Petrol has gone sky high the world over.

Petrol today was 45 Rs/litre - that's less than half what we pay in the UK. I'm afraid I don't buy all this stuff about having to make enough in 6 months to live all year.
How many UK taxi drivers do you think would like to earn enough to live on in 6 months?

I rent a scooter and only pay 150 Rs/day.

Yeah but the wages in Goa don't compare to that of the Uk and a lot of taxi drivers don't own their taxis but pay hire costs etc. Also Goan roads are extremely hard on the vehicles which require high maintenance costs.

Regarding tourists paying higher rates, this isn't exclusive to Goa but happens in all the worlds tourist hotspots including London, Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh. Try booking a taxi on New years eve in London to see what a rip off is!!!

Like i said before, negotiate a rate prior to engaging on a journey and if your not happy then tell them so and use the bus or walk.....thats what i do.

Hiring a bike is ok if you don't have a wife and 3 kids on tow!!!

PS. I tried to post a link of Government Taxi Rates from Dabolim Airport but apparently i can't post links yet as i haven't made enough postings....ah well, later perhaps.

These taxi drivers are so hard done by that year after year there are more & more of them. I can understand why they dont want to use meters, its because they are thinking of us poor tourists as I can only think it would be dearer on the meter Also petrol must become more expensive by the hour as whenever you get a taxi from A to B its 1 price but a few hours later when you need to get from B to A its somehow dearer. As people have mentioned before it is better if you can get a driver for the duration of your hols..........cheers Keith
PS
I think taxis in the south are more expensive......

If the regulated fare per kilometre in India is R17, that works out at R27.2 per mile. Or in £'s , it's 36p per mile.
The regulated fare in the UK is £2.50 per mile. 6.9x the Indian rate.
The cost of a litre of petrol in India is R45 or 60p per litre.In the UK it's about £1.09 or 1.8x the Indian price.
Indian cost of living is lower, but so is their standard of living.Are they not entitled to try and improve it or are they there for the benefit of the tourist to make their money go further ?
If you look around in Britain there are too many taxis chasing too few jobs too, that's why they have to put in terrible hours to maintain the British standard of living.I bet the majority of taxi drivers in India have other jobs during the low season and are not living off a bumper pay packet during the 6 months they have tourism.
And it's not a question of skin colour either, an Indian from London I met in the south was complaining about the prices he was being charged too.

Dave I dont think anyone begrudges anybody in Goa trying to earn an honest living, I think part of the problem with the taxi drivers is there is NO consistancy with prices. Its that bad that we have had a taxi (same driver) twice and gone to the same place but quoted 2 different fares . I know a lot of people who used to get taxis from the MD to the beach now use the shuttle bus because they were sick of being taken for a mug and these are the best type of fares for the taxi drivers (quick turnaround) which is better than taking us to Morjim and waiting all day for us (about 6 or 7 hrs) for about 850 rps.....Keith

I have agreed all along that there should be consistancy. If you get in a cab at the MD and ask for , say Baga beach, you should be charged the same every time..R100 I think was the going rate. This is easily confirmed when you get in, ask before you go.
There isn't really such a thing as a quick turnaround job. Believe me, I have done it here in the UK. In the UK it's a brief mad hour both going and coming back from the pub, Legion or whatever, then hang around for hours waiting for the night clubs to empty.Far better to get one decent job even if it means hanging around for hours.
The problem in India is that labour is cheaper than petrol so why return from Morjim, hang around say the MD in competition with the other 30 cabs there ( I expect they take turns to get the casual pick ups anyway) only to get at best R200 say for going to Baga beach then having to spend it on getting back to Morjim .
Incidentally in November on avarage only 10 out of the 30 cabs at the MD got a daytime trip. In the evening the average had dropped from 2 trips each in 2008/9 season to one this time around. Not exactly coining it in.

Dave,

Is it possible that the taxis are not as busy because the tourists are sick of being overcharged.

As for consistency I am all for it.So why is there not a board outside each hotel with a list of prices to each local destination.

I suspect no such list exists because they do not want to advertise the fact they charge more than the government rate or because they prefer to try and get as much money as possible from us.

Many years ago I was a Taxi driver for five years during a pretty tough economic time in England so yes I had to put up with very long hours to try to make a living.

But I charged the going rate and had a price list in my cab and was regulated by my local council.

What I am finding hard to understand is how anyone can justify overcharging in any way.If it happened here no one would tolerate it.Why is it alright because it is Goa and because we are on holiday?

I suspect the Taxis in Goa would be much busier if you got in and they switched the meter on.It just puts my back up so I avoid Taxis whenever I can.

It is fair enough to negotiate a day rate or a long distance rate but locally we should just be able to trust the meter.

Papa

DaveWales: I don't know of one taxi driver who has another job in the off season.

My taxi driver does.
He does school runs in his little mini bus during the monsoon.
Not sure if hes contracted by the schools or government but it pays the bills.

hi
some taxi drivers work on the paddies during close season,outside the front of the nizmar hotel is a pole with the taxi prices on,also most new tourists insist on asking a price off the taxi drivers for a jurney so the taxi drivers see a quick earner from someone who knows no better,ask someone in the hotel who has been here a while or ask on this forum thats what we are here for,on children walking talls website is a list of taxi prices

ask someone in the hotel who has been here a while or ask on this forum thats what we are here for,on children walking talls website is a list of taxi prices

Or ask them to put the meter on and charge the correcr rate.Fat chance.

Papa

We never use taxi's for local jouirneys as we hire a scooter. In November we negotiated a taxi to take us from Calangute to Benaulim and to collect us two days later. He charged Rs/- 800 each way. In Benaulim however, we checked out the cost of a taxi back to Calangute (in case our's let us down) and they all asked around Rs/- 1200. Our taxi driver didn't want to hang around though as the south have a taxi 'mafia' and are very offish to northern drivers coming into their territory.

I remember a few years ago, going by bus into Margao from our hotel in Cavellosim (Haathi Mahal), and getting a cab back. The driver asked to drop us off along the road from the hotel because he was frightened of the drivers outside the hotel. His price from Margao was cheaper than the taxi's in Cavellosim would have charged for the same journey.

I think you have to have a price you think is fair, and stick to it. Eventually you will get one to agree, as some profit is better than no work.If not let them see you catch a bus instead.

Spoke to a cabbie friend last night who said the official rate is still 15 rupees/Km but the only time it's likely to be charged is if it's a relativley long journey i.e. to the airport or down south etc.

Most of his local journeys are less than a couple of miles in which case he charges a minimum fare of 100 rupees. Apparently they can fix their own minimum fare as long as it's reasonable.

This applies even for the locals which he also says don't take the taxi, they travel by bus.

I agree with Papa, I got back today from my second trip to goa and I practically walked everywhere most of the time. Mainly because I can't be bothered to haggle for the price, and when you do get in a taxi and see it says 15rps per km you feel ripped off! I even walked from Baga to Ingo's and back and managed to smile at the dozen or so taxi drivers that stopped in the road touting for business.

Probably my biggest bug bear with them though is how aggressive they are. Staying at the Nazri the minute you walked out of the hotel you were pounced on by at least 4 resident taxi drivers based in the hotel car park who were unavoidable. Then i usually had to walk past the Ronil beach where there must be about 30 in a row and everyone says 'Taxi' 'Taxi'. Why they think I will get in their taxi when they have seen me walk past the first 15 I have no idea!!!!

Can't understand why they don't get the concept of just sitting in their taxi and if I wanted one I would ask. Sad thing is, I would love to take some family and friends to goa but I wonder if they may fine these sort of annoyances too much.

If your on holiday why not walk,own pace,own time,no charge if you tire stop have a drink a chat with whoever,and walk on.

We do this walk from over the river Baga Creek to Candolin along the beach,and then the roadway back(can u imagine ) We must walk about 20miles but save ourselves ?

Answers

Hi manxcat,re the walking,a good idea in theory but we get very thirsty when walking and stopping every 10 minutes for a beer and a vodka,liver wouldn`t survive.!!!!