The most complete informaton guide about Athens, Greece
Athens
Taxis
You
just can’t miss them. Regardless the brand and type of the
car, they all are bright yellow and they will take you wherever
you need to go. There are about 14.000 taxis in Athens. Average
every taxi is operational 19 hours per day driving 350 km. Every
day taxis in Athens drive about 500.000 kilometers totaling
up to 1.8 million kilometers a year. Taxis in Athens are cheap
which accounts for the high number of kilometers yearly.
One
could say the Athens taxis have their own set of rules which aren’t
always legal. If you want to catch a taxi in the street, you often
will have to shout your destination to the driver as he drives
by. If he is not going your direction, he may not stop to pick
you up. This is standard practice in Athens and not regarded upon
as rude. Just flag the next taxi you see.
Taxi cowboys
Most
of the times you will have an honest driver when you hail a taxi
in Athens. However, there are some taxi-cowboys that will take
advantage of tourists not knowing their way around. They will
overcharge you, take on other passengers while driving you, make
a big detour or drive you to a hotel they get a commission from.
You want to play it safe? Ask a few taxi drivers how much your
ride is going to cost first so you will know the normal price,
then get a taxi that charges that price. You want to pay for your
drive, not buy the car....
According
to the Greek legislation, upon your request, taxi drivers have
to provide you with an official receipt for the amount paid for
transportation services. The receipt should also indicate the
taxi registration number, the license plate and the driver's name.
If
you do get overcharged in some way or other passengers are taken
on board without your permission, don't start a fight but report
the taxi scam to the police. They will deal with the cowboy. Below
you can read how and where to do so.
A
good way to avoid being scammed, crowded express buses or trains
is to book your taxi
transfer online (up to four people per taxi) before your
arrival. The taxi driver will be waiting for you in the arrival
hall of the airport holding a sign with your name. He will
take you straight to your hotel or any other destination you
booked online. As you paid when you booked your taxi, there
is no risk of being overcharged and no money hassle. You also
won’t be asked to pay more than you did. Read
more…
Taxi fares
Fares
2007
Meter
starts at
1.00
€
Rate
per km tariff 1 (within city limits)
0.34
€
Rate
per km tariff 2 (outside city limits)
0.64
€
Night
tarif 2 - 24:00 - 05:00
0.65
€
Waiting
time per hour
9.10
€
Radio
taxi - immediate appointment
1.60
€
Radio
taxi - appointment in the next few hours
2.65
€
From
and to airports
3.20
€
From
ports, railway stations and bus terminals
0.86
€
Luggage
charge per item over 10 kg
0.32
€
Minimum
Fare (Athens)
2.65
€
Minimum
Fare (rural areas)
2.85
€
There
are two basic tariffs, number 1 and number 2. Depending on the
time of day and the journey, the driver must select the correct
rate. Tariff 1 is the "day rate" used from 05:00 till
midnight. Tariff 2 is the night rate valid from midnight to 05:00.
Tariff 1 is used within the city limits where the taxi is registered.
Tariff 2 is used outside that zone. The number 1 or 2 should be
clearly visible on the meter.
Taxi
driver’s obligations
•
To be polite, willing to serve their passenger and be decent.
• To give you any kind of information related to the taxis’
service (price,
route, etc.).
• Not to carry more passengers than the specific number
their taxi-license permits.
• To take care and clean the interior and exterior of the
car.
• To deliver anything that might be left in the car to the
police or the owner.
• Not to operate any kind of musical equipment or the car
windows without your permission. The
driver does not need your approval to open de window on
his side.
• To use the shortest route to your destination unless you
yourself choose a different route.
• The driver must have a road map of the area in his taxi.
• The driver has no right to take on other customers unless
he has asked for and received your
permission.
• After dark, he has to have the sing with the inscription
"FREE" switched off when the car is
occupied and switched on when it is available.
• To operate the taximeter as soon as you get into the car.
• Not to refuse you unless you are under the influence of
any kind of illegal substances, are not
sober or are not accompanied by a person who is.
• To help you carry your luggage in and out of the car.
• Upon your request, the taxi driver has to provide you
with an official receipt, not a hand written
one. The receipt has to mention the total amount, the taxi
license number, the license plate
number and the name of the taxi driver.
Passenger’s obligations
•
To be decent and avoid causing anything that might damage the
car.
• Not to smoke.
• To take care of children, pets and objects that are in
the taxi.
• In case the taxi gets dirty due to the passengers fault,
(s)he is obliged to pay for cleaning the car.
• Blind people, disabled people or pregnant women always
go first even when they are at the end of
a passengers waiting line.
Known scam tricks
•
The taxi driver lets you get in and drives off without turning
the meter on and without telling you how much the ride
will
cost you. Tell him to turn the meter on.
• He will give you a price that is significantly higher
than the
actual value of the trip. This price may seem reasonable
to
you, as taxi fares in other parts of the world are higher
and
distances traveled are typically longer. Don’t accept
this and
tell him to turn on the meter.
•
You ask for the meter to be turned on. He will fumble with it,
but not turn it on properly. In the
meanwhile, you are away from the taxi stand and, if it
is late night and you carry heavy luggage, it
would be difficult to find another taxi, if you ask to
get off. Tell him you will report him and/or to
drive you to the nearest police station that is open.
•
He may exploit your confusion about the look and feel of euro
currency and he will produce a 5
Euro bill instead of the 20 Euro you thought you gave him
and claim that you gave him a 5 Euro
bill. Keep your money in your hand until he is ready counting
the change he has to give you.
•
The driver will pick up other passengers on the way to your destination
and will make detours to
deliver them while the meter is running. He will collect
the proper fare for them and he will not give
you a discount, making the detours at your expense. When
you get in, tell the driver you will not
accept additional pick-ups.
•
The route the driver will follow will not necessarily be the shortest
route to your destination but the
route that will maximize his chances of picking up other
passengers on the way so that he
collects double fare. When you get in repeat you will not
accept additional pick-ups and you want
him to follow the shortest route to your destination.
•
People with children and luggage are highly undesirable passengers,
as they fill up the taxi and
make it difficult or impossible to pick up other passengers
on the way. As a result, taxi drivers on
the street will discriminate against such passengers and
refuse to take them on, especially off the
street. Where police is present to regulate the hiring
of taxis, for example at the Athens airport,
and sometimes at the intercity bus stations, taxi drivers
usually cannot select their passengers.
•
On a trip from the airport, the taxi driver lawfully charges the
surcharge for airport pickup, and the
toll on Attiki Odos (the highway from the airport to the
outskirts of the city). The taxi driver will,
however, generously round up to the next ten then requested
fair, claiming that it is for the
. "luggage", charging two or three times the legal amount
for the "luggage". To avoid problems,
upon request for a receipt, he will issue an illegal handwritten
receipt, instead of the legal printout
of the fare meter. Don’t accept it, get his taxi
number or his license plate and tell him you will
report him to the police.
•
You pick up a taxi from the airport with a friend who is going
to a different destination. If the first
person to get off pays the fare up to that point, the taxi
driver may attempt to illegally charge the
second person the full fare from the airport again! At
the first stop, both get out and take another
taxi for the second leg of the ride.
How
to avoid frustration?
As
said before, there are many honest and hardworking taxi drivers
in Athens who do a perfect job. However, because of a number of
taxi cowboys that have given taxis in Athens a bad reputation,
here are some suggestions and things to keep an eye on to avoid
frustration.
1.
Call for and use radio taxis as much as possible. The small surcharge
you pay for the call is
really worth the professional attitude of radio
taxi drivers. However at peak times or bad weather
it may be difficult to find radio taxis available.
2. Make a note of the radio taxi company you called, and make
sure that the taxi that you enter
carries the label of the company on its door.
Other taxi drivers may spot you and take you on,
'stealing' you from the legitimate radio taxi
that you called.
3. If near a taxi stand, walk there yourself with your luggage
and take the first taxi in line. Do not
talk to taxi drivers trying to pick you up
as a passenger.
4. Before you take a taxi, get informed about the normal price
of the ride. You can also ask a few
taxi drivers about the price before you get
into one, to check if you are not going to be
overcharged.
5. Tell the taxi driver upfront that you want the most direct
route to your destination and no other
passengers picked up on the way.
6. All taxis MUST use the meter, if the driver
doesn't switch it on when you get in, ask him to. If he
still doesn’t, tell him to stop and get
another taxi or tell him you will report him to the police.
7. If the taxi driver offers you a flat rate instead of using
the meter, stop him immediately and
request
to get off. The flat rate will be a lot more
than what the meter would record.
8. Don’t start a conversation with the taxi driver nor allow
him to open one with you. Do not tell him
where you come from. He may be trying to assess
your potential as a victim.
9. Do your own mental calculations of the various charges. Taxi
drivers will always be "sloppy" and
round these charges up (never down).
10. Always ask for a receipt before you pay. If the driver finds
an excuse to not give you one or
wants to give you a hand written one,
don’t accept it; there is a good chance you are dealing
with a scammer.
11. When you pay, unfold the cash and speak up the amount you
keep in your hand. Watch his
hands carefully as he counts the change.
When he is done, give him your money. This way he
cannot trick you in saying you gave him
a smaller bill than you did.
12. If you pick up a taxi from the airport with a friend who is
going to a different destination, both of
you should get off the taxi together
at the first stop and then one takes another taxi to his/her
destination. If not, only the second
person to get off should pay the fare, and share the ride with
the first person at a later time.
13. Be prepared to threaten the taxi driver by recording his number
and/or his license plate and that
you will report him to the police. A
crook taxi driver will likely react in a rude manner and drop
you off the taxi immediately. He will
not risk being reported.
14. If you are getting off the boat at the port of Piraeus with
luggage and children, especially early
in the morning, be prepared for a long
and aggravating struggle to get a taxi, as taxi drivers are
choosy and refuse to take you on as an
"undesirable" passenger. At the intercity bus stations
(KTEL) and the Athens airport, there
are (usually) orderly lines for both taxis and passengers
and police presence which (usually) minimizes
aggravation.
Report
any taxi scam!
If
you have been scammed by a taxi driver in any way or have been
overcharged, this is what you have to do:
•
Find the taxi number inside the car and write it down. If it is
not there or it is not visible, ask the driver for his
license number. Also write down the date, the
hour, the license plate and, if possible, the brand and
type of the taxi.
•
Take the effort to form an official complaint with the police!
Over time, this is the only way to bring
taxi scams to a halt as the Greek government and the Confederation
of Taxi Owners are not doing
anything about it. With a formal complaint, the police
has to take action against the taxi driver
and they will because, they too want it stopped as it only
brings them a lot of work, a lot of very
unhappy and frustrated tourists and it is giving Athens
a bad reputation.
There
only is one place in Athens where you can officially complain
against a taxi driver:
Headquarters
of the Traffic Department of Athens (Trochea
Athinon)
24-26, Th. Deligianni Street, Metaxourghio
Tel. 210 5230 111
Metaxourghio
Write
this down and take it with you to Athens
The
Metaxourghio metro station is about 50 meters from the police
building. If you have a witness who was with you at the moment
you were scammed, take him/her with you to confirm your complaint.
Only the passenger that paid for the taxi trip can complain with
the police as other people did not suffer any (financial) loss.
You
can also inform (but not officially complain to) :
If
you can avoid taking a taxi, use the Athens public transport.
The metro, bus
and tram system
in Athens is extremely well organized. It is cheap; it takes you
pretty much everywhere you want to go, including luggage and it
spares you the aggravation of having to deal with taxi drivers.
The metro is not affected by traffic jams so it may even be faster
than a taxi for trips in the city.