Well what about Hong Kong you ask? Never fear, there are frequent and cheap 24 hours buses that go to many points throughout the territory, there's the airport express railwaythat can take you to the airport from the central business district in a quick 30 minutes and cabbies are less likely to rip you off as there are signs telling you how much it should cost to get from the airport to many points across the city.

I came across this USA Today article about New York City cab drivers overcharging their customers as well. Somehow, I don't think I'd ever hear or see a businessman (in mid journey) getting out of a cab to gain leverage on a cab driver ripping him off....