Hangzhou by taxi · Hangzhou by taxi
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Hangzhou by taxi
Hangzhou by taxi
Hangzhou has a large number of taxis which allow for quick and convenient travel within the city proper. Most of the city's taxis are turquoise-green in color and easily identifiable by the word Taxi printed in both English and Chinese on the vehicles. Taxis for hire are marked by the green (or sometimes yellow-orange) light-up signs above the dashboard on each car.
Hangzhou taxi drivers almost always use the meter as required by law. Trips start at �11 and are priced by the kilometer, with surcharges for idling time and trips over 10km. It is advisable to take a receipt each time use you a taxi, should you wish to contact the taxi company or driver at later time to dispute a fare, recover a lost article, etc. Avoid the taxi touts at the train station and major tourist attractions, and instead, use the designated taxi queue or flag one off the street.
Few, if any, of the city's taxi drivers speak English or any other foreign language. It is therefore important that you be able to point out your destination on a map, present the driver with the name of the destination (in written Chinese), or properly pronounce the name of the destination in spoken Mandarin Chinese. If you have a Chinese acquaintance whom you can reach by cell phone, you can allow him or her to speak to your driver through the phone to convey the desired information.
Hangzhou taxis are not allowed to carry more than four passengers, although you may be able to convince or bribe a driver to allow you to "hide" an extra passenger in the backseat. This can be worth the trouble or expense if it saves your group from needing to take two taxis.
It is also not unusual, especially at late or slow hours for the taxi driver to collect multiple fares to make the journey more worth their while. This will normally be explained in Chinese. This is uncommon at normal hours, however.
Taxis, like all public transportation, are difficult to come by during the tourist weeks (Chinese New Year, May Golden Week, and October National Week); also, taxis at 7:30AM-8:45AM and 4:30PM-7:00PM, and every time it rains, are difficult to flag, as they are always full or in the middle of a shift change. A taxi with an imminent shift change (usually 3PM-4PM) will be showing a plate in the windscreen (Chinese characters of course) and will only take you if your route coincides with theirs. Being familiar with areas that taxis frequent or places where taxi passengers are likely to be dropped off at will aid you in finding a ride. Do not be visibly upset that your hailing position will be gazumped by a new arrival 20 metres up the road. The only rule is; it is the quick and the dead.
Taxi drivers will also negotiate for long distance trips, or full-day/half-day hiring. A trip to Pudong airport in Shanghai will be �600-1,000 depending on time of day or night.
In outer centres of Hangzhou, small five seater vans are usually available at bus terminals for onward transfers. These operate quite independently and the normal taxi rules do not apply. They will take you anywhere at a negotiated price.
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Hangzhou Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.