[jacquesm]

I've done my share of traveling and I've yet to be scammed by a taxi driver, maybe that's just luck but the number of days I spent abroad is probably higher by now than the number of days I spent in my home country.

I'm far more ware of the police abroad than of taxi drivers.

[nicolas_t]

You're either lucky or for some reason taxi drivers think I'm an easy target to scam.

First, my definition of scamming by a taxi driver: When a taxi driver takes a much longer route so that he can charge more.

Countries where I've been scammed:

1. France (Paris but not in smaller cities). Even though I'm French, I've had multiple Parisian drivers scam me.

2. Thailand. Over there it's even more blatant with multiple taxi drivers refusing to use the counter when they see a foreigner.

3. Malaysia. Same as Thailand

4. Portugal. A lot of taxi drivers there usually do not have GPS, have an approximate understanding of the streets and will take a very long way to get to your destination (80% of the taxi drivers in my experience). Still not sure if it's incompetence or malice but Uber drivers were almost always quicker and more accurate.

Countries where taxis were reliable:

1. Japan. I've always had great experiences there

2. China. I've taken a lot of taxies in Shanghai and while there's been a few times when a driver tried to scam me, percentage wise it's negligible and much lower than say France.

3. UK. I haven't taken a lot of cabs there but the ones I took were all professionals and accurate.

So now the question is, are you lucky? Do you maybe not notice when you're taken for a ride? Or do taxi drivers assume from my demeanor that I'm an easy target...

I've never taken uberPop in France because it was illegal. On the other hand, uberx is legal and consistently offers a much better service than taxies in France.

Regarding police, I'm always wary of policemen especially if they're armed and in countries with little protection against abuse like Japan.

[oh_sigh]

Where do you travel?

I've been taxi scammed in:

- Italy(Napoli): Get taxi from train station to hostel. Drive around for 40 minutes, end up under 1 mile from train station.

- Morocco(Tangier): Get taxi from port to bus station, same thing as in Italy

- France(Bordeaux): Get taxi from hotel to airport. Taxi driver demands extra 20 euro for carrying my backpack in the trunk.

- Costa Rica (San Jose): Get taxi from airport to hotel. Taxi drops me off at hotel, and I pay. I realize that it is no where near the right hotel, wave taxi down, and he refuses to take me to the correct hotel or refund my money.

[jacquesm]

I've had people try to scam me in Italy but that never worked, drivers demanding extra money for putting your luggage in the trunk should be dealt with appropriately (though that one never happened to me, it would seem that 20 euros is a bit excessive), Costa Rica and Morocco I have no experience with (though I'd expect Costa Rica to be more or less like Panama and I didn't have any issues there on multiple visits).

I think a good part of this is that I don't come across as your average 'easy to rip off' tourist so that may very well be why so far taxi drivers have been pretty good to me.

[me2i81]

I've had attempted scams at the Rome central train station at least three times. "Meter is broken."