Taxi : Petrol, Meters & Corruption
The first time I got in a taxi in Egypt I was surprised to see a meter as in many "developing" countries fares are negotiated between client and driver.
As we drive to my destination we come to a road block where traffic police are checking papers of drivers and in our case if the taxi meter was their and working...this surprised me even more...I thought wow they are even checking the taxis to see if the meters are working!!!
Finally arriving at my destination (a 15 min. drive) I promptly paid the driver the fee which add up to just under 2 EGP I even tipped him an extra 1 EGP (total cost about 50 cents)
The taxi driver did not smile at all and said it was too little money!!! I argued that this was the fare indicated on the meter!!! he told me the meters were functioning on a rate which would not even pay for the fuel of the car and that they (the meters) had been imposed because a powerful person had bought a large stock from India and forced (direct orders were given to the police to check)every taxi driver to equip himself as to sell off his stock!!! and if they did not have a counter they would loose their license!!!
At this point I was not sure any more so I called up a local friend to enquire, he confirmed the story and told me to pay 10 EGP to the driver.
So in the end the importance of the meter is not to loose your license!!! And not to count your fare!!!
As we drive to my destination we come to a road block where traffic police are checking papers of drivers and in our case if the taxi meter was their and working...this surprised me even more...I thought wow they are even checking the taxis to see if the meters are working!!!
Finally arriving at my destination (a 15 min. drive) I promptly paid the driver the fee which add up to just under 2 EGP I even tipped him an extra 1 EGP (total cost about 50 cents)
The taxi driver did not smile at all and said it was too little money!!! I argued that this was the fare indicated on the meter!!! he told me the meters were functioning on a rate which would not even pay for the fuel of the car and that they (the meters) had been imposed because a powerful person had bought a large stock from India and forced (direct orders were given to the police to check)every taxi driver to equip himself as to sell off his stock!!! and if they did not have a counter they would loose their license!!!
At this point I was not sure any more so I called up a local friend to enquire, he confirmed the story and told me to pay 10 EGP to the driver.
So in the end the importance of the meter is not to loose your license!!! And not to count your fare!!!
posted by sadmo at 7:08 AM
1 Comments:
If you haven't noticed that egyptian citizens are poor and with such traffic a taxi fare would exceed a lower class ability to pay.
And for your information there is an establishing compny that intend to fix a fare with a working meter beside the current taxis
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