All the things YOU hate about Hong Kong taxis, and words of praise for city cabs too
Our gripes about Hong Kong taxis rang a bell with readers, who complain drivers are rude, refuse rides, or feign ignorance. But compared to taxis in Macau, China, and Malaysia they’re a pleasure, one says
One complaint, from Michelle Ku, was about getting change back – if any. “I hate them for charging me more without saying anything like they don’t have change. I understand sometimes it’s maybe 70 cents or 40 cents, and they don’t have small change, but doing it by default is annoying.”
Oswaldo Huezo is frustrated when cabbies demand to know where you’re going first. “They won’t take you for a five- to 10-minute cab ride (about half an hour walking). I heard it’s illegal to refuse service based on a short-distance ride, but they do it all the time.”
Some taxi drivers seem to test their passengers, as Lilibeth Sayson Diotay Waterhouse gripes: “The taxi driver claims they don’t know where you are going and ask you to be their GPS. And then when you tell them which way to go, they say the other way is faster. Grrrrrr,” she says.
Driving abilities are questioned by Earl Young, who finds “the incessant brake-gas-brake-gas so annoying. Seriously, who drives like that?” He does, though, say he quite enjoyed the cabbie singing Cantonese opera to him.
Many people, including Ian Pomeroy, pointed out most taxi drivers are rude. “Most say nothing and don’t even acknowledge that they have understood where you have asked to go (and yes I say my destination in Cantonese most of the time). Unacceptable from any taxi driver anywhere in the world,” he says.