Tuesday, 3 July 2007

Just about tax's


I am now a few years in Belgrade and especially the last months driving home by taxi or going to Zodiac very often. And as I am crazy about statistics I have kept a small database about my experiences during the taxi drive and about the taxi drivers and their cars.
Now my database is filled with 274 experiences and I think that is a good moment to come out with my results. And as it is quite a lot I think I can say it is a serious investigation!
156 cars (more then 50%) older then 10 years and only 5 (2%) were very new, at least less then a few moths old.
Only 9 of them tried to drive a longer way then necessary, trying to make some extra money like that. 15 drivers had the wrong tariff when they drove. (And interestingly never the lower tariff!)
As many as 187 drivers kept driving on the left lane on Knez Milosa where there was enough space to drive in the right lane, as it is normal.
An unbelievable 70% (182 taxi’s) did NOT use a blinker when going to the left or right.
28 drivers spoke quite good English, at least they understood me. One driver spoke German quite well. (But this is maybe not a good investigation because with several of them I never spoke one word) 17 did not know where Dalmatinska was! And 63 asked me to explain exactly where Vase Pelagica was! In the last 6 months of 2006 approximately 10% knew where Zodiac was and at the moment I think that is around 30%. That's not so bad!
The lowest I have paid from Zodiac to my home address was 210 dinar. The highest 340. (All during same hours) But in general I must say it is quite reasonable and I hardly pay more then 250-260 dinars.


Conclusion:
1: A vast majority of the taxi drivers are very honest;
2: They drive too old cars; (and now without airco it is terrible)
3: They don't know what a blinker is;
4: A lot need to learn a bit more about the streets in Belgrade;
5: Maybe they should all emigrate to England as they drive on the left there;
If you have other remarks, please leave them in comments!

(Text added 4-7-2007: Of course forgot the most important and funny one. 100%, yes all, did NOT wear a seatbelt. Or is that no obligation for taxi drivers in Serbia?)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha wat een onderzoek! Wel knap dat je al die knipperlicht acties hebt onthouden of had je een blocnote bij je?

Anonymous said...

blocnote!!! Frans