European taxis have been tested in a Eurotest, with the results looking very bad for the supposed most comfortable door-to-door solution in big cities.
Tourists have a tendency to complain about one particular group of locals in a number of European large cities: taxi drivers. Recent tests carried out by Eurotest have gone a long way to prove there is really no smoke without fire in this particular case.
The worst city for taxi drivers turned out to be Ljubljana, with Rome scoring very badly along with Prague, Amsterdam, Vienna and Madrid. Even more surprising was the fact that no city came out with excellent marks, with the top scorers achieving a rather neutral rating of ‘good’.
The most common complaints about taxi drivers involved detours and their inability to adhere to speed limits. The latter complaint suggests that they often think they own the roads and are above the law, whereas the former suggests that this is only the case whereby it suits them to believe so.
The Italian capital scored such low marks due to detours between the airport and train station, a standard journey, involving detours of up to 213%. Mark ups on prices and the absence of the fare meter did the Roman drivers absolutely no good at all. There is also the matter of aggression and keep to speed limits. It appears that some drivers consider this to be a bonus for passengers to get them to their destination quicker. In fact, most see such arrogance negatively.
Other complaints included the boot being full, making it impossible to transport luggage and drivers illustrating an extreme form of laziness by telling potential customers that some destinations are within “walking distance”. Perhaps it is time for European taxi drivers to remember they are there to provide an important service.