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London Black Cabs voted best in the world - Parisian cabbies the rudest

by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Jun 3rd 2009 at 11:30AM

A European survey of 1400 tourists has revealed where you can find the best taxi cab service.

33% of the votes went to London, followed by New York (17%) and Berlin (6%).

London cabs were also given high marks for friendliness and knowledge of the routes. They do lose marks for being exceptionally expensive.

New York came second in almost every category, except safety. In fact, New York cabbies were voted "worst drivers", though they make up for it with their knowledge of the city.

Taxi drivers in Paris were voted the most unfriendly, and rightfully so in my opinion.

In all the times I visited Paris, I never came across a single cab driver who seemed to posses the will to live, let alone the ability to provide friendly and reliable service to the millions of tourists visiting their country. Paris also takes the top place in worst taxi availability.

Filed under: Europe, North America, France, United Kingdom, United States, Transportation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Craig Jun 3rd 2009 12:38PM

I'm at a loss as to why anyone would want to take a taxi in Paris, unless they were physically unable to get around.

Scott Carmichael Jun 3rd 2009 1:19PM

Not everywhere in Paris is reachable by public transit, and even when it is, if you are carrying a lot of luggage, a metro isn't always convenient. Plus, laziness and time of day also play a factor. If I *can* take a metro or bus, I will, but sadly it isn't always possible to completely avoid the damn cabs :(

jen laceda Jun 3rd 2009 1:38PM

I took a cab once in Paris when their Metro was on strike. Actually, I had a pretty good experience. My cab driver told me he used to work for Euro Disney but got "disenchanted". He was really nice to me. First, I didn't have enough Francs (yes, it was quite some time ago), so he let me pay half in Francs and half in Dollars. Then, I didn't have enough money to cover my fare, but he was ok about it.