Delhi Taxi Drivers

tourist taxi
Originally uploaded by patrickdowd.

Most Delhi taxi drivers are hard-working, do their job, take you to your destination, charge a fair rate and appreciate a tip. Some are crooks. One taxi driver agreed to take us to our hotel for 200 Rs. When we got to the hotel, he demanded 300 Rs. The reason was, I had held up the hotel card and asked how much to go to New Delhi, which was the location listed on the card. But he gave the name of the neighborhood and said it wasn't New Delhi.
One driver who left us a 15 minute drive from our hotel and told us it was around the corner. Originally, he said we could pay him what we liked, but instead demanded 500 Rs. A ride to the airport is less than that. I gave him 200 Rs and wound up hiring another taxi to take us to our hotel for another 50 Rs (plus a 10 Rs tip).
In the future, I plan to use the hotel for all cab bookings. The day of our taxi tour, the driver tooks us to various destinations and waited for us to return. When we went to dinner, the driver waited for us as well. It is expensive, but not much more (1000 Rs for 8 hour day). It is safer, less aggravating, and gets us back to our hotel. Because the hotel books the driver, a complaint from us would result in the driver losing fares. When a cab driver drops us in the middle of nowhere or demands an outrageous fare, we have no recourse. If a policeman is called, they will speak in Hindi and and we won't even be able to talk about distances, neighborhoods or agreements.