This according to that most authoritative of sources, the Times of Malta, based on a poll of 1900 travelers worldwide at Hotels.com. Story here. Irish cabbies were judged the second friendliest.
The top five overall were London, New York City, Tokyo, Berlin and Bangkok, in that order.
Bangkok’s rating is a fair call. There are some troublesome ones, but for the most part they’re a decent lot. Sometimes a little too friendly, being quite chatty when you’re dead tired and just want to veg out sometimes. My biggest complaint would be the way some like to keep the stereo cranked way up.
London cabbies frequently top poles for being ‘best’, in whatever form. It’s because it’s regarded as a profession, rather than a fill-in job, and takes a minimum of two years training before you get a licence. (It’s called doing the Knowledge, which requires prospective cabbies memorizing virtually every street and landmark in London).
The intensive training means you don’t get random people driving black cabs - they all speak fluent English (and, in fact, it’s one of the last ‘trades’ that attracts a majority white British working class rather than immigrant workers) and they are all self-employed, so have considerable pride in what they do. There are very strict rules on charging, cab cleanliness, etc.
Black cab driving is a good living in London. Estimated earnings are in the region of £50-60k ($80-100k) a year.
Singapore has great cabbies too, I never have had them try to hustle me. Kuala Lumpur has some of the worst I have ever seen, right up there with Moscow.
I got sorely ripped off by a KL cabbie. I was following us on a map and he drove us round and round the city several times on the way to Mahathir’s Erection. I pointed out what he’d done and threatened him with the tourist police and he got very scared and looked like he was about to cry. I chucked about 25% of what he was trying to charge us at him and got out. He looked grateful.
I do agree that London black cabbies are indeed amazing. Even if they do express some… interesting… views on race relations occasionally. As well as claims that “I 'ad that Kylie Minogue in the back of the cab once…”
From my experience I’ve never had a cheerier cab driver than in Belfast. I’m assuming Glasgow was fairly low down though, it can be hit or miss but I’ve more often than not got a grumpy driver.
This says more about the deficiencies of other cabbies than the virtues of British ones.
A common stereotype of London cabdrivers, promoted to a large extent by the satirical magazine Private Eye, is that they all have extreme right-wing views “*String 'em up! That’s the only kind of language they understand … *” "I 'ad that Nanette Newman in the back of the cab once. Well, not literally. She still owes me fifty pence … " (genuine quote)
I wish they had something like the Knowledge in Bangkok. Many of the cabbies are fresh off the farm, and I’ve often had to guide them where I want to go, as they hadn’t a clue. (Friendly guys, though. Too bad they tend to be red-shirt supporters.)
In my relatively younger years, when we were living just outside the city, I took a taxi home after drinking all night in central Bangkok and passed out in the cab. When I came to, the taxi was parked somewhere in a rural area and it was daylight. I’d apparently been too inarticulate to say exactly where I lived, so he just waited around for me to come to. He got a big tip.
As for cleanliness, I’m reminded of a cab in Changchun, the capital of China’s Jilin province, which borders North Korea. I was there with some colleagues, we took a cab somewhere, three of us. The one who sat in front pulled on the shoulder safety belt. When we got to where we were going, he had a pattern of grime covering the front of his white shirt exactly where the seat belt went. That must have been the first time in years anyone had pulled it out to wear!
I remember my first time in a New York cab. I was around 20 years old and it was the early 80s. I just arrived in the city by Greyhound. I was taking a cab from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to someplace on the upper West Side.
Along the way the cab driver kept pointing out the hookers he knew and saying hi to them.
Bolding mine. NYC cab drivers were rated as “friendly”? I had to take several cab trips when I was in NYC a few years ago and every single driver was at best “cold”. None of them responded to a simple “hi” or “good morning” when I hopped in, wouldn’t make any kind of idle chitchat, talk about their city, etc. Bunch of rude jackasses IMHO. Come on, a visitor to your city and you won’t ask where they are from, what they’re in town for, tell 'em where to get the best (fill in favorite food here)?
Never seen that. Every other place I’ve been to if I’m in a cab I’ve had at least a nice conversation with the driver.