Notorious Taxis Take Mayor for a Ride

[sligoman]

Prague Mayor Pavel Bem got a close-up look at how the city's notorious taxi drivers operate when he went undercover for a ride and was overcharged by some 500 percent.

Bem, at the request of the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes, wore a disguise and pretended to be a foreigner when he hailed a taxi from Old Town Square to take him to Prague Castle, a route commonly traveled by the city's tourist masses.

Upon arrival Bem could not believe his eyes when the 1.8-miles trip cost a whopping $34.17, about 500 percent over the official rate.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20050116/od_nm/odd_czech_mayor_dc

Maybe Bertie should go undercover sometime too

[max power]

can i just say that one guy in prague trued to overcharge me by bout 70 euro the last time i was there......

i called over a police man and what a suprise, bill was reduced

[dcfcsteve]

I love the Mayor's fool-proof advice to others in that article on how to avoid being overcharged in a similar fashion whilst using a Prague taxi.

"Agree on the price up-front".

There - that should do it. There's nothing more guaranteed to bring out honesty in a bent taxi driver than having to agree a price up-front.

Err - surely if they'll overcharge you when they quote a price at the end of the journey they'll just also quote you an inflated price up-front....? Probably explains why the Mayor got so overcharged on his way to that Rocket Scientists convention.....