On Friday night I took a cab to the city. I was running pretty late having dropped in on an impromptu art exhibit at the National School of Art after work so I had to rush back and change. Having traveled around the block I noticed the meter was just over $9 on a day rate – so I made a comment about the fare. The cabbie explained that there was a $3.20 flag fall no matter how short a distance we’ve traveled and I told him that I take this route at least once a week and it usually costs me under $10 to get to my destination. So I decided to take a video of the meter ticking away. By the time I got to my destination it cost me $15. I told him I was going to file a complaint.
Just to give you an idea of how much I (felt) like I was overcharged, my return trip with the 20% night time surcharge cost me under $11.
I thought about this over the weekend and decided not to report it. But then I watched the video I took again and got annoyed so I just submitted a report at the 131500 taxi feedback page with a link to the video.
According to Transport NSW, it is $1.93/km and 83c per minute while vehicle speed is less than 26 km/h (stationary) and I’m not sure how it cost me $15 for a 1.5km trip (looked up the distance on Google maps) that took a few minutes. I’m even more annoyed that I had to take a cab as I’d normally walk there.
I did give him a chance to explain but as the boy said, it’s not like he’s about to admit he’s just rigged the meter in his favour. Hopefully I’m wrong, but if I’m not this guy is making 50% more on his fares – why should the public have to pay for that? Bah.
On another note the weekend was lovely. On Saturday I made a trip to Market City and came back with way too much food. I hardly get a chance to buy fish so I picked up some tenggiri and made assam fish curry for dinner that I had with some fresh lime coriander cous cous. The other reason I hardly buy fish in Sydney is because I’m so used to seeing whole fish at the markets in KL and it’s hard for me to recognise the types of fish that I like because I barely know their english names and it’s hard to tell when most fish on display is filleted! I would much rather buy whole fish and gut it myself but for convenience’s sake I stick to other proteins since butchers are easier to come by near where I am.
On Sunday Ray rang to tell us he stumbled upon the Hyde Park wine event and by the time we caught up with him he had purchased about 20 bottles! It made for a wonderful afternoon, plenty of sunshine, food, wine tastings and great live music. I picked up a Vinturi wine aerator at one of the stalls for dad; it’s such a cute little thing. I slept most of the rest of the day away and finished a whole season of Sex and The City, so much for doing things in moderation.
