| Wow. 450 to the Bund. Awesome. From Pudong Airport to the city should be no more than 160 during the day and 200 at night. If they won't give you a receipt, call the police. If they have overcharged you by a small amount (20-30 RMB is common as people won't usually make a fuss about that) get the receipt and then ring the taxi company or the city complaints line. You should ask for ten times the overcharge, and you will get it if you have been overcharged. That's what my wife (Shanghainese) and her family do. Although you should never get into a taxi with a broken meter. Da Zhong are the best. Qiang Sheng are OK too, and the others are pretty much dreadful. At the end of the day they are all knackered old Volkswagen Santanas from the mid 1980s and you shouldn't expect too much. If it's a hot day sit in the front as the aircon doesn't reach the back seats very well. And if you don't take a taxi from the rank then you are asking for trouble. The Maglev is next to useless as it stops about 9pm and leaves you in the middle of nowhere anyway. It's an option if you don't have any luggage and your ultimate destination is near a tube station because it connects with the underground. In general you have to remember that many drivers first drove a car six months ago when they arrived in Shanghai. It's pot luck as to who you get. Da Zhong and Qiang Sheng tend to use Shanghainese drivers who at least have a vague idea of the city. You'll still get the odd driver who doesn't know where Nanjing Xi Lu is and so on. But given the horrendous shortage of taxis in Shanghai sometimes you just have to take what you can get. |
Watch Out Bad Shanghai Taxi Drivers