Taxi scam, is this normal?

sorry.. posted this comment by mistake.. don't know how to delete it..

I never heard of Fox.. still new in this country.. 2 months so far.. but i'll find their number, although walking is healthy as butterfly says.. and the weather is nice.. but still sometimes dangerous.. coz many times i find myself racing against cars.. as their are no traffic lights or special pedestrian walks on many roundabouts..

I tryied few, including fox. At this time most limousines are taken with school runs. Walking was the best opition. Plus is healthy :)

Why don't you call Fox Transport instead of walking home?

Never had such a problem with Karwa drivers.. they are usually nice, helpful and honest.. main problem is that most of the time can't book a taxi.. many times i walk for one hour home because i phoned the call centre of Karwa only 3 hours in advance!! So for me, most of the time this company doesn't even exist.. I think there should be other taxi companies operating to encourage competition and improve the service..

yes it was a long walk :) took me over an hour, but didn't mind too much, it was just that I didn't have Heidi's stroller with me so by the time I got home my arms were numb from carrying her!!! Not too mention the state of my feet.

Pothole... I first arrived in Qatar Jan 2005 (ok not two years, but almost) and I can swear on my life that Karwa cars were already on the roads!

these karwee was not helpful at all, yesterday , you guyss aw it in gt (gulftimes) the green cars with dust. well why dont they give it all to us and we drive karwa whehehhe.

life life life, it should be more easier if this taxis are cooperative also. but they are just this one of those things which makes our life move slooooooooooooooooower with bad experience.

wont they put cable cars here? wehehe

butters - No I don't rely on Karwa. Since my workplace is a short hop from City Centre, Karwa availability was no problem. They have a taxi rank there.

Two years? AFAIK Karwa green cab service was launched sometime during the end of 2005.

As for booking, I've never tried that. Private limos are what I'd recommend for booking.

Tendai - "The few I've had the misfortune to be driven by didn't have a clue where they were going and then charged me the cost of being lost! How can you be a taxi driver if you're unfamiliar with the area you drive in?!!"

Try Melbourne, Australia. I've seen drivers there thumb through Melway even when asked to go to places any outsider would know about in 2 weeks atmost. And you'd pay $10 more for being lost, not QR 5.

then event dont speak english,once i try all the languages and body language to make

the driver to understand that i say HI to him !!

amazing world !!

The few I've had the misfortune to be driven by didn't have a clue where they were going and then charged me the cost of being lost! How can you be a taxi driver if you're unfamiliar with the area you drive in?!!

I'm much happier paying the Qr30 for those Caprice limos or the Qr5 extra to get one of the Jag limos outside the Ramada. They at least know where they're going ffs, and they're reliable!

i wait for an hour waiting any kind of transportation,then an idea came to me to call this company, i get the number from one car which is full,called, the surpriced that they told me that they are not working from now to the end of this games,is that true ??

well, karwa was really fantastic and have an amazing talent you could ever seen in your whole life!

i just waited 1 and half hours of the good karwa and no good samaritan karwa driver will ever stop. geeeeez i waited around gulf street earlier and found none. there are some, but someone inside, well its an excuse. BUT there are vacant taxi but lost his break, as the driver will not stop..ever! ... cant he not see me? gosh,as if they are in a hurry to pee..

how many of you experience this amazing horable *********** experience?

Karwa is a great service and a good addition to the services in this country. The thing is, where the hell can we find one. Sometimes I think they exit their station in the morning already loaded with a passenger.

I do not understand why don't they increase the number of Karwa taxis? what will additional 5 or ten thousand cars do for the traffic? It's will only be an additional drop in an ocean of cars.

A couple of thousand cars is definitely not enough.

Dubai has four taxi companies. All of them are owned by the same owner, but on the street the compete against each other. This is what Qatar needs - break up Karwa in two, or introduce one more taxi company, to put some fire under their asses.

You are really a good walker :-)

my dear butterfly,

centerpoint to muntaza..........eeeeeeeekss

no wonder you want to put on weight.

maybe i should try it, without my 10kg daughter.

"Never had a bad experience with Karwa (and I've used them almost daily since they first started)"

Sorry, but are you honestly saying that you can rely on karwa for your daily transport requirements. You kidding, right? ok, where is the catch...

The drivers are fine. I repeat. But the availability of cars is a huge problem. Sometimes you can wait for two hours under the sun. I have a friend that relies on Karwa to go to work, she leaves her flat two hours before because she knows she cannot get a taxi easily.

A booking service is a booking service. No more no less. What we expect from it is to be able to book a car and rest assured that the car will turn up at the given time. Yes, we come from overseas. Does "booking service" have a different meaning in Qatar?

"Just give them some time to get things straightened out" lol, ok. But two years ago karwa was a much better taxi service than it is today. It is going downhill. There are no improvements.

TG is right. There are very few taxis for public use now, most are being used by dagoc. The booking service is no longer available. Yesterday I had to walk from The Center Point back to my house (near Almuntazah Cooperative) simply because there were no taxis in the Karwa point or on the roads. It was really hard cos I was carrying my 11 kg daughter in my arms and didn't have confortable shoes. And god, it was hot.

I wish DAGOC had their own shuttle transport service instead of using the PUBLIC service.

Never had a bad experience with Karwa (and I've used them almost daily since they first started). Most drivers even offer to return 0.5 Riyal change.

I don't blame them for their bad booking management etc. Most people come from overseas and start comparing Karwa to what they are used to back home. This isn't fair as Karwa drivers and managers have less than a years experience. Just give them some time to get things straightened out.

Agree with butterfly. Karwa is Dubai-isation of taxi service (new term coined for wannabe attempts at improvements with a wary eye at Dubai) and its woefully in-adequate currently, but its a huge improvement on the shame called orange taxis.

Karwa is a good promise and most drivers are good and polite. Be warned though that during the games you would only hear about Karwa taxis..not see them..so make emergency arrangments NOW..All Karwa drivers are being trained for ferrying atheletes and players during the games.

It's not normal. It is very very unusual. I found Karwa taxi drivers to be polite and honest at all times.

I agree with businessman. You probably didn't notice the airport pick up extra, which is added up to the taxi fare not only in Doha airport, but in any airport around the world.

First time out of your country?

I never had any problem with Karwa taxi drivers. The problems with Karwa is that they (its managers) are unable to meet the transport requirements for Doha's residents. There is also a huge problem with its booking system.

Of course the fact that they pay a real low wages to their drivers doen't help.

Hiflyer are you sure you factored in the QR7 that is added to the meter bill when you get the taxi from the airport?

It is an extra and doesn't appear on the meter until they click a few buttons. You can see it on the right of the screen.

Sounds about right too. 22 riyals plus 7 is 29. he said QR30

Think you actually just ripped him off

Taxi Gents are in the business of making money the fast and quickest way. I recommend to all to watch the movie Taxi Driver. Once you enter their domain you are subject to their mind swapping head games. Just chill and enjoy the ride because is you the one paying for the ticket and be fast steady in asking HOW MUCH (estimate) then run the meter.

Enjoy the taxis!! LOL,LOL