Chongqing Revisited
I'm a firm believer that when hit with strong negative emotions its a good idea to wait awhile before reacting. I really didn't like Chongqing but I thought I'd wait awhile before discussing it in this blog. My most recent trip to this huge city in central China was my second visit. The first time was over a year ago when I passed through on my way to catch a boat down the Yangtze River. My impression at that time was of a polluted, industrial city with dishonest taxi drivers. On my most recent trip I stayed for five days and my impression this time was of a very polluted, industrial city with very dishonest taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers are, whether they want to be or not, the ambassadors of a city. City governments need to keep that in mind as they seek to regulate taxis in their cities. Chongqing's Government either doesn't care or is powerless. I don't think it's the later. Although the effects of a recent taxi strike in Chongqing might have changed the power balance. However, from a consumer's point of view I see no difference in taxi driver behavior from before the strike.
In Shanghai I'm used to getting in a taxi and being taken where I want to go and charged the meter price with no hassle whatsoever. Only once in three years has a Shanghai taxi driver refused to take me where I wanted to go. In Chongqing on the other hand, I was lucky if I could even get the driver to agree to go where I wanted to go. I and my other Mandarin-speaking friends had numerous bad experiences with the Chongqing taxi drivers. Either they didn't know where a place was (even if you showed them the address in Chinese), their meter wasn't working, or they simply didn't want to take you there. From comparing notes with others we had to come to the conclusion that foreigners, even Chinese-speaking foreigners, are considered fools to be taken advantage of by the taxi drivers of this city. Maybe other Chinese are ripped off as well - I'm not sure.
One of the taxi tricks I didn't expect was one using a black flap of material that was hung over the meter. By the time I had buckled my seat belt and adjusted my bags and noticed I couldn't see the meter we were on our way. When I insisted on seeing a meter he revealed the hidden meter which had apparently not been reset from the last ride. We haggled over the price and when I insisted on a receipt he gave me a fake receipt. I tried to get his tag number but as he backed up he popped the trunk wide open so I couldn't see his tag number as he drove away. I had many more hassles like this over the few days I was in Chongqing - and I heard these stories from others in our group. If I ever go back to Chongqing it will be too soon.
Taxi drivers are, whether they want to be or not, the ambassadors of a city. City governments need to keep that in mind as they seek to regulate taxis in their cities. Chongqing's Government either doesn't care or is powerless. I don't think it's the later. Although the effects of a recent taxi strike in Chongqing might have changed the power balance. However, from a consumer's point of view I see no difference in taxi driver behavior from before the strike.
In Shanghai I'm used to getting in a taxi and being taken where I want to go and charged the meter price with no hassle whatsoever. Only once in three years has a Shanghai taxi driver refused to take me where I wanted to go. In Chongqing on the other hand, I was lucky if I could even get the driver to agree to go where I wanted to go. I and my other Mandarin-speaking friends had numerous bad experiences with the Chongqing taxi drivers. Either they didn't know where a place was (even if you showed them the address in Chinese), their meter wasn't working, or they simply didn't want to take you there. From comparing notes with others we had to come to the conclusion that foreigners, even Chinese-speaking foreigners, are considered fools to be taken advantage of by the taxi drivers of this city. Maybe other Chinese are ripped off as well - I'm not sure.
One of the taxi tricks I didn't expect was one using a black flap of material that was hung over the meter. By the time I had buckled my seat belt and adjusted my bags and noticed I couldn't see the meter we were on our way. When I insisted on seeing a meter he revealed the hidden meter which had apparently not been reset from the last ride. We haggled over the price and when I insisted on a receipt he gave me a fake receipt. I tried to get his tag number but as he backed up he popped the trunk wide open so I couldn't see his tag number as he drove away. I had many more hassles like this over the few days I was in Chongqing - and I heard these stories from others in our group. If I ever go back to Chongqing it will be too soon.
posted by Kevcham at 6:56 PM
2 Comments:
I can't agree with you more... a dirty, industrial unpleasant city with nasty dishonest taxi drivers and genereally nasty unpleasant people from my expereinces.
I recently had a friend take his mother on a trip across China, i strongly advised him to drop ChongQing from the itinerary, he was doing the boat tour down the Yangtze as well, couldn't really avoid it.
He and his mother have vowed never to return, they were conned, insulted, treated like zoo animals - out of 7 cities they travelled to it was by far the worst.
All in all a dreadful place that i will advise all and sundry to avoid!
If you are trying to think of something nice to say about the taxi drivers in Chongqing, at least they didn't run into you.
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