Complaints against taxi drivers resurface
Complaints from passengers against taxi drivers are once again in the spotlight.
Many passengers have complained that taxi drivers bargain and try to convince customers to take a ride without switching on the fare meter, especially from busy places.
At places like shopping malls and hospitals, where there are a lot of passengers waiting for taxis, the drivers try to take advantage of the situation, Arabic daily Al Raya reported yesterday.
Drivers’ lack of knowledge about routes also continues to be a problem.
Some taxis drivers refuse to take customers if the trip is a short one or the route has heavy traffic, or they refuse to go by the meter and haggle over the price instead.
A Qatari football player said on Twitter that more taxis should be assigned to busy places because most drivers try to exploit customers they pick from such spots.
Others have said that during a trip with a passenger, some taxi drivers solicit customers on the way and pick them up if they are going the same way. They then get money from each passenger.
Some other taxi drivers wait until many people going to the same place have gathered and then try to convince them to pay a fixed fare and not go by the meter.
Passengers also have urged officials to take strict action against taxi drivers who violate rules and try to exploit passengers.
“If strict action is taken against drivers they will fear to make mistakes. Since the action against them is weak, drivers continue to exploit customers,” said a passenger.
Another passenger said, “There are many visitors and tourists coming to the country and they depend on taxi services. Misbehaviour by taxi drivers will give a wrong impression about the country.”
Amid complaints of a shortage of taxis, Mowasalat has increased the number of cars in the Karwa fleet and the fleets of its franchisees, Al Million and Al Ijarah. In all, the three operators run around 3,000 taxis.
The problem with taxi drivers is obvious. They are rude, disrespectful, dishonest, don't know their way around Doha, have hygiene issues, have filthy, smelly cars from sleeping in them, they refuse to take potential customers short distances, try to take you the long way or directly into a traffic jam, fiddle with the meter and have it on '0' instead of 'I', and in some situations try to molest women. The last time I caught one, I got to the airport smelling like skid marks and BO. disgusting. Yes, life is tough, but there is no need to live like a rat in the sewer.
Their two problems, they can't drive and need a more stricter driving test and needs to be a hotline to report rogue taxi drivers, with a three strike rule. I was a victim of the so called no meter. Well the meter said 20.50 yet the driver wanted 30. He's lucky I was in a rush for a meeting.
Nafeels... this is the kind of attitude that brings this country down.. the attitude of "then go home" is totally wrong and leads to the problems mentioned above. It will never pay off. And for you information many drivers and other low income workers are being deceived when they are offered jobs in Qatar... after they committ and spend their own money on agents (sometime after taking personal loans) they become a bonded labour.. so even if they want to go back.. they can't .. on the top of that companies sponsoring them refuse to buy ticket or even return their passports.. so they got nothing to loose.
The only party here to blame is management's unethical behavior. They know about the problems.. and they just prefer to use the poor people as scape goats.. and for that they get a bonus from their management.. so let's not kid ourselves and look into real issues instead of always putting the blame on a "smal guy" just because they are easy targets.. it is shame
mr. Qtr_love if their salary is low they can bback to their home country rather then being a Di*k to their customers. how can u justify their behaviour saying their salary is low.
problem is their management. they are not being controlled and no one is ready or interested to listen to any complain at their complaint centres
Looks like Mr Nathan lives in North Korea, how can you say to send them to jail?! If you are that educated dear, you won't say that! Their salaries are way to low& their employers treats them as their own property. Simply: do not use Karwa services! We only know to discriminate and criticize!
The problem isn't with the taxi drivers but with the management and the structure of the company they work for.
The main issue is their low salary and the fees they have to pay for the cab hire, limited time they've got to earn enough cash to cover the costs and working AND living conditions (Doha traffic is one example, which is ridiculous as you all know if you drive here or even try to cross the road).
Every taxi driver in this country is an expat, here to work to support their families back home like most of us do. They try to serve their duty the best they can and make the most of it to support their family while working under pressure and poor conditions. All passengers should take that aspect into consideration before complaining. They do the wrong thing by the rules when trying to use a wrong tariff or take you for a ride but they do so for the right reason. If they don't know the route and get lost is because they have not been trained properly (or at all) and it's a management fault. Company should provide them with the training, proper living conditions and a basic salary that would be equivalent to basic life expenses in this country and they should also get rewarded for an exceeding expectations service and they would then put their hearts in to what they do and do it properly. It's simple but at the same time such a big deal to sort out once and for all so everyone would be happy, us passengers and them taxi drivers. I think that the only way to solve this problem is to change the infrastructure of the company and employee packages and we will see a massive service improvement as customers.
Even if you tell the driver you will complain them, they won't care. I have twice experience an African and Nepali driver even dared me to call and complain them in their companies they say kaliwali. Yes I have called their company but I'm not sure about their actions. 1 asked me to get down in Old Salatha going to Al Sadd. And 1 in City Center to Old Salatha. Their reason it's traffic.