Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Taxicab rip-off, or not?

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-09-2011, 12:12 PM:

My wife was in Washington DC on business last week and had an interesting taxi experience. She's wondering if she got ripped off, or not.

What happened was, she was heading for the airport to come home. The hotel bellhop hailed a taxi for her. There were a lot of other people (from her group) going to the airport too, so these two guys, who were traveling together, offered to share the cab with her.

So they all got in the cab, told the cabbie they were sharing, and rode to the airport.

At the airport the cabbie told them all that he would give them a 10% discount off the fare since it was a shared ride. The fare was around $30 so they each had to pay $27. So, the cabbie got
$81 for taking one trip to the airport.

So our question is, is that the way it's supposed to be done? Should "EACH" person in the cab have to pay the full fare (less the discount)?

I would think at the very least, my wife should have paid one discounted fare and the other two guys should have been considered one "entity" since they were traveling together and paid one other discounted fare. I mean, they don't charge extra when a married couple travels together, do they? Or is a taxi like an airplane, where everybody pays equally?

I don't have a lot of knowledge on how the taxi industry works.....can any of you frequent travelers enlighten me on this? Or was it done properly?

Posted by Tom Mundell (Member # 4555) on 08-09-2011, 12:36 PM:

I take cabs a lot around the DC area and have never had that happen, sounds like a ripoff; there's an additional charge for each additional person in the cab (so if the fare was $30, add an additional $1 (or whatever it is) for each additional passenger) but each passenger shouldn't have to pay the full fare.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-09-2011, 12:46 PM:

They often run "cab sharing" during busy times at Logan Airport in Boston.

The way it works is that everybody starts out and pays the fare to their destination, minus a certain amount or percentage.

Let's say the sharing discount is 10%.
Person 1 pays the fare to destination 1 less 10%. Assume the meter reads $20. Person pays $18.
Person 2 pays the fare to destination 2 less 10%. If the meter now reads $30, person 2 pays $27.
Etc., etc.

If everybody in the cab began and ended in the same place, everybody would pay the fare on the meter minus 10%. Though it's a good deal for the passenger, it's a better deal for the cabbie. Also consider that the cabbie would have to return to the airport and wait in line at the taxi stand, giving up the opportunity to pick up fares in other places then pay the airport fee so I guess it would be a wash in the long run.

Regardless of whether you think it's fair or not, there should be a sign at the taxi stand which informs the customer about the cab sharing program, how it works and gives examples of how to calculate fares.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 08-09-2011, 01:02 PM:

It's been awhile since I've used a cab in DC, but fares there were zone based not mileage based, and a trip to/from the airport was a fixed rate.

So it sounds a little suspicious to me that the cabbie is "offering" a discount. The rates are standardized and there should be a sign at the airport, if not in the cab, about what the charge is for shares.

If DC has changed its rules since I was last there, well, never mind.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 08-09-2011, 02:20 PM:

She got ripped off, plain & simple. If the fare was $30 there should have been an additional dollar or so for each extra person. The fare should have been split 3 ways.

If she has the cab number she should consider filing a complaint with the DC Cab Commission. The guy could (should) lose his license for doing [bs]

like that. At the very least they will have his name on file if there are any subsequent complaints.

The only time they can charge full fare for each passenger is during a declared emergency such as a major snowstorm. I don't recall any emergencies last week.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-09-2011, 02:39 PM:

Something similar happened to me in Madison last summer. I'd arrived on the last flight of the evening and there weren't many taxis about. So, with a DC-9 load of passengers all waiting in line for the one taxi that showed up every five minutes or so, what started happening was that the person at the front of the queue would shout out their destination, and three or four others heading to more or less the same place would join him/her.

I ended up in such a group, all going to the same hotel. I was expecting the driver to tell us the fare when we got there and then we organised splitting it, but what actually happened was that we pulled up at the entrance and he said "That'll be $18.50 each, please". We all looked at each other as if to say that this can't be right, but it was the end of a long, hot day and none of us could be bothered to have an argument. One of the others who made that journey regularly told us that this sum was about what she'd expect to pay if she was in the taxi on her own.

Being a tad cynical, I do wonder if the taxi driver realised straight away that (a) we were all from out of town, and therefore didn't know what the local rules 'n regs were, and (b) all looked like business travellers who'd be claiming the fare on expenses, and thus unlikely to argue. Still, at least it wasn't Robert de Niro with his magnum...

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-09-2011, 08:00 PM:

I drove a cab for about 6 months back in 1965. The company policy back then was, if 4 passengers went to 4 different locations each owed for the distance from the pick up to the drop off address but not for the total distance driven in delivering other passengers. For 4 passengers going to the same place. the amount owed by each passenger was the meter amount divided by the number of passengers plus 10%.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 08-12-2011, 03:50 AM:

ripoff

Posted by Jeff Kane (Member # 6372) on 08-12-2011, 10:01 AM:

Went to school at GWU. I didn't take a cab in the District unless I absolutely *HAD* to. She got ripped off plain and simple. I know it's unlikely but did she get a receipt/note the 'hack license'? If so a complaint to the DC taxi commission is in order.

Side note: DC is metered now, zones are a thing of the past. Now that drivers can't screw tourists on zones they pull stunts like this to make up for the income they lost. Apparently they started making ~30% less with the switch from zones to metered cabs. Gee... that means people were getting SCREWED on short trips that happened to cross zone boundaries not to mention drivers that would get 'creative' with the zones when they thought they could get away with it.