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Throwing myself to the wolves

Or, how I paid up to eight times the maximum legal rate for a cab

By Matt Reynolds
 Staff Writer, The Prague Post
Jan. 20, 2005


It was a bad press week for taxi drivers. First Mlada fronta Dnes reported Jan. 13 that more than half the taxis it tried overcharged their undercover reporters. A day later the newspaper disguised Prague Mayor Pavel Bem as a tourist, and he was ripped off, too.

Meanwhile, I had been put up to my own sting. I had heard Prague taxi drivers were vultures. But since I speak their language and always call in advance for a taxi, I hadn't seen it firsthand. To approximate the experience of a tourist, I spoke English, picked taxis at random and said it was my first time in Prague. The drivers were friendly and efficient -- and three out of five charged me way too much.

Cabbie #1:

"Is the InterContinental a good hotel?" I said. The driver was dark-skinned and chubby, avuncular, and he couldn't stop smiling.

"Super hotel!" he said. "But too much." He rubbed two fingers against a thumb.

I thanked him for the heads up. At the hotel, he charged me a fair 120 Kc ($5.17). And he gave me a receipt.

Cabbie #2:

I stood on the curb waiting for the driver to notice me. He was a shaved-headed, round-skulled man, leaning on the bumper of a Mercedes. He said something to me in Czech. I raised my hands to show I didn't understand.

"Speak you English?" he said.

As he drove, he sneered at the road, but he smiled at me. I didn't see a meter. At least, I didn't see any little red numbers. Just before we got to the hotel, he fiddled with something, and when we stopped, a black box glowed 98 -- even better than before. "Nine-hundred eighty crowns, please."

I blinked. "All right but I need a receipt," I said. I scribbled with a make-believe pen. "Paper."

"No paper. Give money," he said.

"I need paper."

"No paper!" His face went slack with anger. He glanced from side to side and tugged his shirt. "Give money."

"Need paper."

He shrugged. I shrugged. Then I took out a notebook and tore off a piece of paper. He grabbed it and wrote "TAX PRAHA, 980-KC."

Cabbie #3:

I was drawn to the next taxi driver because he appeared foreign -- Turkish maybe -- and I liked the name on the driver's side door, Petr Conka. "Where go?" he said. "Ah. OK. Four hundred crown? Yeah?"

He made a motion that appeared to mean, "If we agree up front, then there's no confusion. What do you say?"

I agreed. But then I found I had only a 100 Kc, a 200 Kc and a 2,000 Kc bill. "Only have 300," I said. "Have to break 2,000."

He winced.

"We go to store and buy cigarettes," I said.

He pointed at an expensive restaurant.

"Too expensive," I said.

"All same," he said. "In Praha, no differen ..."

A hand ran spastically through his hair and his mouth gaped. He seemed to be hoping for the word price to fly out. I scanned the surroundings for a store.

"Halo! Pane!" he said. "OK. Only pay 300. OK. Thank you! Bye-bye."

Cabbie #4:

This driver also gave me a price up front -- 500 Kc.

He had spiky brown/blond hair, and he bounced in his seat. He seemed happy to have me in his cab.

"You from Prague?" I said.

"Praha very beautiful," he said.
COST OF A RIDE

• Test: Take five taxis from Wenceslas Square to the InterContinental hotel
• Distance: About 4 kilometers (2.5 miles)
• Time: 7-12 minutes
• Maximum fare allowed by law: About 130 Kc
• Method: Reporter picked taxis at random, spoke only English, said it was his first time in Prague. One taxi hailed and all others were parked, times of day ranged from morning to evening
Price, driver and firm:

• 120 Kc
Vaclav Medricky
AAA
• 160 Kc
Karel Srb
company name
not legible on receipt
• 300 Kc
Petr Conka
Sedop
• 700 Kc
Radek Losonczi
Dimo Taxi
• 980 Kc
Jiri Kankovsky
no company name on receipt

We stopped at a drugstore, which couldn't have cost us more than a half a kilometer and three minutes. But at the hotel, the meter read 680 Kc.

"What about the 500?" I said.

"Six-hundred eighty, please," he said.

I handed him 1,000 Kc. He handed back 300 Kc and a receipt that lacked his name.

The next day I found him on Wenceslas Square. He bounced in his seat when he saw me. Then I spoke Czech, and he stopped bouncing.

"I'm a reporter. Yesterday I was in your car. You charged me --"

He rolled up the window.

Cabbie #5:

The driver, a middle-aged blond man with a peanut-shaped head, had been to San Francisco.

"Nice city, but very much guy," he said.

"Guy?"

"Yes. Guy! Guy! Very much guy." He laughed knowingly.

"Ah, gay," I said.

"Yes, yes," he said. "Guy!"

"It can actually be an advantage," I said. "So many gays, straight men have better odds with local women."

He frowned. "No understand."

I thought about blowing my cover to explain this important concept.

"Nevermind," I said.

He charged me 160 Kc -- maybe a little high, but not by much. When a bellboy opened the door, I realized this was the first driver who brought me to the main entrance. The others had dropped me off at a side entrance, where no one was looking.

Related Articles
Taken For A Ride
Despite city promises and media spotlight, taxi scams still common


Matt Reynolds can be reached at mreynolds@praguepost.com




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