Tips about taxis in Athens

read the following guidelines:

1) When flagging a taxi in the street, always go with the price written on the taxi meter and never make up a price in advance. If you try to make up the price, they will see you as a foreigner and overcharge you. (Exception is to and from the airport, which has a flat fee)

2) The taxi meter has a place indicating the tariff: 1 or 2. This should be tariff 1 during the day and tariff 2 after midnight up to 5:00 in the morning. Tariff 2 is more expensive. Make sure the tariff is 1 during the day in order not to be overcharged.

3) Additional charges may apply if you have lots of luggage or you are travelling to ports. There is also an extra charge if you have ordered a cab through the phone or you have an appointment at a specific date/hour.

4) It is a good idea to have an approximate idea of how long and how much the ride should be to your destination. Ask a local if you can.

5) In case you feel you are being overcharged, insist on getting a receipt and taking down the plate number of the taxi. You can also appeal to the tourist police by calling 171. In most cases, the taxi driver will back off.

6) In most places it is easy to just flag a taxi off the side of the road, but it helps to know in which direction you are heading, because taxi drivers are reluctant to make u-turns. There are also several taxi waiting stations in Syntagma Square, Monastiraki Square, Omonia Square. You can also order a taxi by phone by calling 18300 or another number (see list) http://www.athenstaxi.info/athens-radio-taxi.html : be prepared to give your location. Remember there is an extra charge if you order the taxi.

7) Beware of the following taxi scam: When you pay with a 50 euros bill, the driver quickly exchanges it for a 10 euros bill and shows the latter to you, making you think you got mixed up, and getting you to pay extra.

8) If you want to have a totally hassle-free taxi experience, just call in advance Zak Sousis, who is a member of the community, speaks English and he will get you wherever you wish in the city and beyond. Contact him: (30) 693 727 4548 or zakori@otenet.gr

Taxis in Athens

Taxi in Greece is very cheap the minimum charge is €3.50, and 10-15 minutes ride with a taxi will cost only €5, (for the airport it’s a fixed price of €38)

How to choose a taxi?

Many taxis drivers are nice and honest, however, there are some who try to abuse the tourists, I’ve had bad experiences with taxis in different countries. A friend of main also was driven by a taxi in Crate and charged an excessive fare.

So if I have an app that lets me pick a driver that others say is ok then I feel more confident. That’s why we all use TripAdvisor, right? To get the opinions of others who are more experienced.

Uber

The Uber app gives you an estimated fare, time of arrival, registration plate number, driver name, then you see it on the map & track it until it gets to you. After the ride, you get to rate the driver. Also if you lost something in the taxi you can contact and get it back.

TAXI-UBER WAR

Most of the places in the world uber Taxi drivers are private people, and the Taxis drivers are losing their costumers, here in Greece the court stopped the possibility of Uber for private people, so when you get a taxi Uber you get taxi driver and not private driver!

TaxiBeat

Taxibeat has managed to recruit 4000 of the 14,000 Athens taxis after some initial push back from the ‘yellow tribe’ as they are locally known, to pay a 10% commission of every fare. But it seems the adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” has set in and there is now a significant waiting list for drivers to sign up.

Much like Uber, you book a taxi via a free App and there is no booking fee. You can choose to pay cash or card and you rate the driver after your trip is over.

So which App is better Uber or TaxiBeat?

TaxiBeat as a better Taxis compare to Uber, and also most of the drivers are English speaking and some time they have even a WiFi in the taxi, by TaxiBeat there is less drivers because they are taking from the driver 12% each ride, and if there is a driver that have a record of to many customers that complain about him taxi-beat will send the driver away from the app.

By Uber there is much more drivers, mainly because they are taking from drivers only 8% for each ride, Uber app as also a better interface, and you can call directly to the phone number of the taxi driver, not like Beat that you only call through the app and many times doesn’t have a good service, also the possibility of schedule the taxi in advance, doesn’t exist on TaxiBeat,

Conclusion:

Well I have both, and I use Beat for first choice, however if there’s no available taxi, or if I need to schedule the taxi in advance, I will order Uber and they usually have always available Texis.

Taxi

Tips about taxis in Athens