The Chinese New Year Taxi Surcharge
February 17th, 2007 by MarkA couple of days ago, I took a taxi to my buddy Martin’s place. Right before the turn onto the alley I wanted to go onto, an illegally parked car pulled out in front and to our right, so we couldn’t turn before the light turned. Beep! The meter jumped up from 90 to 95. Not wanting to sit in a taxi behind a red light, I pulled out a hundred and gave it to the driver. As I waited for change, he told me I needed to pay 110. “But, the meter’s only 95!” I said. He then explained that there was a $20 surcharge during Chinese New Year. Fair enough, I thought. If I had to drive a taxi during Christmas break back home, I’d expect to be paid a bit more than usual, too.
There is no Chinese New Year surcharge, of course. One would think that after living in Taiwan for four years I would have realized that. Oh, well.
Update: There’s a fare increase, but only certain taxi companies are implementing it. Of the four times I’ve taken a cab since the new fees started, only one charged me. Ask if there’s an extra charge when you get in the cab.
February 17th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Did you consider calling the company he works for? I’ve done it before for bad driving.
I was coming home from a hockey game the other week, going 60 in the 60, and some taxi driver flies up behind me and starts flashing his brights (wanting me to go faster of course). Pissed, he turns off to the left and tries to speed around me. I kept on going and when I got past the next intersection before long he pulled out again behind me. Now he was really pissed so he started acting like he was going to ram me speeding up and coming real close then slowing down. Next, he passed me in a no passing and tried to speed away. I wasn’t going to have this so I started laying on on the horn and flashing my brights. Come to a red light, and he gets out like he has something to say.
He starts screaming at me “this is a 60, you can go 80!” My basic response was, “for someone who’s job is to drive you sure don’t understand the laws of the road one bit. But that doesn’t surprise me, since you’re a taxi driver after all.” He didn’t take to kind to me saying that and started to come closer to my car, but then the light turned green so I started honking and telling him to move his ass. Furious he got back in his car and went back to his taxi depot.
I followed him to his taxi depot, pulled over in front of it, got out my cell phone and called them as he walked in. Told them what happened, got his name, and then called the police. I’m sure his employer neither fired him nor did the police do anything about it either (they would have to actually see him being a retard to charge him for being a retard after all) but I’m certain they had a real awkward moment with him when they asked him to explain the logic behind “the speed limit is 60, that means you can go 80″.
Personally, if I knew your drivers car number and what company he was driving for, I’d call them and tell them what happened. Just leaving him unchecked will allow him to think it’s okay to rip people off.
February 17th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Mmmmm…. yes there is a surcharge during Chinese New Year.It’s announced in the papers….every year
February 17th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I was skeptical on Thursday when I was asked for this mysterious extra $20NT, but that’s a natural reaction whenever the cost and the meter disagree. In my case, the driver pointed to the Chinese New Year fee schedule posted on the dash. I remember seeing the same thing last year, but then your post got me second-guessing myself. Here’s the “official” word.
I’m wondering if the China Post made a mistake here saying “20% over the standard fare” rather than “$20NT,” since I don’t recall seeing mention of a percentage on the sign I was reading. Nonetheless, there is indeed a surcharge. It would be nice if they could get that tacked onto the meter charge like with the nighttime fares, just to avoid arguments about the fare and the meter saying different things.
Source:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/200721/101432.htm
February 17th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Hmm… this is very, very weird. I’ve taken three cabs since that one, and none of them charged me anything extra. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t argue about the first one, though.
Jo, I’ve never been charged extra before this time, and I’ve been taking cabs during New Years… every year.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I was in Changsha for the Chinese New Year (or at least in a province where the newspaper with the biggest circulation comes from Changsha) and the taxi surcharge was announced in the paper, RMB 5 per ride. Better than in the city where I was staying, where we were charged RMB 20 for a normally RMB 10 ride to the train station.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I’ve been in two cab rides. In one, they charged me 20 nt above. In the other, I paid by the meter. I asked the driver why he didn’t charge the surcharge, he said the meter figures the surcharge automatically.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
So, did the meter start at 90 instead of 70, then? I’m absolutely positive that didn’t happen in any of my trips so far.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Ah, I see why.
http://times.hinet.net/SpecialTopic/960206-ChineseNY/4d31232ead4a.htm
Basically, from the 15th of feburary to the 22nd of february, all taxis are entitled to charge at the higher night time rate during the day. But in addition to the higher rate, they are allowed to charge a 20nt nighttime surcharge between the hours of 11p.m. and 6a.m.
Huh. I didn’t even notice the meters ticking over faster at night.