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^ sorry about that misplaced accusation, i got careless there.
Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on Arrivals to Beijing's Terminal 2
Beijing's airport is rife with fake taxis that pay a gang boss RMB 1,200 a month to jump the normal queue and are equipped with sophisticated meters that generate receipts for any amount you want, an undercover report by Beijing News has revealed.
It's long been known that visitors must be especially vigilant when first arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport for the simple fact that they may not be able to spot an illegal taxi, and often don't know how much it should cost to get into the center of town.
Over the course of December, a Beijing News reporter working undercover documented the extent of the scams that typically operate in the evenings after 8pm. Over the course of multiple rides, he found many drivers willing to talk about the scam.
During one ride he hailed a taxi at Terminal 2 and was requested to pay a flat fee of RMB 260 for the 40-kilometer ride to his destination in Fengtai – over twice the regular price. Upon arrival at the destination, the driver was only able to provide a receipt from an unlicensed meter, separate from the regular meter mounted in the dashboard of the cab.
The fake meter comes equipped with the ability to print out receipts at any amount up to RMB 2,000, and is even adorned with one of 500 genuine license plate numbers to make the receipt look real.
One driver explained that a fake taxi receipt generator costs as little as RMB 600. The advantage to the rider, the driver said, is that for the same price the driver can churn out any amount up to RMB 2,000 which riders can then claim for reimbursement from their company.
Following further prying, the reporter also found that these black cabs avoid the lines that most cabs wait in to pick up a juicy airport fare by paying a monthly RMB 1,200 fee to the head of an airport taxi gang, who in turn gives a cut to the taxi dispatching manager. This allows the illegal cabs to skip the usual two to three hours that taxis must wait at peak times.
It turns out a "cloned" taxi costs a mere RMB 14,000 to RMB 20,000, drivers were happy to divulge. The clones are copies of real licensed cabs that will pass muster on the street.
One passenger interviewed for the piece, Zhao Lili, also pointed out two other scams passengers should look out for: a counterfeit currency swap and an attempt to swipe a passengers' cell phone.
Zhao said she arrived in Beijing at midnight and waited in the queue for an hour. “The taxi driver claimed that he wasn’t familiar with the route and asked us to borrow my mobile phone to navigate,” Zhao said. But the driver muted the phone and didn’t look at it for the remainder of the journey, sometimes a ploy that relies on the passengers forgetting that they handed over the phone at the beginning of the ride, and subsequently leave the taxi without it.
RELATED: Don't Fall Victim to the Sanlitun Taxi Counterfeit Money Scam
There's also the classic counterfeit bill switcheroo: When Zhao arrived at her destination, the usual RMB 70 ride cost RMB 128. When she handed over a RMB 100 note to pay, the driver clandestinely swapped the note for a fake one, handing it back to Zhao and asking her to give him another bill as the one she had given him was "too new" (some drivers also like to spin it that the customer has given them a fake bill, all the while switching and handing one back).
In Beijing, we try our best to avoid taking "black cabs" – the local term for fake or unlicensed taxis (as opposed to illegal, often black cars that have a thin, red LED light in the windshield and will require some real hard haggling to make a ride worth it) – mostly out of the fear of being ripped off via one of many scams, such as excessive fees and the risk of receiving fake notes from drivers. However, seeing as fake cabs also come disguised as the real McCoy, it's best to be extra vigilant, especially when hailing from the airport.
Here are some tips on spotting a fake taxi:
- Do not set off if you notice the taxi has a second meter.
- Keep track of how fast the meter is going up and if you have a feeling it is going up a lot faster than it usually does, get out and hail a different one.
- Make sure you aren’t being given fake money. This mainly happens when handing RMB 100 bills to drivers which they then reject – either calling it a fake or saying they have no change. Read here on how to recognize fake bills.
- Always carry small change when planning on taking a taxi.
- Ask the driver if he has change before handing him the bill.
- Fake cabs are most common around the subway stations, shopping malls, and also near the major tourist attractions. The most serious areas are the railway stations and Beijing Capital International Airport.
- Check to see if the receipt is fake and if it is try to take a photo of the license plate of the car.
- Call the police on 110 if you notice anything suspicious.
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure
Photos: pinglun.eastday.com, Beijing News
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Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
admin:
It's # 6. We're looking to do a primer on non-taxi transport and I've already mentioned it to our editors. Would love your input on the article (in fact, if you'd like for the work credit, it would be great to run it under your name -- happy to pay you our standard freelance rate to run it as well. Contact me at info@truerun.com)
Cool! I'll be in touch!
But I gotta say some things so my message doesn't get lost in the noise and so we're talking TO rather than PAST each other...so this comment will be mostly corrections...
admin:
Your original statement "this article is biased because this kind of behavior happens in many places around the world, and other places in Beijing or in China, so it's unnecessary to just focus on Beijing Airport" still makes no sense to me.
If I ever make an original statement like that, slap me. This was not my statement. If you check my comment again, you'll notice the quotation marks around it, and the attribution to the poster "i am here". That was a quote from "i am here" that I was responding to without using the blockquote function. My answer to "i am here" is under the requote of his comment. I'll happily own the fault for not making it more obvious. "It happens everywhere so don't focus on it" is a stupid derail at best, and a disingenuous excuse to do nothing at worst. "It happens everywhere so don't focus on it" is crazy talk. Again, this was not my statement, and it makes no sense to me either.
admin:
--> Dude. First, people actually use London's bad air to excuse Beijing's bad air? No.
Yes, in fact i hear it all the time from private individuals and government sources, and have for years.
My statement was:
Dude. First, people actually use London's bad air to excuse Beijing's bad air? No. Nobody credible says that. It was awful then and it's awful now, and we need to deal with it loudly, publicly, and angrily.
Nobody credible uses London's bad air to excuse Beijing's bad air, as in, it is not a credible argument to say that one justifies the other. Pollution is pollution, and it needs to be fixed, period. When I hear people say "but the UK", I hear them saying "I want to choke like the British". Smog is caused by three very simple things - greed, corruption, and a disregard for human life. That was the case in London, and it's the case in Beijing. Any tools that stop those three things and make people healthier, be they reporting, consumer action, shaming, propaganda, regulations, or any other tools in the box are acceptable, biases and China's hurt feelings be damned. Report the hell out of it until China gets its act together and stops.
This is a derail anyway, and I was trying to call it out for being one. The subject is the mafia-run late-night taxi scams at BJ Capital T2, and how that should be dealt with, and that's what I'd like us to stay focused on.
We are thebeijinger.com. Almost everything we do is about Beijing, with the exception of the occasional travel story, and even then we try to write it with a Beijing angle.
It's our mission to talk about Beijing, not about other places. That's why we almost never run the clickbait claptrap from other cities in China that Shanghaiist and That's love to jump on ("Zhejiang MILF Exposes Tits to Bank Teller!" "Look at These Super Cute Pandas Born in Chengdu!" or something like that because it simply has no connection to Beijing.)
To say that we should not be singlemindedly focused on Beijing and Beijing only would be going against the funademental defining characteristic of our business: and that is we are a blog about Beijing.
To me to say we should not single out Beijing's airport is like saying we should not mention bad service in a Beijing restaurant because bad service happens elsewhere around the world. A cockroach leg in your salad is a cockroach leg in your salad, whether its served to you in Beijing or in Paris.
I agree, and I say your mission is to focus on Beijing. I think you wrote this because you misread my comment (I was QUOTING "i am here", not agreeing with him/her), but I want you to know that I'm with you on this. "thebeijinger.com", it couldn't be much clearer.
That's it for my corrections. I'll be back to flesh out my responses to
Nope, you missed it. We reported on it December 5 of last year (the new standards took place on Dec 15). We also reported on the test plan that incorporates the areas surrounding Beijing almost a year ago in February of 2015. The Chinese news aggregators for the most part ignored the announcement of the new standards last month because the AQI was 60 on Dec 5 and therefore it was at one of those days that people like to pretend its not happening, and therefore the story didn't go viral.
and
PatrickLi's comment
later today/tomorrow.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
@saythis
The first class people need to learn about reading comprehension is that the author typically doesn't have an obligation to exhaust all potential issues and solutions to the problem that he or she tries to address in an article.
Plus, the "workaround" that you keep talking about is just obvious --- getting an uber. Does it make the article pointless simply because the author doesn't mention the "workaround" which is a no-brainer to most people? It seems to me that you are arguing for the sake of making an argument.
The shuttle buses are good but I assume most foreigners in Beijing would prefer getting a cab from the airport especailly if it's late at night for the following reasons:
1) The bus doesn't stop everywhere as cabs do, and you may need to get a cab after getting of the shuttle bus. I used to live in Panjiayuan which is a major residential area in Beijing but the bus doesn't even have a stop there.
2) This also goes back to (1). Sometimes it's hard to get a regular cab 2 a.m. in places like Sanyuanqiao and Guomao. All you will find are"black cabs" and the negotiation is a pain in the ass even for a native like me. I assume you weren't here in Beijing when it was impossible for anyone to get a regular cab working on meters in places like Guomao anytime everyday. All you could get was black cabs and negotiated flat rates which sometimes triple even quadruple the rate you'd get from a meter.
However, cabs you hail from the airport most likely will run on meter.
-- both (1) and (2) combined, it makes much more sense to just get a cab from the airport unless you are sure that the shuttle bus will drop you at a place within walking distance to yorur home.
3) Buses sometimes don't follow the designated routes especially they are working at night. I remember hearing the driver saying "只到三元桥"
4) Bus drivers aren't bilingual and they announce stops with accents. While there are 中国通 like you, there are many others who are coming for business trips, vacation, etc. and their only option, I suppose, is subway or cab.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
It's # 6. We're looking to do a primer on non-taxi transport and I've already mentioned it to our editors. Would love your input on the article (in fact, if you'd like for the work credit, it would be great to run it under your name -- happy to pay you our standard freelance rate to run it as well. Contact me at info@truerun.com)
However, to address a couple of other points you brought up:
Your original statement "this article is biased because this kind of behavior happens in many places around the world, and other places in Beijing or in China, so it's unnecessary to just focus on Beijing Airport" still makes no sense to me.
We are thebeijinger.com. Almost everything we do is about Beijing, with the exception of the occasional travel story, and even then we try to write it with a Beijing angle.
It's our mission to talk about Beijing, not about other places. That's why we almost never run the clickbait claptrap from other cities in China that Shanghaiist and That's love to jump on ("Zhejiang MILF Exposes Tits to Bank Teller!" "Look at These Super Cute Pandas Born in Chengdu!" or something like that because it simply has no connection to Beijing.)
To say that we should not be singlemindedly focused on Beijing and Beijing only would be going against the funademental defining characteristic of our business: and that is we are a blog about Beijing.
To me to say we should not single out Beijing's airport is like saying we should not mention bad service in a Beijing restaurant because bad service happens elsewhere around the world. A cockroach leg in your salad is a cockroach leg in your salad, whether its served to you in Beijing or in Paris.
--> Dude. First, people actually use London's bad air to excuse Beijing's bad air? No.
Yes, in fact i hear it all the time from private individuals and government sources, and have for years.
The argument goes like this: you have no right to pick on Beijing's bad air because you had it too (and some still do) during their era of rapid industrialization. You guys got rich fucking up the environment for years, and it's only fair that I get to get rich raping the environment too (even though the combination of human experience, clean air technology, and historical data on the detrimental health effects of polluition has advanced exponentially over time).
The internet is littered with stories about how it is car exhaust's fault, regulators' fault, illegal businesses' fault, lamb kebab sellers' fault ... you name it. No one, however, seems to connect their own occupation or personal consumer behavior to the pollution problem -- because it's all someone else's fault.
And you know very well that they just updated alert standards (go look it up if you don't, Jan. 4 is when it hit most of the Chinese news aggregators), combining them with the Tianjin-Baotou-Tangshan regions into a unified alerts standard, one that will produce "far fewer red alerts" - their words. The authorities are trying to euphamize it away, man. That was another one you missed, wasn't it?
Nope, you missed it. We reported on it December 5 of last year (the new standards took place on Dec 15). We also reported on the test plan that incorporates the areas surrounding Beijing almost a year ago in February of 2015. The Chinese news aggregators for the most part ignored the announcement of the new standards last month because the AQI was 60 on Dec 5 and therefore it was at one of those days that people like to pretend its not happening, and therefore the story didn't go viral.
Smart clickbaiters rehashed the month-old story last week because pollution was on everyone's mind and it made for good web traffic.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Soooo, back in the city. Got your pictures! Here's the takeaway, straight from the mouth of information desk staff on my exit plus return - shuttle buses run until 3am, with extensions made for major flights. T1 & T2 have indoor waiting lounges, but you do have to queue prior to your shuttle's arrival, which will be announced a minute or two before it arrives. T3 has lines outside, but they're outside big ol' floor-to-ceiling windows, in fact the entire-street facing side of T3 departures is a giant 3-storey wall of glass, so y'know, you can...stay in there, with most of the other shuttle-goers where it's warm and kid-friendly until the bus comes. Again, I have the pictures, and if you want 'em, you know where the PM button is.
And that comes back to my point. I don't think you're going to message. It's been a week, and you haven't corrected the article, you haven't added information about workarounds, in fact you haven't done anything but plunge me for info and snark at easy targets.
@i am here - "This article is ridiculous for two reasons -- Firstly, this article is biased because this kind of behavior happens in many places around the world, and other places in Beijing or in China, so it's unnecessary to just focus on Beijing Airport, and also because people should use common sense."
It's a local problem everywhere, and the solutions are local everywhere. It's highly necessary to point out how it works at every airport! I'm back from Vietnam, I went to Da Nang to duck the pollution (take note admin, you and your child(ren) aren't the only ones sensitive to it), and the taxi from the airport, the supposedly trustworthy brand, tried to scam me the for 15,000 VND airport entry tax, which they pay going in, not out. Now granted, that's $0.66USD/￥4.6RMB, but hey, I knew not to pay it and he backed off when I asked for his entry tax receipt. I found that solution on a tripadvisor.com board. "Common sense" or no, I can honestly tell you I would have let it go if I hadn't known about it beforehand, because it's sixty cents and not at all worth the argument. You can't have a society that obeys the rules if people don't know the rules. Education is platforming and repetition. Knowledge is power, sunlight is the best disinfectant, etc.
@admin - "I love this logic: it happens elsewhere, so it's ridiculous to talk about it in Beijing.
I hear the same thing when we're talking about bad air. "Well London had poisonous smog in the 50s, so its unfair to talk about it in Beijing."
I suggest we all block our eyes and ears about anything unflattering about Beijing and pretend its not happening"
Dude. First, people actually use London's bad air to excuse Beijing's bad air? No. Nobody credible says that. It was awful then and it's awful now, and we need to deal with it loudly, publicly, and angrily. Do we remember the days before 2014, when the only publicly available measurements on Beijing air quality were from the US Embassy's Twitter feed? They couldn't lie the problem away, so they finally started measuring it credibly. And you know very well that they just updated alert standards (go look it up if you don't, Jan. 4 is when it hit most of the Chinese news aggregators), combining them with the Tianjin-Baotou-Tangshan regions into a unified alerts standard, one that will produce "far fewer red alerts" - their words. The authorities are trying to euphamize it away, man. That was another one you missed, wasn't it?
So just like London's bad air gets in the way of having effective discussions about air pollution, not mentioning the workarounds and other transport options from the airport gets in the way of having effective discussions about taxi scams. The scrapers & repackagers (Laowai Pie et al) have reposted this article ver batim. Rather than posting something that helps people get out of this particular jam, you've blasted the laowai-o-sphere with outrage porn.
"Education is platforming and repetition." Platforming, and repetition, sir. You have a platform, you used it to identify a problem, and it was effective. Others came in with solutions, me probably most loudly, but not me alone, and you did not platform those. WHY?
Now, since I've asked that question in nearly every comment I've made here, and you're ignoring the question, I'm gonna have to start guessing. Here I go:
1) You're overworked. That doesn't hold up, because you have time to snap at "i am here" about air quality and me about your 9-year old. You have time for those keystrokes, but not to fix the glaring ommission, so that's out.
2) You don't feed trolls. But that doesn't hold up, because across all the blog entries you publish, there you are answering comments, some with facetious answers like "I suggest we all block our eyes and ears about anything unflattering about Beijing and pretend its not happening". Obviously, you're not afraid to engage with the popcorn gallery.
3) You're afraid of pissing off the authorities with political action. But this ISN'T political, in fact the very government in charge of your publishing license is the same that allowed the report Tracy translated to be published. They WANT action on this. They have a hotline and fine taxi companies/drivers that engage in this. They pay for and run shuttle buses with honest drivers. You reported on the issue because it's serious. No one will bother you or touch your publishing license because you say "don't give money to mobsters, here's how." And if they do, you can have them fired. Trust me, I've gone up against the censors in publishing and won on issues like this. You'll win too.
4) You didn't understand the suggestion for corrections or didn't notice the "Why?" in my previous comments? Well, that's why I keep repeating it. I don't want anyone saying I didn't make myself clear about what I want and why I'm angry with you for leaving it out. 1) Shuttle buses 2) Didi & other ride-hailing services. I'm asking you to mention them in the main text. 200 words would cover it. Copypaste my comments if you want.
5) You don't like my tone. What are we, five? It's a dumb ommission with public consequences, and people trust you because you're ostensively objective and give a crap about this city. 4803 reads, plus the scrapers blaring this on Wechat, must be out to 15k+ people by now. My tone is commensurate with the seriousness & silliness of the issue, brah. WTF!
6) You're saving up for more comprehensive story later. In that case, this would be a great time to tell me so and tell me when you plan to run it so I can check back at that time. I mean, if I'm going to the airport and taking pictures of different terminals to Win an Argument on the Internet, obviously you could harness that energy in all kinds of ways to benefit the community. You have the platform, I don't, but I'm sure me and a lot of other people would love to know we've got a media outlet that, y'know, works. Positive engagement with the audience is only a good thing.
7) "Corrections policy". What policy? You update blog entries all the time. Policy is whatever you say it is. We're almost four decades into the internet now, we all know good mods from bad and what mods are for. Nobody will complain if you can explain why you won't update, but mods are expected to, y'know, mod. If there is one global constant on the internet, it is this.
8) "It's my magazine/website and I'll do what I want!" South Park has been on the air for what, 20 years now? Isn't this pretty much how Cartman gets himself into trouble in every episode? It's an actual, like, famous cartoon trope. That attitude ain't helpin' nobody, if that's what's stopping you.
Now, one final word, and I'm gonna shut up. :) Make no mistake, the outrage I've displayed is performative. I was prodding an unambiguous demonstration of thebeijinger.com editorial policy, and I got it - you honestly don't give a crap. Been a member of the site since the late aughts, that's almost a decade, I remember when you did give a crap, and it looks like my disengagement wasn't wrong. Yes I do think I can do a better job and if you want to name a price, I'll buy your magazine and brand and do it right. Challenge accepted. I've been to your parties and sat at the same table with you. I know (and like!) many of your present and former staff. But now, the taint of apathy is upon you, sir, and my Righteous Internet Anger is justified.
Screencapped as insurance against deletion. I can accomplish no more by continuing to comment, so, this is the last. Peace.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
I love this logic: it happens elsewhere, so it's ridiculous to talk about it in Beijing.
I hear the same thing when we're talking about bad air. "Well London had poisonous smog in the 50s, so its unfair to talk about it in Beijing."
I suggest we all block our eyes and ears about anything unflattering about Beijing and pretend its not happening
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
This article is ridiculous for two reasons -- Firstly, this article is biased because this kind of behavior happens in many places around the world, and other places in Beijing or in China, so it's unnecessary to just focus on Beijing Airport, and also because people should use common sense. When I have just traveled around China domestically for a few days, maybe I had little enough stuff to use the metro; however, if I had more stuff or the subway was closed, I got on the taxi line like everyone else. It's really not a big deal. I've never had a problem with taxis from the taxi line. That's probably because I've just ignored those people trying to "offer" me a taxi. It’s common sense not to use cars like that. Anyone with some common sense would know that. Plus it really depends how far you negotiate them. I once had a friend that took one of those unregistered cars into the city center who offered my friend to pay 600 rmb, and we ended up settling on less than 100 rmb – close to 80 rmb, which isn't much different from a taxi, and so it is a question of how you handle the situation if you get yourself into such a situation. The point is that there was no point to this article. It doesn’t serve any good purpose.
Yes!
I forget if it's T1 or T2, but the waiting area I found is at the far righthand side of the terminal. Rows of seats. You do have to queue up for a minute or two prior to bus arrival, but they'll announce that, and people do tend to squeeze into the line, but again, it's not outside, and you don't have to stand. IANAJ (I am not a journalist), all standard disclaimers apply, but that's pretty much it.
Still. Why no correction? Why is the information not actually in the article? The shuttle bus is the obvious way to keep money out of the criminals' pockets, and the city government puts the complaint procedures in place so we can help them do their job. It works. When there's a proved violation, somebody pays a fine, and that hurts the mobsters right where it counts. You, sir, you yes you (I know of you, you probably know of me, if you don't ask, I'm not trying to hide but public space) control a platform of which the very raison d'etre is to bridge that last mile between the non-Chinese community and the city we live in. Tracy did very good translation and commentary on a very good report. But! You forgot to mention the solutions! Two exist!
That face Lewis Black makes when he gets incoherent! I'm making it!
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Also, since I'm in keyboard warrior mode -
"saysthis: Next time I travel red eye overnight with my 9-year-old daughter, two suitcases and two backpacks in tow as we did last week, I'll remember to disembark, and after spending an hour going through customs and baggage claim, suggest to my daughter we stand around in the sub-zero AQI 350 air for 30 minutes outside T2 waiting for the shuttle bus"
re: suitcases and backpacks, they have carts.
re: standing outside, it's actually an indoor lounge at T2. T3 and T1 are similar. You are not standing in a line. You get way more fumes and pollution in the taxi queue.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Admin, I've traveled with kids, not my own, but the bus worked. We actually turned it into kind of an adventure. You don't have to take the bus, you can take Didi/Uber, or anything else you might prefer. But neither option is even mentioned in this post! How to fight these taxis and how else to get home should be front and center.
I don't have kids, so I have time to have these conversations with people at the airport when I spend an hour going through customs and getting luggage. Pointing this out changes people's travel plans, and strongly influences people's first impression off the plane. Exhausted impotent rage vs. exhausted but begrudging acknowledgment that this country works somehow.
I don't know how you missed that. It's a stupefying ommission.
You guys can and do make corrections in articles, and you mannually vet every comment. You say you don't have the manpower in other posts, so I did some research and posted the links, but I don't control the platform. Hell, if you want to give me space and budget to translate those links, write a how-to, and run a complaint or two through the process where we all can see it, I will. The rest of your readers and I can't help if you don't open the gate. We're trying!
I'm sorry to keep harping on it, but 4000 pairs of eyes have read the article, maybe a few hundred scroll down to the comments. You have stats on that, I don't, but I know the general distribution. Now this article is already off the sidebar, but every taxi article you post from now on will link back to this. This article will persist for years, and the actual solution will stay buried deep in the comments, unless you make the correction.
What's stopping you?
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
txchick, saysthis: thanks for pointing these additional transportation options out. Good to know Didi can pick you up at the airport, that'll be the way to go for me next time.
saysthis: Next time I travel red eye overnight with my 9-year-old daughter, two suitcases and two backpacks in tow as we did last week, I'll remember to disembark, and after spending an hour going through customs and baggage claim, suggest to my daughter we stand around in the sub-zero AQI 350 air for 30 minutes outside T2 waiting for the shuttle bus
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
And for the record, "Didi/Qunar/Baidu/Shenzhou/Uber" is 5+ separate occasions (a lot more than 5 actually) at departures at multiple terminals if you tell the driver where to meet you.
But I'm still the king of redeye flights and the shuttle bus. People deserve to know. It runs late night and it works.
And so does complaining about taxis. This is the least verifiable thing I have, but anecdotally, mostly through really angry, surprised text messages from drivers who thought we were "friends" I've taken despite the financial hit, I have it that the fines hit home. It doesn't stop them, but it hurts them. 和谐his sister, make the complaints mechanism transparent and obvious to other people please!
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Yes, Didi/Qunar/Baidu/Shenzhou/Uber, as verified by me, however much you may trust me, will pick up at the airport. Officially they are limited to the parking lot, but you get on the phone with the driver once you're off the plane and they'll be in departures.
So still no correction of this entry about shuttle buses? And still no new entry about how to file taxi complaints? Not to be a schmuck, but you guys have 40k+ circulation in print alone. If anybody could make a dent in the tourist problem...
At present the workaround is consigned to p2 of the comment section. This user is displeased. If you need pictures, I have them. My profile email is valid. What's it gonna take?
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Didi does pick up at the airport. They are currently restricted to picking you up in the garage, though. I was in T2 dropping off some visitors and I was told to go to Door 9, then cross over into the garage at Door 4 of the garage. The car was waiting nearby.
In T3 I've gone to the far end of the pick up zone, past domestic baggage claim, and met cars there.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
And beyond that, if you have, you know, a phone, or like, a friend with a phone (I think most of us have those?), you got Didi and Qunar and Ctrip and Baidu Maps and Tencent Maps and the plethora of imitators like Shenzhou, and then you get on those apps before you leave, or if you're on an international flight with wifi, right before you land, or if you have a Chinese data connection, after you land, or if you have none of those, you ask the nice Chinese guy on the plane who has those, and then you arrange for airport pickup, and there will be a nice man in a shiny black car waiting at departures at the time you specify to take you almost anywhere in the city for about 70 RMB, which is a much better rate than even official taxis will give you.
So, y'know...I mean, it sucks that the taxis scam people, but like, you have these options to not be scammed, and then people complain when they don't exercise them, and then my blood pressure goes up because I'm trying to not scream "STUPID TAX", which usually doesn't win you many friends or convince people to change their behavior.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
COME ON PEOPLE ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The taxis are NOT the only late-night option. There are buses into the city that run from all three terminals, and they run very, very late, I think until the last flight comes in. My last 2am arrival cost me 30 RMB to get from T2 to Chaoyangmen, then a 15-minute walk, about a 30-minute wait for the bus. Ask the airport information desk! They speak English! There's almost never traffic after 10:30, so it's pretty much as fast as the subway once you're on the road. The shuttle buses have been there for YEARS. Literally as long as I can remember. The signs pointing to them are bilingual in all three terminals, so if you speak English and can read, y'know...
While you're waiting for the bus, get in taxis and make them start the meter. If they don't, take pictures of their license plates and the side of their cars with your phone. No one will stop you, I know from lots of experience. Then, call the Traffic Committee at 68351150 and report them. Tell them you have pictures. Get a Weibo account and put the pictures there to back it up if they're too slow.
"But we don't speak Chinese!" Adult illiteracy is a serious problem. Very serious. Fortunately, while thebeijinger doesn't have time to do journalism stings, they DO have a bilingual staff of writers who, if I understand correctly, are fully capable of translating the following links, the first of which is instructions on exactly how to make such complaints, and the second of which is official rules and fee standards for 2017. Both links are less than two months old, so even in fast-changing Beijing, they should be current.
http://www.3gus.com/HuaDangXinWen/567678.html
http://www.3gus.com/GuoJiaZhengCe/561131.html
So, yeah, not only are you not required to take their cars, you can actually make life hard for them while you wait. Too tired? Take any shuttle bus to any point in the city, get out, flag down a taxi on the street. Solved.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
The neighborhood black taxis aren`t too bad.If a regular cab is let`s say 20qui, they may charge 25 or maybe 30. But considering they often have to drive back to the starting point after they drop you off whereas a regular cab keeps on truckin it ain`t too unreasonable. Never been scammed by one once.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
Who the heck takes a taxi from the airport? Take the metro like any civilized person!
Moreover the people who can afford a taxi to downtown can afford to pay more. It's not like the money is going to a megacorp, it's going straight to the drivers. Social justice FTW.
Did you read the article? First of all, the unlicensed taxis only come at night. How late does Beijing's metro operate again? After 10:30 PM, a taxi is literally the only option for transport if you don't own a car.
Secondly, there is no social justice here, nor is this a case of capital redistribution. This is outright corruption. Where does the money go? Straight to a mob boss and corrupt dispatch manager. Yup, 21st century living alright.
I just had to deal with this mess after a 4am arrival to Terminal 2. After dodging all the pushy independent bookies in the terminal, I thought surely the official taxi stand would be safe. No such luck, the taxi stand was full of nice looking taxis, all wanting nearly 200RMB for a trip to Haidian. I had to go from car to car, looking for a real meter, and ended up having to fight for the real taxi when one finally arrived. Official meter trip only cost 85RMB.
A city with the size and capabilities of Beijing should not have this problem, but here we are.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
That video clip has the potential to be great TV.
HBO should run a documentar/criminal show called "Beijing scams," or something like a drama about a Beijing street scumbag using various scams to become a figure, with a take on the city's corrupt and lazy police officers, arrogant and greedy government officials, weak but functioning gangs, nearly non-existing courts of law, etc. Not too many killings, but definitely lots of dealings. It has the potential to be The Wire of the city. Sex (like xi jiao fang), scams, fake condoms, fake money, human milk --- I guess Vince Gilligan busts his ass to come up with such stuff, but we've got all here, the imaginable and the unimaginable, in our fine city. Kudos to the people.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
I have never been able to take a taxi from the airport because there are a lot of things in your checked baggage they do not allow on the metro. Do you honestly think someone who just got off the plane, has never been to Beijing, had 2 or 3 hours getting through the airport security and has a couple of big bags is really going to then get on a crowded metro? Most 'civilised' people get a taxi to and from the airport especially because their is nothing civilised about using Chinese public transport. Don't try and defend criminals who scam tourists because not only are they dishonest scumbags, they give people a bad impression of China before they even get away from the airport. I'd rather money going to a 'megacorp' than some scammer and his gang boss.
Re: Local Journo Documents Extensive Fake Taxis Preying on...
