Most city taxis unprofessional

Most city taxis unprofessional

From Republika

I have lived in Jakarta for about five years. During that time I have experienced many things, but taxi rides are still quite an adventure. I would like to give my evaluation of the taxi services by giving a random sample of all taxi groups except Silver Bird. I have been with Silver Bird only twice so its taxis will not represent my opinion. In a period of one week I ride in a taxi at least five times. And I would like to compare the taxi service here with that in Brisbane, Australia, where I once went on holiday for ten days. My conclusions are:

* 70 percent of Jakarta taxis are driven by deceitful and unfriendly drivers. In Australia taxi drivers are mostly friendly.

* 70 percent of the taxi drivers in Jakarta pretend not to know the way, and tend to take their passengers the wrong way, unless we tell them which way to go. Usually the drivers do not like to be told which route to take. The Australian taxi drivers are equipped with a map with details of the locations in the town.

* 70 percent of the Jakarta taxi drivers do not have small change. They always want the passengers to round up the fare for their benefit. In Australia most taxi drivers have a box of coins with them. The coins are arranged in an orderly manner according to their value, so that they can easily find the exact coins.

* 70 percent of taxi drivers in Jakarta refuse to take passengers short distances unless they are prepared to pay at least Rp 5000. That is not the case in Australia.

* 50 percent of the taxis in Jakarta have poor air conditioning. The drivers usually tell the passengers that the air conditioning system is "just out of order."

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Jakarta