Taxi Germany

cabs

More than 50,000 cabs exist in Germany and their use is similar to most other places. Germans are creme coloured taxi's with a dark brown taxi shield on the canopy. It is no wonder that the majority of the taxi fleet in the native town of the luxurious limousine consists of slim and luxurious Mercedes and Audis.

Just like many other areas of Germany's lifestyle, the taxi business is highly controlled, so there is no need for aliens to be afraid of "being taken along". Renting a TaxiThe best way to rent a taxi is to find one at a taxi rank. Normally you will find several taxi cabs awaiting you in these places.

Generally, you should rent the first taxi in the queue, but you can choose any of them to wait at the booth, especially if you need a bigger car than the first one. In case there are no taxi cabs available, check if there is a "taxi phone" (Taxirufsäule) at a nearby taxi station. This telephone box will link you to the taxi service which will then forward a taxi to your destination.

Often these taxi telephones also have an alarm feature - make sure you press the right key if necessary. It is also possible to order a taxi by telephone. There is a taxi hotline in every town - see the telephone directory under "Taxi headquarters". However, in bigger hotel complexes the reception or the cocierge can organize a taxi for you.

A number of towns now also provide taxi ordering services on-line. In theory, you can call a taxi on the road, but usually one of the above alternatives is more dependable. According to legislation, taxi riders cannot deny the admission of a client for trips within the community or the authorized taxi fare zones, unless the client is overly drunk, filthy or ill, carries a gun, travels with an aggresive pet or is obviously insolvent.

The best way to tell the rider where to take you, if you don't know German, is to put the adress on a piece of writing and give it to the rider when you get in. On the parking meters you can see the price when it is payment hour. FiresAll cabs in Germany must have a visual counter and tariffs are governed by applicable law within a specific locality (mandatory driving area).

Delay times (including delay in traffic) are also calculated at a typically â'¬0.10-0.10-0 ratio. Fifty per capita per minute, whereby some towns allow one or two minutes of free emptying and others with higher charges for longer waits. Tariffs may also differ depending on the season and/or weekday.

In the case of journeys over 50 km, you must arrange the price in beforehand. 7% for journeys under 50 km and 19% for longer journeys is contained in the ticket price, but must also be shown on the counter and voucher individually. Taxi riders may also levy an extra handling cost in excess of the ticket price for extra charges such as night duty (typically 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and Sunday or public holidays, transportation of luggage, pets or wheelchairs, messenger and use of bank card.

Minivans and combined transport cabs usually also charge a supplement. Taxi operators are usually very kind, supportive, honest as well as informed about their town. Should you ever suffer from poor servicing, make a memo of the car number near the counter and/or in the back windscreen and notify the taxi centre. In order to tip the rider, round up the ticket price to the next euro.

On longer journeys or when you get additional or extraordinary services, it is common to tip 5% to 10% of the ticket price.