A Wiser Way of Taking a Cab in Manila, Philippines
After publishing Getting Around in Manila, one reader (Mimi) posted a comment:
"… you fail to mention that it can be a little dangerous for
tourists (or people who don’t speak/understand Filipino) to take a taxi
after dark without being familiar with the streets and different areas
of Metro Manila. From my experience, the driver always asks what route
I want to take. *Sometimes*, if I give away that I can’t understand
much Tagalog or that I don’t know any of the roads, the driver either
overcharges me or deliberately drops me off at the wrong spot. This
DOESN’T happen all the time, but tourists should be aware of the
possibility of being stranded at night in a place they do not know how
to get out of."
Well, this is true. There can be some taxi drivers who are really,
really bad. I regularly take a cab and I’ve experienced something
similar only once, so far.
I’ll tell you honestly, I’ve
spoken to some drivers. Some of them really talk about overcharging
foreigners. They talk about not turning on the meter and charging in
dollars! I wince at this and feel quite annoyed that they actually do
this.
Fortunately, I have found others who are really honest.
They even criticize other drivers for being so greedy. Nardo, for
example, once took me home from Katipunan, Quezon city up to Antipolo.
After dropping me off, he encountered a woman , with her child, who was
waving frantically at him. The daughter had a high
fever and the mother was in near-panic. He brought them to the nearest
hospital and did not charge the mother for the fare.
Nardo was my
regular taxi driver for a while. I believe he stopped driving now and
probably went abroad. He worked for a cab company called "Dollar Taxi."
Whenever I needed a cab, I’d call them up and request for one. If
you’re in Manila, you might consider calling them (telephone number:
827-8718) when you need a ride. They are a medium-sized taxi
company with around 50-60 cars. All of their vehicles have radio and
they have a strict communications guide.
This leads me to my
point: It is wiser to have ready taxicab phone numbers to call when you
need a ride at odd times (like very late evening or at the wee hours of
the morning). I usually call DollarTaxi or Reno Taxi because they are based in Quezon city and I’m usually there at odd hours.
You can find a list of Metro Manila taxi companies from clickthecity.com. As I recall, the biggest taxi company is R and E Taxi with around 900 vehicles. Unfortunately, they are not listed on the clickthecity website.
Personally I go for a medium-sized (around 50-100 cars) taxi company because I find the drivers seem to be more friendly. They seem to have more time to chat with you and don’t seem to be greedy.
The big companies have a boundary rate of around P1500 per 24 hour shift for their drivers. This means that a driver has to make a minimum of almost US$30 each da
y. They give this to the taxi operators. Beyond this "boundary," they also have to pay for the fuel/gas of the vehicles. What remains after that will be their income for the day. Based on my interviews with them, they get an average of only P300 (US$6) per day. The drivers work every other day, taking shifts, and sleep only around 4-6 hours on their shift just to have more "driving" time.
As a result, taxi drivers of bigger companies appear more stressed, has little time to chit chat, seem to be always in a hurry, and become greedier.
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whatever you do.. do not ride Glowing Stone Taxi with plate # TXH984.. the driver is the most disgusting excuse for a human being I have ever met. I’ve had a lot of semi-horror stories about taxi drivers.. but the Glowing Stone taxi driver.. made me want to vomit. He didn’t try to get more money out of me but the things he said should never ever be said to a woman. beware.
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