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Taxis in Germany are just different. From someone who has lived in both SF and Berlin recently, here is the summary: Berlin: almost all taxis are Mercedes E-Cl
by yolandakm 11y ago
Taxis in Germany are just different. From someone who has lived in both SF and Berlin recently, here is the summary:
Berlin: almost all taxis are Mercedes E-Class. super clean, drivers are very friendly, interesting to talk to, seem educated. they drive calmly and professionally. the experience makes you feel good and I always tip generously.
SF: taxis are nasty. I don't want to touch anything inside the car, the seats are covered in plastic "puke" covers, the seat belts are hard to use, the driver claims he does not take credit cards even though he has a credit card machine. he might refuse to take you to certain areas, just cause. sometimes the drivers themselves are dirty, they smell like they haven't showered in a week, they are eating while driving. the car smells like pot or cigarette smoke. I feel bad for the drivers, they look like they are just barely getting by, and they are often angry and drive extremely aggressively. I guess when you are just scraping by financially as a taxi driver in SF, every second counts. I'm always surprised we didn't get into an accident.
- mpeg 11y agoThat's just Berlin, not Germany. In smaller cities, you'll wish you had Uber. Most taxis speak little english (hard to communicate where you're going without just handing them your phone with the address in it), they don't always take card or like doing so (I had a guy who after mumbling something nasty used a manual imprinter on my card) and have generally given me bad service. Never had those issues with Uber when it was available in more places. I've moved to using Blacklane whenever I can, but they're worse than Uber.
- halomru 11y agoBut those are only problems foreigners have with German taxis. Germans prefer paying with cash and don't care if the driver speaks good English. As a German the only bad experience I have ever had with a taxi was a driver taking the long way around. Apart from that our taxi services are great for Germans. Of course the experience for foreigners is important, but it will neither make not brake any taxi company.
- mschuster91 11y ago> they don't always take card or like doing s Don't blame the taxi drivers, it's widely known that Germans don't like cash-less payments, and much less credit cards. Partially because of surveillance and partially because unlike the US, you have to have excellent credit reports to get a true CC and not prepaid/debit CCs.
- kuschku 11y agoAnd because CCs add often up to 5% to the cost, but you can’t make the price for customers with CC higher.
- DasIch 11y agoActually you can. In Berlin it costs 1.50€, if you're paying without using cash so using a CC, EC or something like that.
- kuschku 11y agoOh, interesting. Because VISA and MasterCard prohibit doing that with CCs. The CC price has to be the cash price, or you can’t take CCs.
- dogma1138 11y agoThat's dependent on the country and it's no longer the case in the US either. http://www.cardfellow.com/charging-customers-a-credit-card-convenience-fee-at-check-out/ http://www.cardfellow.com/charging-customers-a-credit-card-c...