Originally Posted by
travelinmanS
I've had this happen a few times since they re-opened earlier this year. I just let the guy take me to my apartment and then tell him I take this trip twice a month and it's never more than 180 RMB. They always accept my payment offer with a sheepish grin. When I notice the meter running hot mid journey I always figure it's better to get dropped off at home before pointing it out than arguing with the driver somewhere in the middle of Pudong.
Definitely. I text my wife when I see something is off and tell her to wait for me with the compound guards. When we arrive I tell the driver that I've already alerted the police. I've only encountered one driver who hasn't acquiesced to my demands. But this is because I don't offer what's a "fair" fare, I offer zero and tell them to consider themselves lucky I'm not calling the police.. I tell them this is the price to pay for breaking the law. One guy got really pissed. Surprisingly my wife disagrees with my approach and says those guys have to make a living.
For a tourist I'd recommend only taking the light blue or white taxis from the taxi rank at PVG.
This is hard to do. I tell the queue administrator all the time that I don't want the red taxi and they get mad at me and tell me I can't choose. I tell them that 50% of the time I get ripped off by these taxis. They are not moved. I let people go ahead of me in the line until an acceptable taxi comes up, and this works most of the time. Recently I've taken to telling the cab driver my destination, and that it's 50.1km. I then tell them that there are many scammers and that I have to be careful. This signals to them that I'm aware of the scam and for them to use the correct meter setting. I'm sure they have a switch. I find that this method saves me grief. Though I do get some satisfaction from calling out scammers at the end of the trip, I find that it's not worth it for the blood pressure rise it causes me.
(Edited to add: I think the yellow taxis are ok as well)