"Free" Taxis

[Randy W]

When we were in Guilin, a taxi driver kind of latched on to us - took us to the hotel, took us to the CITS office to sign up for tours, was there waiting for us in the morning, and even after 3 or 4 hours at the animal park. He even had 2 or 3 meals with us. He told us that the government would pay him to give free rides to foreigners. We found out later that he gets a 20% kickback from CITS for bringing us there. No big deal, since the price we paid was the same, and we got quite a few free cab rides.

 

Then, in Beihai, a cab driver offered to take us to a restaurant for free (not the restaurant, the cab). She even came in and was helping Jiaying pick out the fish:

 

http://i13.tinypic.com/29fugb9.jpg

 

When Jiaying found out the prices they were charging, she said "No, thanks" and we went somewhere else that didn't give a kickback. Moral of the story: Make sure you're not paying a higher price for a "free" cab ride.

[drive_75]

When we were in Guilin, a taxi driver kind of latched on to us - took us to the hotel, took us to the CITS office to sign up for tours, was there waiting for us in the morning, and even after 3 or 4 hours at the animal park. He even had 2 or 3 meals with us. He told us that the government would pay him to give free rides to foreigners. We found out later that he gets a 20% kickback from CITS for bringing us there. No big deal, since the price we paid was the same, and we got quite a few free cab rides.

 

Then, in Beihai, a cab driver offered to take us to a restaurant for free (not the restaurant, the cab). She even came in and was helping Jiaying pick out the fish:

 

http://i13.tinypic.com/29fugb9.jpg

 

When Jiaying found out the prices they were charging, she said "No, thanks" and we went somewhere else that didn't give a kickback. Moral of the story: Make sure you're not paying a higher price for a "free" cab ride.

I had similar experience throughout China. In Hangzhou, the cab driver was willing to drive us to any place we want given if we stop by every place that he gets kickback. Finally, we said enough is enough and would go to the super expensive pearl place that he offered to take us, he decided that he no long have time to show us around. I would rather just pay the driver out right and go to places I want to go instead of letting them drag me all over the places that they can rip you off.