Travelers to Vegas beware:
Before you lose your kids college fund on the casino floor in Las Vegas, beware of the first predator in the Sin City – your airport taxi driver. Regardless if you are a first time novice or high rolling card shark, don’t start your trip by being duped before you even get to your hotel:
Always tell your driver to take you on the shortest route and tell him not to take the highway to or from your hotel!
On the first seven airport runs, I’ve made sure to mention this to our driver. They gave us a dirty look but took the Tropicana Avenue route, charging us about $20.
On our eighth trip, we failed to say anything and ended up on I-15 Southbound. Questioning my driver with these directions, he explained, “I’ll get you there much quicker.” Next thing I know, we were out almost double the cab fare.
Since one of my hobbies is studying the transportation bylaws of Mountain Time Zone States, I was fully aware of the following statute:
NRS 706.8846 Prohibited acts concerning destination of passenger. With respect to a passenger’s destination, a driver shall not: 1. Deceive or attempt to deceive any passenger who rides or desires to ride in the driver’s taxicab. 2. Convey or attempt to convey any passenger to a destination other than the one directed by the passenger. 3. Take a longer route to the passenger’s destination than is necessary, unless specifically requested so to do by the passenger. 4. Fail to comply with the reasonable and lawful requests of the passenger as to speed of travel and route to be taken.If this happens to you, take this advice: Don’t argue with the driver. Instead, make sure you get his driver’s number, taxi company, date, time, & place and send your report to the Nevada Taxicab Authority website, which has a special section just for being a victim of “longhauling.”
Within a few weeks, I received four apology emails and a personal letter from the cab company manager, which stated “The purpose of this letter is to convey to you my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced with respect to a cab ride you had . . . you can rest assured that the refund that I am sending you will be paid by the driver and all appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken.”
My apology letter
Enclosed was a money order from 7-Eleven covering the full taxi fare. So not everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
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