Taxis in Beijing

A recent experience with taxis in Beijing reminded me that I wanted to share some advice re taxis there: avoid taxis that have been sitting and waiting for fares in lines at the major hotels, or at other sites, like the entrances of stations.  Drivers sitting in hotel and other lines have typically spent a lot of time sitting there waiting, and they generally want to make their wait worthwhile.  Some of the ones who hang out in hotel lines seem to specialize in trying to rip off travelers.  To the extent I have had bad experiences with taxis in Beijing, it has always been with drivers from hotel lines.  If they can get away with it, they may avoid turning on the meter, and then just make up an outrageous fare at the destination.  If they quote you a fare, it is almost definitely a rip-off.  About the only time when taking a taxi that has been waiting in a hotel or other line is not a mistake is if you need to go somewhere far away, like the airport.  In those situations, the driver will typically conclude that the fare will be worth the wait, and may run the meter and not try to rip you off.  Quite often drivers who have been waiting in line will simply refuse you if you want to go anywhere that doesn't represent a substantial fare for them.

Accordingly, it is almost always worthwhile to avoid headaches with drivers by walking a bit from the hotel and flagging down a taxi.  In twenty years of regular travel to Beijing, I've never, ever had a problem with a taxi that I hailed on the street.  They have always run their meter without being prompted, and not played any other tricks.  Since I speak Chinese, they generally enjoy talking as well.  About the only experiences I've had with regular taxis in Beijing that came anywhere close to being problematic was that sometimes I have hailed down a driver from one of the suburban counties like Fengtai who had just dropped someone off, and generally didn't know the city very well.  In those cases I was able to give them directions to the destination, so I am have been in the unusual situation of being a foreigner and explaining to a taxi driver how to get to Peking University, or Yuan Ming Yuan, or Sanlitun, or Houhai.  In these cases the drivers were conscientious enough to confirm with me that I could direct them to the destination before they accepted the trip.  If you have your destination written out in Chinese, but you don't speak Chinese and can't provide a phone number for the destination, and the driver of a taxi you have hailed refuses to take you, there is a strong chance that he is from one of the outlying counties and doesn't know how to get you where you want to go.

The reason for this rant is that I was recently in Beijing, and for the first time in quite a while stayed at a hotel downtown, with the 2nd Ring Road.  I decided to try the light rail from the airport, and took it to Dongzhimen.  The light rail worked find, but once I arrived at Dongzhimen, I found there was no official taxi line, just a bunch of drivers parked nearby quoting me absolutely ridiculous fares, like 100 yuan to Nanluoguxiang.   When I told them I could have come from the airport for that fare, they tried to negotiate by offering to make the trip for only 50.  I ended up walking about 30m down the street and hailing a taxi.  Accordingly, unless you speak Chinese and are willing to walk a bit with your luggage to hail a taxi, I would strongly advise against taking the light rail downtown.