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Shanghai Expat Forum Index » City Living Forums » Questions and Answers

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BuckPlankchest

Barker

Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Posts: 197

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 08, 2009 - 05:29 PM

After the feeding frenzy I saw today, I felt inspired...

Hooper: You were on East Nanjing Rd?
Brody: What happened?
Quint: Two art students grabbed onto our side, Chief. We was comin' back from lunch at Kathleen 5...just got a raise. A big raise. Eleven hundred dollars a month more into my wallet. She had my wallet in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first girl for about a half a second. Tiger lady. 1.3-meter. You know how you know that when you're on the street, Chief? You tell by looking from her fake Cons to her ponytail. What we didn't know, was our meeting was so secret, no one else was going to meet us out. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. As soon as it goes dark, Chief, girls come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old high school dances like you see in '80s movies, and the idea was: girl comes to the nearest man, that man he starts meiyouin' and buyaoin and no-noin' and sometimes the girl go away... but sometimes she wouldn't go away. Sometimes that girl she looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a Nanjing Lu girl... she's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When she comes at ya, doesn't seem to be harmful... until she grabs ya, and those black eyes bat their lashes at you and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched Chinglish whinin'. Watches and DVDs get shoved in your face, and despite all the meiyouin' and the buyaoin', they all come in and they...annoy you to pieces. You know by the end of that first block, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many girls, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six a minute. Days later, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Executive. Fat wallet. I thought he was sleep walking. I reached over to wake him up. He was just wandering around, saying something about not needing any more paintings and how expensive could tea be. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a friend of ours saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young kid, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, but smart enough to stay away. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big dark blue Buick GL8 comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never go anywhere without my driver again. So, eleven hundred dollars went in the wallet; 316 jiao left and the girls took the rest, November the 8th, 2009. Anyway, we got some nice chopsticks.

_________________
Freddy, what I am saying is: know your limitations. You are a moron.

netzwerg

Talker

Joined: Sep 30, 2009
Posts: 86

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 08:53 PM

Marakanis wrote:

For example, a girl I knew got in a taxi cab and the driver did something that she noticed was different when he put down the ticker to start the cab fare accumulation. It was ticking like crazy and a trip that should have cost about 15 RMB ended up being nearly 40. She called her Shanghainese friend and explained the situation and then handed the phone to the cab driver.

The cab driver tried to get my friend's Shanghainese friend TO GO IN ON IT AND HELP CHEAT HER OWN FRIEND!

Taxi drivers occasionally try to rip me off too, they probably have some switch somewhere to cheat the ticker or something and think I am a stupid tourist.

I dont argue with them anymore, thats a waste of time, if I smell clear fraud I give him 12rmb (or nothing), take a cell phone photo of his taxi licence and walk off. They never call police or something (and hopefully are happy that I dont call police) because they dont want to loose their licence and dont want their car examined.

The cops can get very serious with taxi drivers manipulating their tickers here in Shanghai, revoking their licence and sending them back to real China...

Shangstar

Fire-eater

Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 2786
Location: Spitland
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 09:06 PM

i've never been cheated by a taxi driver as far as I am aware. The fast ticker thing is unlikely as the time, distance and price are receorded on the fapiao machine. It's also more in the taxi company's interest to pick up lots of flag fall fares in a short amount of time, than do fewer but longer ones. The drivers as far as I am aware don't own the cars, the taxi company does, so the driver probably has little incentive to cheat, and the company is unlikely to take that risk. The cheating will come from the unlicensed cabs, but the cops are cracking down on this by getting plain clothes policemen to use them.

_________________
Charles Darwin: Differences between humans are differences in degree, not differences in kind

MoonOverMiami
LoopKicker

Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 865

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 09:13 PM

Was talking to a driver once, and it was interesting to hear how the system works. IIRC, he said the company takes around the first RMB500 in fares, and the driver has to pay for gas which could add up to another RMB400 per day. Anything after that they can keep. While the short fares seems like the way to go, that would mean driving in the city which (in turn) means lower gas mileage and more money towards gas.

Was telling me they tend to share the vehicle with another driver, and they would work over 12hrs per day every other day.

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"One who falls asleep with an itchy backside, will wake up with smelly fingers..."

8lrr8
Wonder Wit

Joined: Oct 14, 2004
Posts: 3720

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 10:14 PM

MoonOverMiami wrote:

While the short fares seems like the way to go, that would mean driving in the city which (in turn) means lower gas mileage and more money towards gas.

if (and that's a big if) a driver could make short trips (i.e. the fare is only the starting fare) w/ little to no downtime btwn successive short trips, then his profit is maximized as such. however in reality drivers prefer customers whose destination is as far as possible (e.g. hongqiao to pudong airport).

MoonOverMiami wrote:

Was telling me they tend to share the vehicle with another driver, and they would work over 12hrs per day every other day.

usually 18+ hrs from what i'm told.

Shangstar

Fire-eater

Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 2786
Location: Spitland
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 10:27 PM

yeah they do change over, which is why during certain hours a lot of taxis with no passengers will drive straight past without stopping, as they're off to change shift. Suddenly they become available again after 20 minutes or so.

_________________
Charles Darwin: Differences between humans are differences in degree, not differences in kind

xiwang

Squeeker

Joined: Sep 01, 2009
Posts: 12
Location: Shanghai (Yangpu District)
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 11, 2009 - 10:43 PM

Adventures in counterfeiting:

1. A friend gave her taxi driver a 100 RMB note. Because she was running late for a job interview, she didn't examine the change. The 50 RMB note turned out to be counterfeit.

2. A classmate was in the Forbidden City in Beijing when a souvenir vendor asked her if she could break a 100 RMB note for him. Being new to Beijing, she thought nothing about it. She later found out that the bill he gave her was counterfeit when she tried to spend it.

3. An acquaintance told me that, if he gives a 100 RMB note to his taxi driver, he photographs the serial number first with his cell phone. (Sounds a bit extreme to me.)

4. A friend was taken in by the police after he tried to use a few 100 RMB notes at the subway station. It turned out that the teller at his bank had mixed in counterfeit money with the real bills. He was finally released after a few hours of interrogation when the police found out from his embassy that he had diplomatic immunity. (The counterfeits were amazing. The counterfeiters even made the part below Mao's face feel rough so one would think that it was engraved ink.)

5. Chinese friends have told me that they have even received counterfeit 100 RMB notes out of ATM machines.

Last edited by xiwang on Nov 12, 2009 - 02:03 PM; edited 1 time in total

fWerrF

Rocker

Joined: Aug 31, 2009
Posts: 722
Location: New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 12, 2009 - 01:34 PM

Shangstar wrote:

i've never been cheated by a taxi driver as far as I am aware.

Neither was I.
I actually thought China is got the best taxi drivers, in the sense of they do not rip you off and they always go by meter without hustle.

In place like Thailand its a battle to find a taxi that would agree to use meter.

jay_dee

Reacher

Joined: Mar 22, 2009
Posts: 330

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 12, 2009 - 03:12 PM

I know my way around SH pretty well, but a few times the taxi driver goes in a completly different direction. A longer ride = higher fare, so you need to stop them quickly. Sometimes they tell of traffic issues which could be true. I just tell them the fare should be XXX - not more.

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US Expat in Shanghai

Shangstar

Fire-eater

Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 2786
Location: Spitland
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 12, 2009 - 03:23 PM

on almost every occasion that a driver has gone the wrong way or a longer route, he stops the meter and goes back the right way. Often, in my experience, they will just give the average fare for that journey too. This is all without me prompting. I too think Shanghai taxi drivers are excellent. Same cant be said of places like Harbin in the winter where they know they're on to a winner each and every time.

_________________
Charles Darwin: Differences between humans are differences in degree, not differences in kind

woaihuan

StreetBeater

Joined: Dec 15, 2007
Posts: 2437

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 12, 2009 - 03:52 PM

I've never had trouble with Shanghai's taxi drivers, other than the suburb ones - specifically Nanhui taxis. They're terrible. Often they refuse to pick you up and bitch the whole way about your fare being too small.

As for those guys that follow you around hawking watches, etc. Some of them are easy to shake off simply by ignoring them - others, just give them a good shove and they'll go away faster. I had 12 of them following me in Qipu once with a foreign friend. Half hour later I tossed one into a rack of jackets and within 30 seconds, they were all gone.

Has worked on multiple occasions in the S&T Market too. Just got to show them that you're serious.

Don't get suckered into buying anything because you feel sorry for someone, or because they won't leave you alone. They're not all acting - a lot are really that desperate - but you can't help all of them and they're not going to let you go any easier after you bit the bait and bought something.

aquaspacegroup

Squeeker

Joined: Nov 09, 2009
Posts: 13

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 11:27 AM

I was charged 100rmb+, Jing'an, via Yishan rd to Pudong. This felt like quite a lot at the time but actually maybe it is quite a long distance, what do people think to this fare? There were a lot of dug up and blocked roads in Pudong, and a few times, he would drive to the end, realise there was no way out, and turn around to go back, several times. I can't be sure if this is genuine confusion with the roadworks, or if he was trying to rip off.

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Pudong Apartments

woaihuan

StreetBeater

Joined: Dec 15, 2007
Posts: 2437

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 11:39 AM

Probably legit. Although he may have taken a long route... you should tell him the route you want to take.

*Sarita

Barker

Joined: Jan 26, 2008
Posts: 177
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 12:04 PM

That depends on where in Pudong you were going.

xiaotiqin

Lurker

Joined: Mar 15, 2008
Posts: 33

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 01:42 PM

Oh here's a scam of late. I have had some weird taxi experiences before - be aware that there ARE some unlicensed drivers out there who may or may not speak Mandarin, and who definitely do not know their way around, granted these are pretty far and few between.

A few weeks ago I was going downtown by metro and when I went to use my metro card it said to see the attendant. I thought, weird, because I just put money on it and there should be at least RMB 80 left as I hardly use it. But no, there was zero on it. Then I thought back, when was the last time I used it...it was in a taxi and I remember thanking the driver but he gave me a funny look at the same time. And then after talking to some friends they told me that you have to be careful if you pay by card in the taxi because they sometimes switch them...which in this case is what happened.

woaihuan

StreetBeater

Joined: Dec 15, 2007
Posts: 2437

Status: Offline

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 01:46 PM

Swapping cards isn't a new scam. Get a stick on cover like everyone else does so you can identify your own card.

Marakanis
Fire-eater

Joined: Jan 11, 2009
Posts: 2944

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 02:06 PM

^It probably happens more often than we think. I know I've had a couple occasions where my card was at 0 and I couldn't remember how much I had on it the last time I used it. You just shrug and refill it...

Humac
FooJay
FooJay

Joined: July 07, 2007
Posts: 1619

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 - 02:15 PM

Shangstar wrote:

I wonder if we had the same driver? Same thing happened to me. Driver realised he'd gone the wrong way, stopped the meter and turned around. Charged me much less than the fare should have been. However, the large tip made up for it.