Hong Kong taxi drivers, love them or hate them (actually, mostly just dislike them). They’re not ALL bad, perhaps 50% are adequate. Here are a few of the reasons why they’re not popular. Feel free to add your own reasons in the comments!
10. They curse non-stop, and complain about where you want to go
9. They don’t help you with your suitcase, or even offer to
8. They drop you off at the wrong place, and then insist that it is correct
7. They always try to keep the change, despite giving you poor service
6. They smell bad, or the interior of the taxi does
5. They take the long way to get to your destination
4. They ransom, or simply just keep your mobile phone if it falls out of your pocket
3. They (illegally) want to know where you’re going before they’ll open the door (Which is why one person recently tried to Gangnam Style dance their way into a taxi… it didn’t work!) 😉
2. They price-gouge, asking you to pay an exorbitant flat fee to get you someplace. It’s illegal, but commonplace in the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife area
1. They keep. Stepping. On. The Accelerator. And Then. Stepping. On. The Break. Which is. SUPER Annoying!
Bonus reason: they try to adjust their mirror so that they can look up girls skirts! Ewww!
H.K. taxi drivers bad reputation was once the subject of a Hong Kong movie titled “Taxi Hunter“, starring Anthony Wong Chau-Sang!
wow, finally a Prius taxi in HK…. i’ve been seeing them in Japan and North America for several years already. With the hills and stop and go traffic, it should get good mileage…
although i haven’t had too many bad encounters with taxis, i did have one try to con me into paying the cross harbor return fare (he was a regular taxi parked in a cross harbor area), he started the meter before I could finish asking him if he was a cross harbor taxi or not, so I jumped out at the light and got in another taxi. he got angry and chased down the other taxi I was in honking and screaming all the way from Central to Admiralty… (cause he started the meter…)
good times! 😛
Give me a Hong Kong taxi over a London taxi or Singapore taxi anyday. Singapore great until it rains and the taxis disappear. London all of your complaints but they charge at least three times as much!