There was a lot of press about it. Even made the front page of the Times of India (aka Times of Bollywood News and Other Fluffy Stuff). I heard that the first one made a noticeable difference, but I didn't see too much drop in last week's campaign. Still had the dull roar of rickshaws plying the streets to lull me to sleep.

+1 ^

actually the hindustan times is actually the 'bollywood news times'....the times of india is the 'times of other fluffy stuff'....

Great technique. When we were younger, my father always noted down the license plate number of the taxi we used in a way so that the driver could see that. There were no digital cameras then, and we didn't have a camera.

That's a solution for some, but for people on the budget. Hordes of back packers travel in India on the cheap without the prepaid packages. What's good about travelling to India is that you can do it on the cheap, provided you are ready for the adventure.

Taxi Scams?
 

Best thing to do is book your transportation in advance. For example, The Oberoi, Mumbai has a fleet of BMWs (5 & 7 series) and staff to meet you at the baggage claim area and that way you know you will be picked up by a reputable organization and will get to a great hotel (The Oberoi, Mumbai).

you will also be paying 10 times more when you arrange a car from a good hotel....there are a bunch of reputable companies that will charge you much less than the 5 star hotels....

+1 anyday and I believe this is for any city in the world..just use ur common sense and u would be fine..and after reading this thread most of us would be aware of the common taxi scams ..

There is now a sign on the Sealink advocating people boycott taxis. It's right next to the sign advocating that people bathe with one bucket of water and another advocating that cars follow the road rules. Ha! What will they come up with next? :p

Taxi Scam in Mumbai
 

My daughter and i dealt with the 100 for 500 rupee currency swap in taxi.
Driver had an accomplice who supposedly helped with luggage. My daughter, who had been pack-backing in India for several months, saw the switch, and confronted driver. She uncharacteristically yelled at him, and accused him of the switch. Driver pulled over, and took out our luggage, and put us in another cab. He gave us our money back. Later, asked a hotel staffer if I should have told the police. Staffer indicated police would beat the driver, and demand a bribe, and driver would continue his scam.

Same thing happened in a restaurant. However, we did not get our money back. The restaurant presented bill in carved box, and asked that payment be placed in box. Waiter came back and icated i had not placed enough in the box.

On the other hand, my daughter left her wallet at an internet cafe, went back to inquire the next day, and was happily given her wallet.

so it goes

Overall, Indians are very honest.

However, these characters that deal with foreigners still are at work:

Basically the police were implementing their form of direct justice, similar to what occurred in the "Wild West" of US history, and this includes the "bribe", which could be construed as a fine...

However, I am not condoning the same, but simply stating the perception that some have here.

I would say these characters are at work with foreigners in many many countries and even in Europe.. hv personally experienced something similar in Budapest and Prague..

Even in SIN, some taxi drivers try to take advantage... :td:

I recently saw a Japanese TV show where they showed why you can't even trust someone holding up your name on a placard. The scam works like this:

(1) Two scammers show up in the arrivals hall and look for a driver holding up a sign with someone's name.
(2) One scammer walks up to the driver, acts as if they are the intended customer (= victim), and leaves the terminal with the driver.
(3) The other scammer impersonates the real driver by copying the victim's name onto a fresh sign and waiting for the victim to show up.
(4) They say "Let me take your bags to the car and pull it around to the curb for you." Then they toss the victim's bags into their own car and drive away. The victim doesn't realize they have been scammed until they start thinking "why is that driver taking so long..."

I believe the program said that this scam was known to have taken place at LHR.

This "scam" sounds like it was invented by the TV show. It's hard to imagine going to all that trouble just to end up with a suitcase full of used clothing.

Nevertheless, I never, ever let my bag out of my sight when getting a pickup at the airport. I will let the driver take it and walk ahead of me to the car, but I'm going with it!