Traveling by taxi is one of life’s pleasures in my opinion….in Sydney, where my home is, the taxi drivers are a veritable league of nations. An original Aussie driver is very hard to find these days because the arduous task of navigating the city’s clogged roads has fallen to the migrants who have changed the fabric of Sydney – for the better in my opinion….

Every time I get in a cab in Sydney I get an irrestable urge to talk to this new breed of driver, because they nearly always have a story to tell and it’s often about how they made the journey from their home country to Australia. It always impresses me how they have just got on with what they had to do in the face of often daunting challenges.

In Shanghai however, the luxury of a conversation is not one that I have been able to enjoy because of my inability to speak Mandarin…. so I have taken to reflecting on the lot of the city’s taxi drivers as we weave through the streets, swapping lanes with gay abandon! 

First of all it has to be said that it’s a tough gig and certainly not for the feint at heart – driving in Shanghai (or anywhere else in China for that matter) is more of a blood sport than a pastime and my first journeys in the standard VW Santana taxi were spent worrying whether I would have all my limbs at the end of the journey.

However, not only do Shanghai’s taxi drivers take all this in their stride, they are also generally very helpful and also very trustworthy – twice I have left my phone in the taxi and got it back by having somebody call the taxi company to patch us through to the driver.

That said, it would appear there is more than just the inherent danger of driving the roads of Shanghai associated with being a taxi driver, because all the taxis have a protective plexiglass shield around the driver and a chrome guard rail. All of which combines to give the cramped interior of the VW Santana a less than homely feel about it….

The thing that really impresses me about Shanghai taxis, is that you can pay for your fare with your metro pass.

 

Shanghai’s metro is first class and I use it most of the time, but if where I am going is not on a metro line then it’s time to brave the traffic and get a taxi. The same electronic pass that is used in the metro can be used in every taxi in Shanghai – you simply put your pass on top of the dashboard meter and the fare is automatically deducted.

How easy is that!

Filed under: China - Shanghai
by Don Silcock