New Bing Maps feature takes the guessing out of taxi cab fares

Bing maps just introduced a really cool feature for travelers – cab fare mapping and pricing. The feature covers 54 cities around the world, including many major tourist destinations. Simply enter your region, departure and arrival points, and Bing will provide a route and estimated fare.

In the few tests I threw at it, the calculation seemed very accurate, and it takes all parts of the fee into account, including the initial charge. What it won’t calculate are special costs like curbside pickup and luggage fees. It also does not appear to calculate tolls into its estimate.

Still, if you are heading somewhere and need an idea of how much a cab ride will cost, this is a very convenient tool, and one that could potentially save you some money if you need to pick the best way to get from A to B.

The new feature is part of the King of Bing Maps competition, which resulted in some pretty neat map tools. Click here for the cab fare tool, and take it for a spin to see whether its results are reliable.

(Via: Mashable)

Don’t get ripped off by taxi drivers – International travel tip

Here are three tips for avoiding getting ripped off by taxi drivers in foreign countries:

1.) Before getting in a taxi that doesn’t use a meter, make sure you agree on the fare with the driver so you won’t get a surprise at the end of the ride.

2.) To avoid misunderstandings, have the hotel staff write the addresses of your destination and the hotel in the local language so you can show it to the taxi driver. Also, carry a map with the locations circled to show the driver in case they are not in a popular area.

3.) Carry bills in small denominations and change to pay; drivers often don’t carry change for large bills… or say they don’t.

New website helps Seattle visitors share a taxi

Now that visitors to Seattle can hop on the light rail from Sea-Tac Airport into downtown (or take the 45-minute bus), fewer may be likely to take an expensive cab. But for those who don’t want to hassle with lugging baggage onto public transportation or who are arriving at odd hours, there is a new way to get from the airport into the city without spending the usual $40 on cab fare.

RidePenguin.com, which was just launched last week and is still in beta, promises to connect passengers looking for a cab with others who want to share. If you are interested in sharing a cab to defer costs, just log on and either search for a posted ride (rides are posted by time, origin, and destination) or post your own and invite people to share with you.

Sharing a cab would save you quite a bit of money (though not as much as taking public transportation). If you share with one other person, your fare would drop to about $20 from the airport into the city. Share with two people and it’s less than $15. Obviously, the more people who use the service, the better your odds of finding a taxi to share. When I searched recently, I only found one posted ride for the day, and it wasn’t even going into the city center.

It’s a good idea in theory…of course, you could just get in the taxi line and ask around to see if anyone is heading your way and willing to share their cab.

[via The Seattle Times]

Cabbie drives 1,600 miles — customer refuses to pay

Life as a cabbie is no walk in the park. They deal with drunk passengers, being robbed, and often spend part of their shift cleaning up puke in the backseat of their “office”.

The worst customers are probably those that take the cabbie for a ride. These thieves take advantage of taxi cab services, and run off without paying, when they reach their destination.

South Florida cab passenger Lucilo Perez (pictured here on the right) took things to the next level. Perez convinced cabbie Lelis Almeira to drive from Miami to Western Tennessee, without the means or intention of paying.

This is a 20 hour / 1,600 mile drive, and the cabbie had to pay for his own gas and food using his credit card.

When he arrived in Tennessee, the lady Perez was traveling to meet, said there was no way she’d pay for the cab. Apparently, Perez was under the impression that his lady friend would cough up the $3000 cab fare.

Memphis police arrested Perez, and he’ll now need to find the cash to pay his cab driver. Meanwhile, the cab driver has lost all faith in humanity. Though I do feel sorry for him, the tough lesson here is to get a guarantee that you’ll be paid – especially on a 1,600 mile journey.
%Gallery-68288%

%Gallery-73517%

Rome cab drivers forced to be honest

All over the world, taxi drivers seem to love to scam tourists. Hapless visitors with no idea what a taxi from A to B should cost are so easy to drive around for an extra ten euros or so.

In New York City, they’ve made an effort to combat the problem by adding video maps in cabs (so you can see when you aren’t between your pickup point and your destination) and charging flat fees to bring people into Manhattan from the local airports. Now, in Rome, there’s a new method of keeping drivers honest afoot.

According to Reuters, Radiotaxi 3570 in Rome is “trying to improve the bad name of the city’s cabbies” by allowing visitors to pay for their ride from the airport into the city in advance, even from their home countries. You will soon be able to book online and request a driver who speaks English, German, French or Spanish, and a text message payment/reservation service is in the works, as well.

Though we’d never scoff at a trip to Rome simply because the taxi drivers have a bad reputation, this development is heartening; it shows that Rome wants and appreciates its foreign guests.

[via Reuters]