My Rants on Manila Taxi Drivers

Here in Manila, and I'm referring to Manila and its neighboring cities, I am really afraid to ride taxis.

A taxicab is a convenient form of transportation in this concrete jungle but sometimes, taxi drivers are a bit of a sore. I never saw myself as someone who can trust taxi drivers, until today.

I boarded a taxi this afternoon from the NAIA Terminal 3. I was hoping against hope that God would give me a good taxi driver. Gladly, the driver was a Catholic, and we were able to chat a little bit about our faith. He also asked about the recent DSWD ransacking that happened in my hometown, Davao City.

Mr. Taxi Driver did not know the hotel where he was supposed to drop me. But he did not get angry about it. Instead, he suggested that I call the hotel and ask for directions, which I did. I placed the cellphone on speaker phone so that he could hear what streets we were supposed to take. Mr. Taxi Driver also helped me in unloading my heavy trolley. He did not ask for any tip. But since he's such a good taxi driver, I gave him some extra.

So, my realization began that not all taxi drivers are bad.

For my meeting, I boarded a taxi going to Grepalife Building. The driver was not much of a chatter and he flawlessly delivered me to my destination, safely. I thanked him and gave him a P20 tip which he gladly accepted. (I wasn't really expecting him to hand me the P20 change, anyway, but I sure think that he would have given it to me if I did not tell him to keep the change).

Hiring another taxi in going back to my hotel was another story. The taxi driver was irate. He wasn't irate about me. There was moderate traffic back to the hotel and this caused him to get a little irritated with me because he asked me what road to take and I chose the only street I know, and he didn't want to pass there because it was rush hour. (Imagine rush hour starting at 3:30 pm???)

I could only sympathize with taxi driver number 3. He was telling me stories about how he does not want to drive within the Makati area at rush hour. He prefers to be in Quezon City because the roads are wide. I apologized to the driver and told him that I'm not really from Manila and the street we passed by was the only way that I know.

And then the taxi driver started telling me stories about passengers who are unwilling to add P20 to the fare. Oh my God! This driver is implying that I should add P20 to my fare! He said that it's unfair to be stuck in traffic, that his gasoline consumption would be higher when there's traffic and that he would not have a sufficient profit if the passenger won't give him some tip.

I listened to the driver and although I do not totally agree with what he says, I did not let it get into my nerve. I peacefully alighted from the vehicle and gave him P110, an amount which is P20 more than what the meter says.