Opinion / Liang Hongfu
Taking taxis in big cities causes major headaches
By Liang Hongfu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-03 06:40
The Spring Festival holiday is only a few weeks away and the country is
bracing for the travel craze that will tax the nationwide transportation
network to its limit. While the media spotlight, as usual, is focused on
the railway operators and the airline companies, many of the perennial
problems that have been irking the travelling public daily have largely
been ignored for years.
Let’s take Beijing Railway Station. Everybody who arrives at the capital
by train, and they number in the tens of millions each year, would have
been confronted by the frustration of getting a regular metered taxi.
There are none.
Instead, the place is swamped with what Beijing people so appropriately
call “black” cabs. Not all of them are painted black, of course. The
nickname for these unlicensed taxis carries a sinister connotation that
goes beyond rudeness and overcharging. Reports of unwary patrons of these
“black” taxis being driven against their will to deserted places and
robbed are not uncommon.
In Shanghai, the Maglev Train that links Pudong Airport to a subway
interchange is fast and quiet. It’s certainly fun to ride, except that it
doesn’t go very far. Most people take a taxi into town from the
interchange because the busy subway is not always a viable alternative,
especially for those carrying heavy luggage.
But the taxi stand outside the Maglev interchange is in a permanent state
of chaos. Walking up there is like entering into the bazaar of a booming
market town on weekends. If you want a taxi, you’d better observe the
ritual.
You’ll first be confronted by a chorus of taxi drivers and their cohorts
asking where you want to go. Then you should shout out your destination
to nobody in particular, preferably in Shanghai dialect, although
Mandarin and English will do. Then wait for someone to approach you and
make you an offer. If you think the fare he or she demands is not too
exorbitant you should quickly agree. The people working there have little
patience because they know that they have something you need desperately,
especially after a long and tiring flight.
This is, of course, nothing new to many seasoned travellers. Just a few
years ago, the situation outside the Shenzhen railway station was a lot
worse. In that boomtown then, taxi meters were nothing more than mere
decorations. Fares were subject to the whim of the taxi drivers, all of
whom looked tough and mean.
But efforts by the Shenzhen Government to clamp down on unruly taxi
drivers have produced results. Taking a taxi in that border town is no
longer a scary adventure. Taxis are easy to find and the chance of being
fleeced by unscrupulous drivers is remote.
Perhaps the nagging transportation problems at Beijing Railway Station
and the Shanghai Maglev interchange are too small to warrant the
attention of the respective municipal governments. Otherwise, it is
difficult to think of a logical reason why they have remained a constant
irritation to so many commuters using those facilities for so long.
Email: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 01/03/2006 page4)
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To be continued
