Taxi Gouging in Eastern Europe

PRAGUE â€”  Travelers to Eastern Europe should be wary of unscrupulous taxi drivers who are taking visitors for a ride in more ways than one.

Many cabbies in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria appear to have rigged meters that operate on several different speeds, depending on the drivers’ perception of a passenger’s affluence.

A trip across the Bulgarian capital of Sofia that legally costs about $1.50 can turn into an $8 ride, for example. In Budapest, one Hungarian driver recently demanded $12 for a fare that should have totaled about $3; the twice-burned passengers then wisely asked the next driver about the fare in advance and, after a brief argument, calmly departed the cab before it moved. About 30 seconds later, another cabbie offered something close to the legal rate.

Since the 1989 collapse of communism in the former Czechoslovakia triggered a flood of tourists, Prague’s taxi drivers have earned a reputation as being among the world’s most rapacious.

According to Reuters news agency, local press reports say some drivers earn about 100,000 crowns ($3,640) a month--more than 14 times the average wage in the Czech Republic--by overcharging foreigners visiting the city.

In one case reported last year, a German woman had to pay the equivalent of $120 for a $20 ride from Ruzyne Airport, 11 miles outside of Prague, at the height of the tourist season.

So what’s a tourist to do? Have your hotel or host telephone one of the more reliable radio cab firms in the native language and try not to give an obvious Yankee business hangout as your destination. Instead, tell the driver to drop you off at a nearby intersection. In Prague, avoid the taxi stands in Mala Strana, Wenceslas Square and the Charles Bridge, which are known for unscrupulous drivers.