To Share or Not to Share
I don't mind sharing. In fact, if I'm not in a real rush, I'll do what I did a couple of days ago when getting into a cab, let the driver know that "I don't mind sharing."Well this driver (English not native language) apparently thought I said the exact opposite of that. He turned to me and said, "Then you will pay a second seat." I got very confused and asked him to clarify. Turned out he was saying that if I had said I DO mind sharing that he was going to charge me double the rate.
I've heard of double the rate for snow, but double the rate for not wanting to share? That seems bizarre - but who knows. Thoughts from readers?
posted by DC Cab Rider @ 5:32 PM
7 Comments:
it's weird.. that's for sure!
I think it is time to start taking Names and ID numbers from the posted hack permit and from the cab. Then turning them, with your complaint, over to the local taxi licensing authority.
Do you think they treat you this way because you are female? Most foreign males do tend to treat women poorly. Especially those males from 3rd world nations.
In this (almost) incident and the one you posted about earlier, I would only pay the standard fare and let them call the police if they disagree. They won't, since they know that they are "ripping you off" and don't want intervention by law enforcement.
Did you pay double in the end?
That is total nonsense on behalf of the cab driver. I have an accent (albeit Australian!) and cab drivers try to rip me off as a matter of course. I've learned the rules and try to display this knowledge to them as soon as I get in the cab, to no avail.
Stand up for your rights as a passenger!!!!
No, I didn't pay double, and he didn't ask for it. Once he understood that I didn't mind sharing the cab (something that DC cabs are allowed to do- it's part of the zone system used here), he didn't ask again.
Of course then the whole way in there wasn't a second person out there hailing a cab, so it was a mute point after all LOL.
Wil - Thanks for your comments. I don't know if I get that because I'm a woman, maybe. I do know that I tend to not wanting to confront drivers, and yeah, that's probably years of training of life as a woman LOL. But really, these guys are bigger than I am, stronger than I am, so I have a tendancy not to push it.
That's bizarre. I've never heard of that, in 12 years of living in/around DC, and even after riding cabs for 3 weeks in New York. Cabbies drive me nuts.
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