charnees

There's a great new website: www.worldtaximeter.com that maps and calculates taxi fares for you, so you know what to expect to pay. I just put in Rome Termini and the address of our apartment, and it shows a map of the route and that it should take about 20 minutes and cost about €12 plus €2 for our bags. I will take this in hand when I approach the taxi rank in Rome and make sure the driver agrees to it. I think this is a great consumer protection device!

Two years ago in Rome we were ripped off big time -- I just used the website to find we were charged triple what we should have paid. And that was with a taxi in the official taxi rank outside the station. Someone on Slowtrav.com said it's a good idea to work your way down the rank if the first driver seems to be wanting a lot for your fare -- you'll likely find someone else who will take you for less.

Dayenu

Ahhhh... Copenhagen is not there!

nytraveler

I don't get it - I've taken taxis all over europe for the past 30 years and only once (in Prague) had a driver try to cheat me. But he was so blatantly obvious about the whole thing that there was no doubt what he was doing. And we simply paid him what we felt was the correct fare based on other rides.

Obviously if you're only taking a taxi once - from the airport into town - it makes sense to find out in advance what the far should be. But just going from one place to another within town - how much could they cheat you of? I mean it would be obvious if it's a $10 ride or a $30 one.

charnees

ny, no it's not obvious. Part of the dodge was to go way out of the way -- which we could not tell -- plus I don't think the driver cleared the meter before he took off with us in the cab. Anyway, this gives you ammunition.

ruthruthruth

Yes, I looked at the site last night - great, at least for the cities it lists! I can't quite see myself arguing with a taxi driver if the ride costs more than I expected, but at least if it's terribly, terribly more, I have ammunition, as charnees says!

kybourbon

That website doesn't seem to be very accurate. If you want rates for a particular city you can usually find them on their website. Rome has work day rates, holiday rates, night rates, rates for in or out of the ring road, etc. Sorry for the long url, but I find when you use tinyurl, the link expires.
http://www.comune.roma.it/was/wps/po..._the_airports/

Zerlina

kybourbon, The Web site is quite accurate for inside the ring road, and it does take into account night and Sunday rates. What it doesn't take into account is the 2 Euro surcharge for taxis from Roma Termini and a 1 Euro surcharge for each piece of luggage over one per person.

Knowing the published rates is of no use to anyone who doesn't know how far it is from Point A to Point B, what the most direct route is and how much time is likely to be spent waiting in traffic.

I'm not saying it's 100% accurate, but it gives a good ballpark figure.

LoveItaly

Charnees, I didn't find that website very accurate either. What kybourbon posted is accurate from what I know. And btw the website you posted shows that one should tip 69 cents to take a taxi in San Francisco from Union Square to North Beach, that is in my opinion is very inaccurate.

kybourbon

Zerlina - If you look at that taxi website, it gives estimates for places that don't even exist in Rome.

zeppole

nytraveler,

You don't get it and you keep posting the same story over and over and over. Do you know anything about science? Where one example does not justify a conclusion? Millions of tourists take taxis each year. There are tens of thousands of taxi drivers in Europe. The fact that you only observed one taxi driver in Europe attempting to cheat you does not mean

(a) there is only one cheating taxi driver in Europe

nor does it mean

(b) that no taxi driver ever cheated you

nor does it mean

(c) that you know how to avoid being cheated by taxi drivers

What your experience means is that you had an experience that you remember. That's all.

Now I get to post what I like to post when these threads come up:

If you don't know where you are going in an historic city with one way streets and lots of traffic, and you don't speak the language, you have no idea which is the fastest route to your destination and how long it should take. The amount a taxi driver is going to be able to cheat you is so small -- he has to show you the meter, right? Even if he rigged the meter or drove you around the block, it isn't by hundreds of dollars -- I highly recommend you treat it as a shoulder-shrugger and get on with your vacation.

charnees,

It is seldom worth it to any taxi driver to drive you out of the way. Taxi drivers make their money on volume. That's why Roman taxi drivers go so fast. They can't wait to get rid of you and reset (or not reset) the meter with a new customer. Forget about it.

I think the site is useful for budgeting in advance for taxis if you like to use them, but not anything else.

Zerlina

kybourbon, Are we looking at the same Web site? You choose Rome and you enter where you want to go. It doesn't automatically *give* you estimates for any route. If you enter Buckingham Palace and National Gallery, it will give you a route from Piazza Venezia to the Galleria Nazionale at Palazzo Barberini. But why, if you were going to Rome, would you even ask for Buckingham Palace to National Gallery?

charnees

Zerlina, I don't know what you got. This is puzzling. I would not enter London destinations after choosing Rome. So what happened here? I entered Rome, then Termini, then the address of my apartment. I got a map which is of Rome, as I have been there before, a probably route, and an estimate of the cost. That amount seems to be consistent with what I have read on other threads lately. All I can tell you is that last trip we were charged far more than other people have posted here on Fodor's. And the taxi was in the official rank at Termini and was a city-permitted taxi. And we were not held up in traffic and had only 2 bags.

J62

Thanks for the tip - it's a good site to get a general idea of the cost.

It's not something you can print out, hop in a taxi and expect to get the taxi driver to agree to the exact quote, but it's a good guide for budgeting.