Originally Posted by
PTravel
A terrifying experience, and I'm glad you came out fine, except for the loss of a little money.
With all due respect, however, you did two things wrong:
1. NEVER go with a tout. This is true anywhere in the world. I've not been to BOM, but at the other Indian airports I've seen, the taxis are all parked in a designated area and the drivers tend to know each other.
2. NEVER go anywhere in a taxi that won't provide a rate quote, even if it's approximate.
I'm sure you know these rules but your exhaustion got in the way of your better judgment. Anyway, you did the right thing by cooperating with the robbery (and that's what it was).
I am glad that you were unharmed. In the mid 70's I remember reading that in some cases passengers arriving at international aiports were robbed by the cab driver. Delhi buses and cabbies have been bad since the late sixties. When I was a kid growing up in Delhi in the early 60's cab scams were infrequent. Bombay buses and cabs used to be reliable. It's unfortunate that Bombay cabbies have also been corrupted.
Couldn't disagree with anything you said. Sometimes, even when we know the rules, we don't follow them, either because the cabbie wears us down or we think, that since we are not going far, the damage has a limit. Cardinal rule for taking a cab is to agree to a price before you get in the cab or o using the meter. Sometimes the meter is tampered. A pre-paid taxi is one wayto avoid a rip off.