Taxi fare

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HI Christina,

Taxi fare may vary due to the following:
1)if taxi is owned by the driver  -if so then there is room for negotiation.  if the taxi driver is hired then he will automatically put a mark up so he gets his cut separate to what he will give the taxi owner at the end of the day
2) if the taxi is from a registered taxi company like jatco, dialacab, wotegroup etc which have their fixed rates per kilometer which can be expensive but do provide safe, clean and modern taxis.
3) the distance from your collection point to the destinations and if  you are traveling during rush hour (7.30am to 8.30am or 5-7pm) when there is more jam hence increasing the rate
4)if  it is rainy as rain causes  jams which also increases the rates

My take is that as a foreigner:

You should not use a taxi that does not have a brand name on it like jatco etc or a yellow strip as this implies the taxi is from a registered company or the taxi association.  This is very important in case of any incident the taxi   as then the taxi can be traced and answerable. There have been quite a number of disturbing crimes taking place in taxis.  Of course do not enter a cab with persons you do not know or allow the driver to pick up anyone while your are in the taxi.

Charges negotiation:

I have found that it helps to call the registered cab companies an ask them their rates for these destination indicating that you do not want to go during rush hours.  With this information you can then approach any taxi near where you live and negotiation lower than these registered taxi companies.  by so doing they will know you are informed and they will not have room to inflate their charges. to further make it cheaper you can go for this trips with your friends where you can cost share the taxi charges.

Hope the above helped. let me know how it turns out.
Kacheri

Hello Kacheri -> Thank you for your contribution