Weirdest Cab Rides

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Seaboard92

Seaboard92

Engineer
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
4,698
Location
South Carolina
I'm sure every person on this board has had some strange and weird cab rides. Here are two stories from my weird ones.

New York, NY

I was taking a cab with my sister and grandmother from Union Square to 49th st. And our cab driver ran some stop signs, while reading my sister's palms giving predictions. Then proceeded to ask if she was married and wanted a "taste of a different burger."

Koblenz, DE

This city must only have a few drivers as we got the same cabby three times. But the weird time was the last time. We went down a one way street the wrong way and met up with a semi truck. The driver got out of the car and yelled at the semi and he got out and joined the screaming match. Then eventually somehow we got passed. I've never been so thankful to get out of a cab.
 
Oh....Taxicab rides, (sigh)...

Here you had me all excited thinking you scored a ride on the 765...or 611....

I suppose the category, "Non rail transportation" should have given me a clue...
 
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railiner said:
Oh....Taxicab rides, (sigh)...

Here you had me all excited thinking you scored a ride on the 765...or 611....

I suppose the category, "Non rail transportation" should have given me a clue...
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Had you named one of my other contracts you might have gotten a yes. I have been in 611s cab multiple times. Made the mistake after the engine crew dropped the fire of checking the fire because my boss told me too. What he didn't tell me was how hot the firebox door handle was. 765 never have likely won't go up there my business is back behind and I have a rough season coming up as I'm down my assistant. Now 4449 that's a different story.
 
Seaboard92 said:
I'm sure every person on this board has had some strange and weird cab rides. Here are two stories from my weird ones.

New York, NY

I was taking a cab with my sister and grandmother from Union Square to 49th st. And our cab driver ran some stop signs, while reading my sister's palms giving predictions. Then proceeded to ask if she was married and wanted a "taste of a different burger."

Koblenz, DE

This city must only have a few drivers as we got the same cabby three times. But the weird time was the last time. We went down a one way street the wrong way and met up with a semi truck. The driver got out of the car and yelled at the semi and he got out and joined the screaming match. Then eventually somehow we got passed. I've never been so thankful to get out of a cab.
Click to expand...
Koblenz, DE ?? Not Delaware, so where is this?
 
Kobelenz Germany. Great city to visit. But if you don't like a super long distance to the tourist sights from the station you'll need a cab or the city bus.
 
Cicum Baikal Railway - after walking 2 miles across the frozen lake from Listvianka to Baikal to find the only train back to Irkutsk was sold out to a tour group our only option was to speak to the conductor who offered our party of 5 the sole use of the backward facing DMU cab for the trip back, the only proviso was that we had to hide under blankets at one of the main stations, ironically the cost of the bribe worked out cheaper then the standard tickets,
 
We did a trip to Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, and back to Seattle. It was an "Internet" trip with vouchers supplied for everything including cab ride to the hotel in Vancouver. I had never been to Vancouver before but after about a half hour I noticed that the downtown buildings were way in the distance. I asked my associate to get out the voucher. The driver slammed on the breaks and said "voucher?, voucher? you did not tell me you had a voucher. He turned around and drove 10 mile back toward downtown and to our hotel. I gave him the voucher and he asked where his tip was, I told him I had left it down on the south side of town during our extensive tour and got out laughing.
 
Although I've experienced many poor drivers and white knuckle rides I'm not sure any of them would make for much of a story in and of themselves. The worst examples have been second or third hand cars in serious need of repair flying well above the speed limit over poorly maintained roads in developing countries. Although oddly enough the taxi driver I remember the most was a lady in my hometown who helpfully pretended to hold the pneumatically operated trunk open while I loaded and unloaded my own luggage. At first I was merely amused at her proud ineptitude, but when she held out her hand for a tip I simply walked away.

AmtrakBlue said:
Ryan said:
Deutschland?
Click to expand...
Bob Dylan said:
Sounds like Poland???
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I Googled it. It's Deutschland
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For the uninitiated every formally recognized country and city-state has a series of two and three character ISO codes which are often used on international discussion forums.

Link: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/country_code_list.htm
 
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I have had few weird cab rides, all in foreign countries.

Quebec: the car was a first gen Ford Tempo. The driver was a francophone woman, and we were heading back to Le Chateau Frontenac from a nice restaurant (my dad and I, my mom and sister had went back earlier) and we were racing up to the hotel, the driver saying something I translated as "Record Time"- I'd believe it- when I realized that I had left my first generation Nikon Nikkormat with a Nikkor F1.2 50mm lens (worth more than the camera) at the restaurant. She turned red and didn't say a word for the rest of the round trip.

Rome: I was on a teen tour with some really strict leaders, I had been late twice and was on thin ice, and realized my watch had stopped (Poljot's 2416 is a great watch Movement but not when you forget to wind it) And I was about 20 minutes away with 18 minutes to get there. I hailed a ~1998 Lancia Y (Look it up, it is TINY) and impressed upon him that he had to get me there in 15 minutes, as this would be to his financial advantage. All I can say is 70kmh down an alley 4 inches wider than the car is... interesting. The bill was 100 grand... in lira.

Jerusalem: The taxi driver wasn't weird, the car was. It was a late model Volga 3102. The car was weird because it was not a more efficient Euro car like the Skoda Octavia or Seat Toledo, but it also wasn't the common big car (Mercedes E-class). While the 3102 was not an expensive car by first world standards ($25-30k) it was a hand built luxury model of a mechanically identical car called the 3110 that cost $10k or so. Volgas were not official Israel imports either, and I have no idea what such an odd car was doing plying the taxi trade (it was essentially the car very wealthy Russians drove if they didn't want a limo and couldn't be seen in a foreign car- a Russian Mercedes S-class). Didn't expect to be riding in a car with hand stitched leather door panels.
 
Devil's Advocate said:
Although oddly enough the taxi driver I remember the most was a lady in my hometown who helpfully pretended to hold the pneumatically operated trunk open while I loaded and unloaded my own luggage. At first I was merely amused at her proud ineptitude, but when she held out her hand for a tip I simply walked away.
Click to expand...
And here I am an Uber driver and I always help with the luggage and get 5-stars in return. Then, the passenger turns to the bellhop and gives him a fiver. With those five stars, I can enjoy...taking another rider.
 
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NYC. Staying with a relative and I've got a ticket for a Broadway show but am a little bit late leaving after dinner. It's about 7:40 PM and I need to get to the theater district fast. It's nearly impossible to get a taxi so I get to talking with a Swiss couple and we agree to share a ride/fare with us trying to hail a cab from different places. They finally get a cab and it's a guy with a German-sounding accent. He blows through maybe 3 straight stop lights at considerably higher than the speed limit and we're all worried that we're going to regret getting in this cab. I actually get close to my theater and give them $5 (about half the current fare) and thank them. And I did make it in time for my show.

However, it wasn't as crazy as Bangkok. They're kind of notorious for their traffic. Several cab drivers (like other drivers) would floor the pedal if there was any empty space and then slam on their brakes. They'd do this even if there was only a half block of road available. We tried a motorized rickshaw once, and it was even crazier because it felt like we would be thrown right off on some of the hard turns. We also had a few issues with the driver understanding where we wanted to go in English, although I saw our hotel had a card with the name and address of the place in Thai. Before I went to see some Thai boxing, I asked the tour desk operator who reserved my spot to write down where to take me, and I flashed that to a taxi driver. And once I got to the boxing arena they could tell who the tourists were. The cheap seats (where most of the gambling action was) were behind a chain link fence.
 
Pulling over for--and then tailgating--an ambulance in downtown Rome. Got to where we needed to go a lot faster. :)
 
VentureForth said:
Devil's Advocate said:
Although oddly enough the taxi driver I remember the most was a lady in my hometown who helpfully pretended to hold the pneumatically operated trunk open while I loaded and unloaded my own luggage. At first I was merely amused at her proud ineptitude, but when she held out her hand for a tip I simply walked away.
Click to expand...
And here I am an Uber driver and I always help with the luggage and get 5-stars in return. Then, the passenger turns to the bellhop and gives him a fiver. With those five stars, I can enjoy...taking another rider.
Click to expand...
If it makes you feel any better I never use any bellhops myself. Occasionally some of the fancier hotels will make it difficult to avoid assistance with luggage, but whenever possible I carry my own wherever I go. I only bring what I can carry so no need for any assistance. Lyft has tipping built into the app. Maybe you should try taking Lyft requests as well?
 
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Devil's Advocate said:
If it makes you feel any better I never use any bellhops myself. Occasionally some of the fancier hotels will make it difficult to avoid assistance with luggage, but whenever possible I carry my own wherever I go. I only bring what I can carry so no need for any assistance. Lyft has tipping built into the app. Maybe you should try taking Lyft requests as well?
Click to expand...
And, meanwhile, folks get $2-3 for driving someone else's car a 1/2 block away...Sigh.
Uber has ruined the gratuity model in rideshare, destroying this facet of the service industry. I do drive Lyft - 1,650 rides on Uber, and 325 on Lyft. My tips on Lyft average around 10 cents per ride because only 1 in 10 tip about $1 or 2. Wasn't so bad when the rates were $1.50/mile, but when they dumped the rates to 85 cent/mi, gratuities really help.
 

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