So, like I mentioned in a previous entry, there are taxis and there are minibuses! The taxi drivers immediately know they can fleece us. We are essentially walking around wearing a neon sign that says Firenje (foreigner) and a T-Shirt that says Feel free to ask us to pay 3 times the acceptable price for your taxi. We don’t mind, we don’t know any better! There is no meter and no standard price in cabs here and the fare is finalized through negotiations with the cab driver.
This is why I love the mini-buses. On the mini-buses, there is a fixed fee and they give you perfect change. However, the downside to the mini-buses is that routes change and you cannot plan to be at a certain place within a certain time. You always have to give yourself ample lead time. In the case of private taxis, when you confront the taxi drivers about the extremely high price they have just quoted you and attempt to haggle, they always tell us about the rising cost of fuel and how it costs 10 birr / litre. We are slowly catching on and we have now started cutting them off when they start talking about the rising cost of fuel. We immediately ask how much and we offer to pay only ½ of that. We say we know that fuel is 10 birr/litre, but that the distance is not far and a fair price will ensure that we call them again.
SIDE NOTE: The deal here is that if you like a cab driver, you take their name and number and you can call them from anywhere to come and pick you up. Otherwise, you hail cabs much like you do in NYC! I think my negotiation skills will see a strong improvement in the course of the next 6 months. Either that or I will likely continue to pay far too much for cabs. I think it might be the latter.
