chip and pin in a taxi

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Morba said:
This.
I've used them in Edinburgh :)
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Edinburgh is the rip off capital of Taxi land. It's probably the reason I hate the damn city, everyone resigns to paying the ridiculous fees because nothing is within walking distance.

I would pay using chip and pin, it would be fairly handy. That said, I've never jumped in a taxi without a rough idea of what it'll cost and have cash at the ready.

I'd rather stand for half an hour in the freezing cold waiting on a private taxi than pay TOA prices so always with a reputable company, anyway.

[TW]Fox;17510536 said:
What I dont like around here is the pot luck. You phone for a taxi and anything from literally a smelly P reg Vectra with a duff headlight to a brand new Mercedes Benz will show up and then charge you exactly the same for your journey. This just seems completely bizarre - in every other service industry you pay more for a higher level of service and less for a lower level of service.
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Never quite jumped in a Merc after phoning a taxi :( Glasgow has a wide variety, anything from an old shape Astra to an Octavia.

Round here though, everyone has a brand new Vectra, Superb, Passat. Goodness knows how they afford the lease.
 
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Taxi drivers down here use mercs quite a lot (off the top of my head C series) but they are very much not brand new mercs (N-R reg usually) and probably on their 3rd or 4th owner. Strangely I've never seen a BMW used as a taxi.
 
shifty_uk said:
Edinburgh is the rip off capital of Taxi land. It's probably the reason I hate the damn city, everyone resigns to paying the ridiculous fees because nothing is within walking distance.
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It's not that bad. I live beside the bypass and it's £10 for a taxi into the city centre compared with £3 each for a night bus. I'd much rather pay a little more and get an immediate door to door service.

I would use chip and pin with a taxi company that I trusted, eg black cabs and big name firms. I hate carrying cash and use my card whenever I can so it's a definite plus for me :).
 
Don't Glasgow city council have some rule whereby a private taxi must be 3 years or less in age, or older, only if it has been used as a taxi for it's whole life? I remember getting a r erg escort a couple of years ago and the driver telling me something like that. This is the 774 3000 lot, iirc.
 
In Jersey/UK? Yes, but I can't remember the last time I used a taxi.
When I did I would never have enough cash on me and would get them to drop me at a cash machine and pay.

It would make things a lot easier, especially if anything for non native speakers, I wonder how many taxi drivers have to deal with people not knowing the local currency and spend too much time faffing about when a card will do the job.
 
Would definitely be handy, I always end up having to stop at a cash machine in a taxi on the way out of the town, so using a card would be ideal.
 
Trouble I see with your plan is that in a booked mini-cab situation, a lot of the big names in the industry, say Addison Lee in London, allow you to ring up, get a booking, pay for it by credit/debit card or create an account and pay per month. That way you know how much you will be charged for in advance and you won't have to give the driver anything.

In terms of just flagging a taxi down, or calling a small cab firm, the trouble is that most people will have made sure to get cash beforehand, as they won't expect a taxi to have a card ability inside it. Infact, people probably wouldn't even flag a taxi or call one if they were in a situation where they didn't have any cash.... which then leads on to the fact that if you were in that situation, depending on how you were with the cab driver, they might pick you up and take you to the nearest cash machine first.

Sure it would be great to have the ability to pay by card, but I think all taxis need it for it to work.
 
Here in Korea all cabs have both credit card facilities and T-Money which is a prepaid card type scheme used for Subways and small purchases kinda like a oyster card in london that you can use to buy a can of coke and a packet of fags.

TBH I love the T-money Scheme here, if i had a good Korean mobile the card would be built into it as well, very easy on the pockets when you can just hold your phone up to the scanner to pay for most everyday purchases.
 
whitecrook said:
Don't Glasgow city council have some rule whereby a private taxi must be 3 years or less in age, or older, only if it has been used as a taxi for it's whole life? I remember getting a r erg escort a couple of years ago and the driver telling me something like that. This is the 774 3000 lot, iirc.
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Rules in Glasgow are that any new tax(private hire vehicle) must Genoese than 5 years old when first plated and can be used up to 7 years old then must be replaced regardless of condition whereas a hackney can be run indefinitely there's a couple of p plate metro cabs still working Glasgow ATM council say this is due to hackney carriages being purpose built

Seems daft but that's the way it is 22yr old metro cab deemed safer than a 7yr old vectra/mondeo ??
 
[TW]Fox;17510497 said:
you never really know whats its going to cost you until the end of the trip unless you've made the same trip before.
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I don't particularly like taxis either and avoid them where possible but the simple way round that one is to negotiate with the driver/call operator before accepting the ride and you'll get the journey from CCC to DDD for a set fare.

shifty_uk said:
Edinburgh is the rip off capital of Taxi land. It's probably the reason I hate the damn city, everyone resigns to paying the ridiculous fees because nothing is within walking distance.
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Lots of Edinburgh is within walking distance although if you're picking a pub down Leith Walk and then next stop is the Grassmarket I suppose you might want a taxi - some of that just comes down to poor planning though. It's also not massively more expensive than taxis I've got in other cities although I'll admit I've never got in a taxi in Glasgow.

In answer to the original question I'd consider using chip and pin in a taxi on occasion but more often than not I'd still probably use cash, it's easier splitting the fare if you're getting a taxi with multiple people.
 
If you have to have a card machine in your taxi you should really consider taking DEBIT cards only. These normally cost you 50p per transaction where as CREDIT cards cost you a transaction fee and a percentage of the transaction.

If your customers don't like the 50p surcharge then they are free to pay by cash.
 
Seems like a good idea to me. PITA making sure you have cash around on the very rare occasion I do get a cab.

I think possible a fixed fee surcharge would be better like 50p.

Otherwise a £5 journey will cost 25p to pay by card and a £50 would cost £2.50 just for the convienience of paying by card? (my maths may well be wrong) rather walk to a cash point and pay cash than surrender the equivalent of a pint to pay on card!
 
i went in a chip and pin taxi recently with a colleague. as a pair of slightly ****ed geeks we were fascinated and bent the driver's ear for the whole journey.

best. idea. ever.
 
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