There are good cabbies out there

ACCORDING to a UK website, KL taxi drivers have been rated the world’s worst across the globe, surpassing cabbies in Rome, Bangkok and Paris, “KL cabbies the world’s worst, says UK website” (The Star, July 3).

The report by the British taxi comparison site LondonCabs.co.uk comes as no surprise to most of us who are used to the overcharging, arrogant and rude drivers who ply the city’s roads.

Most of these taxi drivers do not use the meter and even if they do, they try to take detours and drive passengers on longer routes so they can get more than the normal fare. Passengers who try to haggle would be given a “mouthful” by these bad cabbies.

Another bad attitude of KL taxi drivers is that they pick and choose passengers. Many of them prefer foreigners to local passengers because they know that they can “overcharge” the foreign passengers. The locals are quite familiar with the fares for designated destinations.

One effective way to beat the “overcharging” by KL taxi cabbies is to introduce the coupon system similar to the one in operation at the airport terminals, railway station and certain big shopping establishments in the city.

To be fair, not all of the KL city taxi drivers are dishonest and overcharge but because of the “rotten apples” among them, their image has been tarnished.

We have heard of the city’s taxi drivers who returned valuables left by passengers in their taxis to the rightful owners.

And we have heard of taxi drivers who have gone the extra mile to help passengers reach their destinations.

So, all is not lost for our taxi drivers.