Quote:
Originally Posted by philipfry
the taxi driver say add 10k more cos of entering the gated car park to drop me off at the shopping mall. Is this for real? How to avoid such taxi drivers from chopping Singaporeans up?
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Most time,I will bargain from 50k to 30k from anywhere within Harbour Bay to Nagoya area unless i am going to places like Sekupang/Nongsa. As far as i have read,taxi drivers in Batam look at people before they quote their price. What i have gathered are :
Ang Mo tourist : Usually 50k and/or above (as high as 80k a times)
Asian tourist : Usually 40k-50k but can bargain to below 50k (bargaining skill varies)
Local : Usually around 25k to 35k (what i seen so far)
But during holiday season or peak season,they dont bother to bargain with me (meaning they wont lower their price as demand is higher). Of course there will be techniques on how to get 30k taxi,eg flagging a taxi at Departure Hall (near Horizaon ferry counter in Harbour Bay) where taxi drop passenger off instead of outside the terminal after you just check out from Batam custom. Or you can move out of further away from harbour to flag a cab. Most time, 1st 3 person in Harbour Bay who approach me for taxi,i will always reject w/o even bargaining,hehehe...
There is also a Blue Bird Taxi Phone number at the below list :
http://sgsbf.social/showpos...ostcount=29154
....whereby the taxi is charge by meter. Still it will cost between 25k to 30k most time as i usually dont take back my change.
At times if i am travelling alone,i take an ojek aka motorbike taxi which cost about 20k. I learn in this thread from a bro that i should step out of taxi to make payment thru the taxi driver's car window after i reach my destination.I will always have
exact amount to pay the taxi driver too becos most taxi driver will tell me no change when the cost of taxi is 30k and i give them 50k note. I also make sure i tell the taxi driver its "30 ribu" instead of "30 dollar" becos i seen a bro being charge S$30 from point A to point B becos he didnt specific the currency type.
Hope my experience helps.
Side note : Entering the gate to Nagoya Hill Mall is easy,the fee is 2k rupiah,but during peak hour,taxi driver require a much longer time to move out from the mall to the main road. There is always a jam at the main entrance of the mall where taxi pick up and drop off passengers,fyi.