The Prague Post Online: News: City cracks down on cab drivers

May 16th, 2008

Reader's Survey^NEW Endowment Fund Book of Lists ONLINE Reservations Classifieds Subscriptions

Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

City cracks down on cab drivers

New agency hired to take undercover rides

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

It’s a standard warning in any Prague guidebook: Watch out for the taxi drivers. Unscrupulous city cabbies are notorious for looking at wide-eyed foreigners like sharks look at chum.

Tales describe rides that amount to highway robbery: One Canadian woman was recently charged 1,800 Kč ($83) for a three-minute ride. The driver wished her a Merry Christmas as she left the car.

The problem is an old one, but is getting some renewed attention. City Hall is test driving a new security company that has been working undercover since December to nab cabbies who rip off customers.

Although all of the city’s 5,000-plus cabs are fair game, the undercover riders, who are outfitted with cameras, will focus on taxis in the city center and bus and train stations — spots frequented by rich tourists and crooked cabbies.

Jan Heroudek, the head of the city’s transportation office, declined to identify the security company.

“This firm has professional background for performing the checking and controls,” he said.

So far, the crackdown has yielded some results: Undercover passengers from the security firm have performed 31 checks; in five cases the drivers overcharged, and in another eight a receipt was not given despite a city law that requires it. City Hall is also performing its own checks, and in January policed 94 cabs and recommended stripping 16 of their licenses.

The trial run with the company is scheduled to last about three months and is costing the city 150,000 Kč, according to Deputy Mayor Rudolf Blažek. If City Hall is pleased with the results, it will hold a formal bid for a contract to police Prague’s taxis.

Past efforts failed
This isn’t the first time City Hall has tried to crackdown on cabbies.

In the past, it hired undercover contractors to basically do the same thing that’s happening now. But, when it came time to testify against drivers, the contractors — whose names would have been available in court files — backed out, saying they were afraid that the drivers would seek revenge against them.

But the security company current patrolling Prague cabs is prepared for such possibilities. Inspectors are trained and more physically fit and have been psychologically prepared for these jobs, Heroudek said.

One reason for City Hall’s renewed crackdown is in reaction to an incident involving Deputy Mayor Markéta Reedová, who, according to press reports, got a taste of a cab driver’s rudeness just before Christmas, when she was verbally abused after standing up for a passenger who had been overcharged.

Part of the problem with controlling cabbies is how licenses are issued.

“Basically, anyone who has no criminal record can obtain a license,” Heroudek said. The driver’s license can be pulled for overcharging, but it is difficult. “If it were easy, we wouldn’t have those taxi drivers. They can get their license anywhere,” he said.

City Hall is currently pushing for a national registry for taxi drivers, in order to prevent those who lose their licenses in one town from getting new licenses in another.

Ironically, the bad rap Prague taxi drivers have earned actually works in the favor of some companies. City Taxi and AAA are two that regularly receive expat business because of their reputations for fairness.

“In fact, it is kind of good for us,” said Tomáš Horčička, the head of the city dispatching center at City Taxi. “It sort of favors the dispatching centers that have a good reputation. The foreigners are usually warned against taking a taxi in a street … But, in general, yes, the situation looks bad, it should not be happening.”

City Taxi has a strict and uncompromising policy regarding drivers and only picks those who have no criminal record and no previous problems with City Hall, he said.

Still, the situation is improving. Since 2002, the number of checks has increased and the number of offenses has declined, according to Heroudek, who did not outline specific numbers.

Last year, City Hall levied 33 fines worth 1.5 million Kč against taxi drivers.

By city ordinance, the maximum rate a driver in Prague can charge is 40 Kč to get in the cab, 28 Kč per kilometer and 6 Kč for every minute of waiting, he said.

Nad’a Černá contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com

Reader's comments:

add your comment

[09:50 18/02/2007] : The only times I have problems are when I am in a taxi with somebody else and we are speaking English. So long as you speak Czech to the drivers it is very rare to have a problem.

The rip-off taxis have their own waiting areas, which are easy to avoid. For example, all the taxis around Solidni nightclub are crooks, as are the ones in Mostecka. In most cases the ones on the street are fine, even if they are not from AAA or City Taxis.

Always insist on a proper printed receipt and don't pay them if they say that their taximeter is "broken". If the meter is obviously on turbo get out and still ask for a receipt. And never negociate a price in advance, unless you are determined to be overcharged.

Peter Marshall
Prague

[14:39 13/09/2007] : What is the average taxi charge from Prague airport to the Old Town?
sue brougham

sue brougham
poole england

Note: Comments that include profanity, personal attacks or any other inappropriate material are prohibited.

Add your comment

Most e-mailed articles
White power Czechs send aid to Burma crisis Muslims address film controversy

Related articles
Signs point visitors to fairer fares Moving to Prague made hassle-free Union backs cabbie's strike Portland's streetcar named Škoda Prague looks to car sharing to reduce traffic

Most visited in Book of Lists

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.