It could be anywhere, but whenever the driver finds out the destination is a very short one e.g. the suburb next to the airport rather than the CBD or further. The driver has often waited a long time for a job and when he hears you give him a short fare, you can hear him muttering under his breath at best. At worst he'll refuse to take you!

:eek::eek:

Did you get the cab number or license plate and call the company to complain??

While I've never had an experience as bad as yours, all of my worst cab experiences have been in Chicago. Rude drivers who leave the radio on and yak on their cell phones the whole way, drivers who don't know where they're going and get lost, smelly cabs, and plastic barriers between the driver and passenger seats that block the air conditioning and turn the cab into an oven in the summer...

For these reasons I now refuse to take a cab in Chicago for anything other than a 5-10 minute ride. I reserve limos for all my trips to/from the airport and any other long-ish drive.

I've gotten this in NYC, too. One driver spent a lot of time talking to someone about signing up for a dating service, then proceeded to tell me about his rotten ex-wife after he got off the call. Another grumbled loudly enough for me to hear when I paid by credit card; apparently the tip I included didn't leave him what he felt he deserved after the bank fees were raked off. At least they don't get lost in NYC; they all have GPS units with a screen in the back that the passenger can see.

Boston.

Every single time I have taken a cab in Boston and paid with credit card, the cabbie has tried to tell me his machine wasn't working. One time I said, "Oh well, sorry, I guess you're out of luck" and proceeded to get out, suddenly he was like, "Oh, well let's try to do it manually." Others have offered to take me to an ATM. Now I rent a car. Don't care what it costs, it's worth not having to deal with the hassle.

Well I didn't find them "miserable" per se, they are some of my least favorite drivers...white skinned, your gonna get scammed...
Of course, I'd probably be homicidal if I had to drive around in Cairo traffic all day.

LOL, I'll have to remember that! Either that or I'll pretend that I only have the exact fare and not enough for a tip.

OTOH, this is another argument for reserving a limo. They all take credit cards and never hassle you about it. I've found that by shopping around it's pretty easy to find limos that don't cost much more than a taxi. On several occasions I've taken limos that cost about the same as a cab.

I'd say almost any city where the airport is a short distance from the central business district (hotel district). San Diego and Ft. Lauderdale immediately come to mind.

Not my experience of Boston and I visit about 4 times a year. The recent requirement that airport taxis must have credit card machines has been a huge improvement on arriving in the city. It means I don't have to find $40-50 in cash. Never had a driver refuse a credit card.

I also find Boston taxi drivers to be reasonably friendly. The big problem is most of them seem to have arrived in the city the day before, been given a badge and a car and told to hit the streets. They have the worst local knowledge of any drivers I have experienced anywhere in the world. I usually end up giving directions from the back seat.

Coming from the land of The Knowledge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kno...#The_Knowledge, I am often stunned by the ignorance of local geography displayed by US cabbies. Their use of inefficient but simple routes often amounts to taking money by deception IMHO.

It's not JUST because I'm cheap that I prefer to take the shuttle or public transport when I'm in the states.

My nastiest experiences were at Dusseldorf - asking for rides to an office near the airport rather than downtown. I was actually concerned for my safety on one occasion.

I made it my policy to pick up cabs outside the departures level rather than risking the ire of the guys who'd waited to pick someone up at arrivals.

I wonder if this has improved. It's a few years since I've been.

I admire "The Knowledge" but those fares aren't cheap.

Bahrain

Indeed not, but it does mean that London has the best cabbies of any major city in the world. In many cities the "knowledge" involves knowing where the airport is.

Last time I came from Heathrow, for my simple 25 minute, 18 mile fare (just outside the M25) I took a black cab, and the cost was over £70, for a journey that would have been £30 in a mini cab. And he used a satnav.

And the driver didn't seem very impressed at having to make the journey either. Obviously ludicrously overpaid and overprivileged (bus lanes for taxis? :td::td::td:).

Chongqing. You can't have a conversation with them. You cant ask them anything. Basically, you have to shut up for the entire journey, which in CC can be a long ride.