The Prague Post
September 7th, 2008
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Taken for a Ride

Despite city promises and media spotlight, taxi scams still common

Taxi driver Radek Losonczi of Dimo Taxi charged a Prague Post reporter 700 Kc for a 10-minute trip from Wenceslas Square.
By Matt Reynolds
 Staff Writer, The Prague Post
Jan. 20, 2005


Jiri Kankovsky has a beer belly, shaved head and a beat-up, fusty-smelling Mercedes. He speaks little English, and he has had no trade license since June. Yet in eight minutes of work on a recent weekday, he earned 980 Kc ($42), 300 Kc more than the nation's average daily wage.

Kankovsky made the money driving a reporter about 10 blocks. He is one of hundreds of city taxi drivers who officials say prey on foreign tourists, many of whom don't know local taxi rates, have trouble converting to crowns, or lack the nerve to haggle in a foreign country.

"Ninety percent of my customers are tourists, and every single one of them has a story of being ripped off by a taxi driver," said Robbie Norton, owner of Rocky O'Reillys pub. "It's an epidemic. You have this problem elsewhere in Central Europe. But there it's a few extra pounds -- here you get ripped off for 1,000 Kc."

Kankovsky, who hasn't had a trade license since June 2004, according to the national business registry, displayed rates on his driver's side door. They indicate that he charges the maximum by law -- a 35 Kc base fee plus 25 Kc per kilometer.

During the ride, which should have cost around 120 Kc, he appeared to adjust the meter, perhaps to turn on a device known as a "turbo switch."

When asked later why he charged eight times the legal rate, Kankovsky turned his back and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The Prague Post took test runs with four other taxis. In three out of five cases, the drivers overcharged (see chart, this page).

Lingering black eye

Long a black eye for the city, Prague's overcharging taxi drivers made international news when Mayor Pavel Bem, disguised as an Italian tourist, wearing sunglasses and a fake goatee, was charged 785 Kc for a 130 Kc cab ride.

After being personally ripped off, Mayor Bem promised to step up controls. It's not the first time he's promised to toughen measures, nor is he the first mayor to make that vow.

After being deregulated in the mid-1990s, taxi drivers were re-regulated in 1998 -- maximum charges were reintroduced, and drivers were required to pass tests on taxi equipment and Prague geography. A year later, the city distributed pamphlets at train stations and hotels warning tourists where overcharging was common.

But no single body exists to license or regulate Prague's 8,000 or so taxi drivers, which critics say makes oversight scant and sporadic. Business licenses for taxi drivers fall under a national body, but their meters fall under a city department for fees and prices. And their cars are licensed by the city's transportation department.

"What we need is an agency, such as the one New York has, that licenses cars and drivers and has the authority to pull those licenses," former Prague Mayor Jan Kasl said. "But the will to pass such a law doesn't exist here yet."

Last spring, Parliament voted down a bill that would have created a central taxi registry and made it easier to revoke licenses.

No big ideas

With the recent media attention, the taxi issue has become a hot potato at City Hall. On a recent weekday, one city employee declined to comment. When told that other City Hall workers had identified him as the best source of information on the topic, he laughed bitterly and said, "That was nice of them."

Organized crime's influence over the taxi industry is one factor making regulation of taxis a volatile issue, according to former mayor Kasl. Organized crime groups control certain profitable parking spots, according to numerous media reports, by slashing tires and beating up anyone who parks there without paying a protection fee.
AVOIDING THE SCAM

• Telephone taxi services, and the stands they run, are generally reliable. Customers who use them are rarely overcharged, according to anecdotal
evidence

• City Taxi, AAA and Profi Taxi are among the taxi services used by Prague residents.

• Bars, restaurants and hotels can call these services for their patrons.

"I heard good spots go for 100,000 to 200,000 Kc," said Iva Pekarkova, a former New York City taxi driver who is Czech. Pekarkova wrote a popular book about her experiences, Gimme the Money.

With such profits at stake, cab mafias can afford to bribe restaurant owners into sending customers their way. Norton, the owner of O'Reillys pub, said he has received two such offers.

Whether police and government officials are on the take is unknown. "When I was mayor, I heard licensing people were accepting bribes," Kasl said. "But I never was able to prove it."

Norton, for one, thinks the term mafia is an exaggeration, and he says tougher punishment is needed to bring drivers in line.

"We're talking about small-time criminals," he said. "They work with total lack of control. There's a few days of checks a year, and then the drivers are back at it. They should lose their license the first time they get caught overcharging. Can you imagine if people came in my restaurant and I consistently overcharged them?"

Last year, the city revoked eight licenses and imposed 5.5 million Kc in fines for 73 documented cases of overcharging and 92 other violations.

As the law stands, even a taxi driver who loses his license or refuses to pay a fine may return to the road -- either by becoming an employee of a taxi company, as opposed to being self-employed, or by obtaining a trade license in a region outside Prague.

City officials say new proposals to regulate taxi drivers are being drawn up, but details were not available at press time.

According to one official, though, those who take taxis may have to hope Prague's cabbies become more virtuous over time.

"It may be a question of their attitude and behavior," said Jozef Sidlo, head of inspections at Prague's business-licensing department. "As long as they go on acting like they do, it's very hard to regulate them."

Related Articles
Throwing myself to the wolves
Or, how I paid up to eight times the maximum legal rate for a cab


Matt Reynolds can be reached at mreynolds@praguepost.com




Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.