Moving only by TAXI
By Speckman33 •
I won't have a car when Ill be moving to Doha.
I am considering the option of jumping into taxies whenever I need to move around. Probably around couple times or three times a day for relatively short trips to the city centres.
Is this going to cost me LESS than renting a car in the month?
Any ideas please? thx
depends on where you live. i don't drive too. no plans to learn and get a car in the near future. i have no problems getting taxis from where i live. but recently, more and more karwa drivers tend to try to rip their passengers off so i take the bus as much as possible since there's a bus stop right in front of my house.i used to have a driver and he was great but when he had a problem with his car he stopped. i didn't have good experiences with the drivers i had after him so i decided not to get one anymore.
The problem I find here with renting a car is unlike most countries, in Qatar if you rent a car with insurance you still have to pay a minimum of QR 1000 if you have an accident and its your fault or if the other driver has run away. With the amount of reckless drivers on the road, I'm even worried to park my rent a car in a public parking place. Taxi's are like gadarene said very difficult to find on the roads and if you call a cab, you must call a day in advance or on busy months, 2 days in advance!!!I used to drive in UAE and I agree Qatar drivers are a lot reckless but not so much different from UAE. But I come from India and I have seen total madness on the roads there so Qatar to me is soooooo much better than my home town. :-)
Getting a driver or renting your own car are the best options. Public taxi service is not at all good. If you intend to drive yourself nothing much to worry because if you have been driving as in "I have been driving" then not much of a hassle...been driving 'quite a lot' for almost 2-1/2 years and didnt meet many aggressive drivers which can unnerve you, though as at every other place you have to keep your reflexes sharp when on road....and as every place has its own driving rules (unwritten)... you will get used to it too.
Cheers!!!
contray to the above post i book a taxi via calling in and book it to arrive for 7.30 am sun-thursday and they are always on time, the only gripe i have is you can only book 2 days ahead, which can be a pain if you forget to pre book and as for hailing i cab, i have got one from various locations in doha, and rule is stand somewhere they can safely pull over and they will ! again never had a problem nor waited longer than 5-10 mins,oh and watch out for the indians who are touting illegally, they have no insurance and if you get caught, it is a thousand riyal fine (these are usually white cars) the legal ones are turgoise and all the drivers are knowledable and chatty,
I'm assuming you're moving to Doha from a REAL part of the world? where one can actually step out onto the streets & hail a cab straightaway?...well that's not how things work here,if you actually call the public taxi service to ask them to send you a cab @ 3pm,they'll probably ask you what date you want to book it for!!! forget about hailing a cab in the street,not going to happen...i suggest you learn driving,if you don't know how to & if possible,try taking a course in 'aggressive driving & dealing with aggressive drivers' because more than 50% of the people on the road here drive like mentally unstable psychos...good luck! no lack of fun on the roads here,that's for sure!...it will cost you less to take a car on lease than to keep paying for cabs,not to mention the inconvenience...
Taxis are cheap here, I don't drive yet, the other alternative to look at is getting a driver that way you can get to where you need to go faster, as most drivers have a good knowledge of the areas
Good luck
to rent a car. though it might be costly, you dont have to wait for taxis.