The best taxis in the world? No doubt the legendary black cabs of London, unbeatable for safety, friendliness of the driver, cleanliness, driving quality, knowledge of the area and availability of cars. Those with the best value for money? Bangkok tuk-tuks, although they are considered the worst in terms of safety, driving quality and cleaning. While the famous yellow taxis in New York are the easiest to find.
This is what emerges from the annual search carried out by Hotels.com, leader in online hotel booking, on the opinions of travellers on taxi service worldwide. The taxis of the British capital therefore beat the competition of those of New York (voted by 9% of travellers) and Hong Kong (third place with 7% of preferences); they complete the top 5 Tokyo and Singapore, chosen respectively from 7% and 6% of respondents. Bangkok tuk tuk is in sixth position (6%), followed by Berlin taxis (4%), Helsinki (4%), Dublin (4%) and Stockholm (4%).
The research conducted on a sample of 5000 travellers also highlighted other interesting aspects by comparing taxi services around the world:
Taxis remain the preferred means of transport to travel from the airport to the hotel (54%), exceeding the use of trains (16%) and buses (16%). Only 2% of respondents said they prefer to reach the hotel on foot.
There are many travelers who have told that they have forgotten objects in taxis: from the dish of dry cuttlefish left in the seat by a Korean tourist, to the wedding faith forgotten by a Norwegian, even to the bra left uncautiously on the taxi by our compatriot! Often going up on a taxi there are also very special finds, such as the toupet found by an English tourist!
The Argentineans are, according to the search for Hotels.com, the most "tirchi" tourists of the world: only 34% of the respondents, in fact, says to leave the tip when traveling by taxi. The inhabitants of Hong Kong are the most generous: 48% said it leaves 20% of the amount. Italians instead tend to round the required number (65%), although 25% of respondents say they never leave their tip when travelling by taxi.
Most respondents worldwide consider safety the most important aspect of a taxi trip, except for Italians! For us, in fact, it is much more important to clean the vehicle.
Roman taxi drivers are also considered by Spanish (11.5%) and Irish (9%) less security-conscious drivers!
A smoking taxi driver is universally recognized (33% worldwide) as one of the most annoying elements during a taxi trip. Even the Italians (53.5% of the respondents) feel unbearable that the driver lights up a cigarette during the service. A strangeness comes from Chinese travelers: 55%, in fact, believes that one of the most annoying things when travelling by taxi is the bad smell emanated from taxi drivers!
Korean travelers are those who most of all hate taxi drivers too much to chat: 37% of respondents believe they are one of the most annoying elements, followed by the Germans (30%). For us Italians, instead, traditionally lovers of good conversation, a taxi driver a little too loquace is not a big nuisance: only 11% of the respondents, in fact, believes it a little pleasant element.
