Advice Wanted Regarding Taxis

[robalec]

I've killed some time reading threads here and found some really good advice, but I have yet to find some good advice on taxis. I do know that taxis here do not have meters, but here are some things I would like to know:

1. How much do taxis charge from a standard fare, like going for ZC to a mall, or hotel to bus station, ZC to Boca Chica?

2. Same as number 1 above, but foreigner price?

3. Can a foreigner get a local price, if so, how?

4. Are there legit taxis, i.e. taxi license? How do I discern them from the non-legit?

5. Is tipping standard? How much?

6. How much would a driver want to be hired for the day or half day, driving around town?

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

Always ask the price. If you are Dominican, ask the price. If you are a foreigner, ask the price. There are guaguas from near the Parque Enriquillo to Boca Chica every 15 minutes.
Legitimate taxis will have a company name and phone painted on them.

There is no official "foreigner price". Prices are negotiable.

Most Dominicans do not tip. A tip will never be refused.

 

[robalec]

Always ask the price. If you are Dominican, ask the price. If you are a foreigner, ask the price. There are guaguas from near the Parque Enriquillo to Boca Chica every 15 minutes.
Legitimate taxis will have a company name and phone painted on them.

There is no official "foreigner price". Prices are negotiable.

Most Dominicans do not tip. A tip will never be refused.

Thanks! I'm still curious to know what some typical fares would be for going from A to B. I know it depends on the distance, time of day, traffic, mood of driver etc. but there has to be shareable knowledge about general fares that people typically pay

 

[Criss Colon]

IF you can speak/understand Spanish, call AERO Taxi.
Ask the dispatcher how much is the fare from point A to Point B?????
You can also ask the driver to radio dispatch and ask for the fare amount after he arrives.
Just NEVER take a "Hotel Taxi" or one parked in front of the hotel!!!!!!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks! I'm still curious to know what some typical fares would be for going from A to B. I know it depends on the distance, time of day, traffic, mood of driver etc. but there has to be shareable knowledge about general fares that people typically pay

If you're in Santo Domingo, only use Apolo Taxi at 809-537-0000. They will give you the price and the # of the cab coming to pick you up. From any point in SD to another is normally 250 pesos or less, no tip necessary.

 

[josh2203]

It?s been some time since I have used taxis in Santo Domingo, but I used to do that a lot, always used a company called Apolo Taxi, nothing bad to say about them:

1. The standard fare (at least what they charged me) was 170 DOP for any route which took less than 30 minutes. I suppose from ZC to the main malls is catered by this. The taxis don?t have meters, but as far as I know, they do have standard rates/fees. If the driver tries to charge something strange, ask them to all call the central, never happened with me.

2,3. There was no foreigner price for me, the taxi central informed the drivers, and the fare was always the same, but this within the city. However, I?d find out the standard fee (and possibly evening etc. fee) beforehand, and if you don?t have exact change, ask the driver to return you what you are expecting. Don?t however expect them to have change.

4. I only used taxis where the driver?s ID was visible inside and outside the vehicle. Apolo Taxi always had always the driver?s photo ID on the dashboard.

 

[chrisgy]

Thanks! I'm still curious to know what some typical fares would be for going from A to B. I know it depends on the distance, time of day, traffic, mood of driver etc. but there has to be shareable knowledge about general fares that people typically pay

Here are a few examples that I have paid in the past

SDQ Airport - Colonial Zone 1000 , reverse trip 600
SDQ Airport - Caribe Tour 1000 , reverse trip 700
SDQ to Boca Chica - 700, reverse trip ( 400-500 with a local taxi)
STI Airport - Caribe Tour (Los Jardines) 800 pesos, 600-700 reverse trip (600 in daytime, 700 pesos if from the hotel)
Santiago to Nagua by guagua 400 (not a taxi, shared small bus)
Santiago to North Coast (Sosua/Cabarete/Puerto Plata) 100 dollars or 75 dollars with my regular taxiguy
Santo Domingo to North Coast (Sosua/Cabarete/Puerto Plata) 200 dollars or 150 with my regular taxiguy

 

[GuillermoRamon]

Take the Publico where available as they tend to be cheap, if you don't feel like riding in one of the Mini-van guagua's half filled with livestock...

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

It?s been some time since I have used taxis in Santo Domingo, but I used to do that a lot, always used a company called Apolo Taxi, nothing bad to say about them:

1. The standard fare (at least what they charged me) was 170 DOP for any route which took less than 30 minutes. I suppose from ZC to the main malls is catered by this. The taxis don?t have meters, but as far as I know, they do have standard rates/fees. If the driver tries to charge something strange, ask them to all call the central, never happened with me.

2,3. There was no foreigner price for me, the taxi central informed the drivers, and the fare was always the same, but this within the city. However, I?d find out the standard fee (and possibly evening etc. fee) beforehand, and if you don?t have exact change, ask the driver to return you what you are expecting. Don?t however expect them to have change.

4. I only used taxis where the driver?s ID was visible inside and outside the vehicle. Apolo Taxi always had always the driver?s photo ID on the dashboard.

========================================================
Good advice.

Cab drivers are SUPPOSED to have business cards, with their phone no. on them
If you like the service, ask for a card.

From the Caribetours station on 27 de Febrero to the guagua to BC near the Parque Enriquillo was DOP$170 the last time I took it.
The time before that it was DOP$250.

The difference (DOP$80) is around US $1.86.

 

[rubio_higuey]

Very many taxi drivers will try to "get you" if you do not know how things are run. Especially taxi drivers in large cities. Call beforehand (when you order taxi) and ask for "tarifa" from A to B. Pay that and only that. Taxis in SD are not metered, so you need to know how much you will pay, in advance. I had a case with 3 stops, I asked for tarifa in advance, the driver did not like it at the end, he called control and they told him the same rate as they did to me, the driver did NOT like the rate. If it was left at the will of the driver he would have charged much more. So always call control and get the rate, and if the driver wants to charge you more, tell them to call control.

As a side note to my previous comment, many taxi drivers in large cities try to charge more than they should, e.g. in Bogota they try to hit you with surcharges that do not exist etc. in Bogota there is a website Denuncie al Taxista which calculates your approximate fare (regular traffic) (using Google maps pinpoint locations) including any applicable surcharges and also quickly calculates the units into pesos ... they tried to overcharge me several times (about 1 out of 3), but they didn't get from me one more peso than they were entitled to.

So be alert and know how much you should pay. If the asked rate at the end of journey is substantially different, something's wrong, and they try to get you. In such case, stick to the rate you know you should pay and stand your ground.

 

[rubio_higuey]

========================================================
Good advice.

Cab drivers are SUPPOSED to have business cards, with their phone no. on them
If you like the service, ask for a card.

From the Caribetours station on 27 de Febrero to the guagua to BC near the Parque Enriquillo was DOP$170 the last time I took it.
The time before that it was DOP$250.

The difference (DOP$80) is around US $1.86.

While it's "only" $1.86, it's almost 50% rate difference. I know that route, for that distance 250 was way too much. 170 to 200 pesos max, I would not pay a peso more.

 

[rubio_higuey]

One more thing... as with Motoconchos, same way with taxi drivers, it's good to have exact (or roughly exact) change. That way if the trip is 190 pesos but he wants 250 pesos, you just give him 200 and say adios. If you do not have exact (or approximately exact) change and give him 500 pesos, he will just charge what he "thinks" is right and gives you back 250. Have 50 and 100 pesos bills ready as well as spare change (couple of 25 pesos coins goes a great length in situations like this).

 

[robalec]

If you're in Santo Domingo, only use Apolo Taxi at 809-537-0000. They will give you the price and the # of the cab coming to pick you up. From any point in SD to another is normally 250 pesos or less, no tip necessary.

Thanks! Is this a number I can also text to?

 

[chrisdr]

If you are in the Colonial Zone I would use Techni Taxi - always have drivers a few minutes away and give you the local fare - 170DOP most places - 200 to 250 if your going far like Botanical Gardens.

We use a great taxi guy to pick up guests from the airport - speaks English as well and does half day tours etc. Not sure if I am allowed to put his info on here though...?

 

[Dolores1]

Very many taxi drivers will try to "get you" if you do not know how things are run. Especially taxi drivers in large cities. Call beforehand (when you order taxi) and ask for "tarifa" from A to B. Pay that and only that. Taxis in SD are not metered, so you need to know how much you will pay, in advance. I had a case with 3 stops, I asked for tarifa in advance, the driver did not like it at the end, he called control and they told him the same rate as they did to me, the driver did NOT like the rate. If it was left at the will of the driver he would have charged much more. So always call control and get the rate, and if the driver wants to charge you more, tell them to call control.

As a side note to my previous comment, many taxi drivers in large cities try to charge more than they should, e.g. in Bogota they try to hit you with surcharges that do not exist etc. in Bogota there is a website Denuncie al Taxista which calculates your approximate fare (regular traffic) (using Google maps pinpoint locations) including any applicable surcharges and also quickly calculates the units into pesos ... they tried to overcharge me several times (about 1 out of 3), but they didn't get from me one more peso than they were entitled to.

So be alert and know how much you should pay. If the asked rate at the end of journey is substantially different, something's wrong, and they try to get you. In such case, stick to the rate you know you should pay and stand your ground.

As far as I am aware, each time the taxi makes a stop, it is a new fare. Thus, if you made 3 stops, he was right in charging you more. That is the standard, in your case an exception was made in your favor. If you are going to make intermediate stops, clear this with the control or the driver so there are no misunderstandings.

 

[HUG]

If you're in the city itself you can go pretty much anywhere for under RD250. Lowest fare is now RD170, but if you're an obvious tourist then it'll be RD300 and 200, but no big deal you can go far for little, or rather spend a long time in the cab to go rather small distances being city traffic.
As a tourist you'll probably pay RD2000 to Boca Chica, if you can navigate the BS you can get there for RD1500, that's from the ZC for instance.
You can go from the city to Punta Cana for RD6000.
Taxis are not worth getting flustered about. you should meet a guy and use him till he tries to rip you off or you get suspicious of him. He will spoil it for himself, he is Dominican. The game is to get the good fares and read him and start using another before he hikes prices or tries something else.
Short cabs around the city, well, it's RD250 tops, most you ca. get ripped off is RD50 pesos.

 

[rubio_higuey]

As far as I am aware, each time the taxi makes a stop, it is a new fare. Thus, if you made 3 stops, he was right in charging you more. That is the standard, in your case an exception was made in your favor. If you are going to make intermediate stops, clear this with the control or the driver so there are no misunderstandings.

No, the rate from control was asked A to B, stop for X minutes, B to C, stop for X minutes, C to D. They gave a rate, which was 500 pesos. I said OK, send the driver. After the trip, I gave him 500, but the driver wanted to charge 700. I asked him to call control, he did, they told him 500. The driver seemed perplexed, and asked control again repeating the whole itinerary once more, with all the stops and wait time, the control paused for like 30 seconds, said again 500.

This is not the first time I used a taxi on multi-stop itinerary. I usually use my own transportation but sometimes I am in SD without a car.

Maybe it's news to you, but taxis (in SD) have multi-stop itineraries since I first used them in 2005. 99% of the times no issues, this was the second time in 10 years the driver had any kind of "objections" with a rate quoted by control for multi-stop itinerary. If the drivers don't like this maybe they should petition their syndicates to not allow muli-stop routing. And maybe I should have called 3 taxis instead and let earn each guy 150 pesos instead of one guy 500 pesos. I guess they would all be happier.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks! Is this a number I can also text to?

No, you'll want to call them, tell them where you are and where you want to go, and get a price. They will then tell you the # of the car coming to you, be sure it's the one they say is coming before you get in.

 

[pularvik]

Good thread,--how to handle if you don't speak Spanish????????????????

 

[josh2203]

No, the rate from control was asked A to B, stop for X minutes, B to C, stop for X minutes, C to D. They gave a rate, which was 500 pesos. I said OK, send the driver. After the trip, I gave him 500, but the driver wanted to charge 700. I asked him to call control, he did, they told him 500. The driver seemed perplexed, and asked control again repeating the whole itinerary once more, with all the stops and wait time, the control paused for like 30 seconds, said again 500.

This is not the first time I used a taxi on multi-stop itinerary. I usually use my own transportation but sometimes I am in SD without a car.

Maybe it's news to you, but taxis (in SD) have multi-stop itineraries since I first used them in 2005. 99% of the times no issues, this was the second time in 10 years the driver had any kind of "objections" with a rate quoted by control for multi-stop itinerary. If the drivers don't like this maybe they should petition their syndicates to not allow muli-stop routing. And maybe I should have called 3 taxis instead and let earn each guy 150 pesos instead of one guy 500 pesos. I guess they would all be happier.

As far as I am aware, each time the taxi makes a stop, it is a new fare. Thus, if you made 3 stops, he was right in charging you more. That is the standard, in your case an exception was made in your favor. If you are going to make intermediate stops, clear this with the control or the driver so there are no misunderstandings.

Having used multiple taxis in SDQ and POP myself, I think there?s just a slight misunderstanding here.

In rubio_higuey?s case the rate including all the stops etc. was agreed and known by all beforehand. I have done this myself as well, and without problems.

You state that the driver disagreed with the central, and this I find strange, as what I have seen, any driver treats their central as the ultimate authority, and questions nothing they say. If they say a specific rate, the driver has nothing more to say.

Rubio mentioned in the first post that he had a case of 3 stops, perhaps it wasn?t completely clear that he had a pre-agreed packet with the central AND the driver including all that. So basically the whole itinerary was just one "servicio" in this case, and exactly for the 500 pesos. Had it been three separate stops, then it would have been three separate "servicios" as well.