Monday, July 24, 2006

HOW-TO catch a Taxi Cab in Shanghai

For any countries, it seems like it's a simple thing to catch a taxi cab. But in Shanghai it is really not that easy. One of the main difficulty is there's no order. There's no line, no form of queue and no courtesy even if you've been waiting for a long time in front of others. So to a catch a cab, you must,
  • Find a cab
  • If there are current customers, rush to the door to wait for the riding to come out
  • If there are others who tries to push in before you, pull them out physically
  • If that person happens to be a chinese women who shouts "ladies' First!", then tell her " You are obviously not a lady"
  • Go on happily to where you want to go in the cab
Matters are worse during rush hours or popular places.

The reason I want to write this is because I see people (foreginers, including myself) who stands in the taxi stand expecting people will obey the queue system. However that's not how the Chinese system works. I don't want to see all the foreigners waiting in line and all the Chinese taking all the cab. You have to play by the local rules.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tips:

Only the taxi drivers with 3-star rating (shown on the "taxi" sign on the top) can speak english... but these cabs are very rare, probably harder than getting a 2,000 yen note in japan... besides, at night, when the light turns on, you can't distinguish whether it got 3-star or not. so, good luck!

Anonymous said...

Actually there is also the consideration of the taxi "brand", or which company the taxi company belongs to. Different company uses different cars, so choose wisely.