Avoiding the Bali Airport Taxi Mafia

[harryopal1]

[QUOTE="waarmstrong, post: 51481, member: 20". As the President says when he hasn't a clue (which is most of the time) "We will see what happens."[/QUOTE]

That seems rather harsh on Joko who has an easy, relaxed manner and not pompous and know it all. Would you prefer the Phillipine's Duterte who not only knows it all but might have you bumped off if he felt you were insulting him.

 

[lifelongexpat]

Would you prefer the Phillipine's Duterte

Well a few choice individuals would certainly be dealt with accordingly under his leadership...

 

[Daniel50]

[QUOTE="waarmstrong, post: 51481, member: 20". As the President says when he hasn't a clue (which is most of the time) "We will see what happens."

That seems rather harsh on Joko who has an easy, relaxed manner and not pompous and know it all. Would you prefer the Phillipine's Duterte who not only knows it all but might have you bumped off if he felt you were insulting him.[/QUOTE]

I don't mean to speak for waarmstrong but here it goes........I think he may have been talking about the US President.......he does say "we will see what happens" a lot.

 

[harryopal1]

[QUOTE=" I don't mean to speak for waarmstrong but here it goes........I think he may have been talking about the US President.......he does say "we will see what happens" a lot.[/QUOTE]

Oops! Of course you are right. Now that I look at the words again I can hear Trump saying that.... many times. My apologies, Waarmstrong.

 

[waarmstrong]

[QUOTE="waarmstrong, post: 51481, member: 20". As the President says when he hasn't a clue (which is most of the time) "We will see what happens."

That seems rather harsh on Joko who has an easy, relaxed manner and not pompous and know it all. Would you prefer the Phillipine's Duterte who not only knows it all but might have you bumped off if he felt you were insulting him.[/QUOTE]

Joko is not the president to which I was referring. Please excuse my lack of precision.

 

[Jaime C]

In the past, I’ve booked Golden Bird Innova’s for 235k from the airport. Seemed the same price, even to Ubud. They offer an online prebooking discount, but I’ve never gotten it to work.

Many hotels just book you a Golden Bird and mark the price up.

 

[Missnaughty]

Arriving on domestic airport. Taxi from Airport to same place last time in Seminyak now cost Rp. 150K. Looking at traffic on the way back to airport, I think 150K is fair.

 

[lifelongexpat]

On a recent trip to Bali, we ended up paying 170,000 from the domestic terminal to Seminyak.

My parents who arrived a few hours at the international terminal earlier paid 200,000 after originally being quoted 400,000. The driver who quoted 400,000 introduced another driver willing to do it for the lesser price (excellent business acumen - losing out altogether).

Luckily on our return journey we managed to get two Bluebirds to our hotel and paid 75,000 each.

 

[jstar]

^
^^
Are you guys crazy? For less than 10 km? We pay 50-55K with GoCar or Grab from Jimbaran to Seminyak. And that is more than 20 km and goes via the airport.


NB: It's not a big problem to get a car from those two online taxis from the domestic terminal. Pickup at Solaria (cross the road, pass Starbucks and BK and walk to the end, then left) or at departures (100 meters on your left after getting out of the arrivals hall).

 

[lifelongexpat]

On our first trip to Bali we mentioned to our taxi driver that 150,000 was expensive to go around 5km when Grab charge less in Jakarta for a substantially longer trip, he got quite uppity and threatened to drop us back to the airport if we didn't drop the issue....

 

[waarmstrong]

We used Bali Joe except for the last trip to the airport from Ubud. It was when the airport reopened sooner than expected after being closed earlier due to Mt. Agung's mild eruption. We used the Hotel service as we could leave in a matter of minutes after the reopening announcement.

 

[Jaime C]

Paying 2-3 more than the going rate seems foolish. Especially if it’s to the taxi mafia.

I’d have no problem paying Bluebird’s official metered rate or similar. Jacked up prices from companies who have secured an exclusive at an airport don’t interest me at all.

 

[steveandpenny]

We try to use go car or grab when traveling for the main reason they all use goggle maps and the ride is a set rate. We have found out with bluebird that a lot of their drivers have no clue how to use GPS. They say they know the place and if you dont pay attention you end up in the wrong place.
I swear this story is true...I showed a driver my phone with the location on goggle maps and he nodded and said ok. 5 mins later he pulled over and asked to see my phone. He got out of the car and walked up to a cop and asked him where we were going !
I'll take bluebird in small areas but never in Jakarta or Bali.
Also I've been asked by go car drivers if I can cancel the ride and pay in cash. At frist I thought it was a scam (which it is kind of) till I realized that way they didn't have to pay go car their cut.
Also I like the chat option with go car which is new. You can send them a picture of yourself so it's much easier for them to find u if you aren't in a common area. Besides my Indonesian sucks so a pic is worth a thousand words.

One thing that does drive me crazy is when they show the car on the map to pick u up and he misses a turn and you know that means another 10 mins of waiting as he goes about 5 km trying to get back to where you are. I'm sure people think I'm a crazy bule when I'm yelling to no one " god damn it turn right NOW ...noooo fuck fuck fuck .

 

[waarmstrong]

Did you ever have one not show up after he sees your mug shot?

 

[jstar]

We try to use go car or grab when traveling for the main reason they all use goggle maps

It’s a shame but they don’t. Many think they know where it is and have the feeling they know better than the GPS so don’t pay attention. Also, quite some drivers have no idea how to use it or have technical issues all the time (connection?) so they ask you how to drive and where to go.

I'll take bluebird in small areas but never in Jakarta or Bali.

Never had real issues. Only once and then I made him call the Dispatching to guide him.

Also I've been asked by go car drivers if I can cancel the ride and pay in cash. At frist I thought it was a scam (which it is kind of) till I realized that way they didn't have to pay go car their cut.

If I like a driver I will do a top up; then they get some cash which always makes them happy.

You can send them a picture of yourself

If you tell them it’s Bapak Bule it should be kind of clear, right? I don’t want pictures from me floating around on Internet. No way. I also always refuse if they want to make pictures (happens quite a lot in Manado, in Jakarta they try to do it behind your back, in Bali they have millions of Bule.)

One thing that does drive me crazy is when they show the car on the map to pick u up and he misses a turn and you know that means another 10 mins of waiting as he goes about 5 km trying to get back to where you are

That’s why I always call. It that would be an issue: For pickup at home I have saved a standard note in Bahasa on my phone, which explains the quirky way to get there. I just copy and paste it into the messaging with the driver. So no discussions afterwards (many don’t read it anyway).

Most frustrating is they cancel the ride after accepting it. But honestly, I do the same myself more and more. If they don’t pickup the phone and make a big detour.

 

[rabbit_39]

I've gone as far as told the bluebird driver to move over and I drove the car myself. No joke. He missed the terminal 3 sign at soekarno hatta airport 3 times!

The only reason I take bluebirds recently in Jakarta is the odd even issue. Otherwise I minimize their use and opt for gojek or grab. I miss Uber as the app was much better set up and the customer service is much more responsive.

I've taken grab and Uber in several cluntries. Indonesia is the only one where the driver frequently calls to ask where you are (despite the app location and the message I send) and ask where you're going (I have to tell them to just use the app). Even in countries where the driver doesn't speak English I have a smoother experience... I order, they arrive, the pronounce my destination, I say yes, I arrive.

No asking for cash, no canceling the order when I say I can't change to cash from credit card or go pay, etc .

 

[jstar]

Indonesia is the only one where the driver frequently calls to ask where you are (despite the app location and the message I send) and ask where you're going

Yes, that's quite bad.

In most countries* they (Grab, Uber, ..) disabled that option to see where the destination is. So only the moment they arrive at your location, they will see. The phone call is nothing more than a 'work-around'.

Now, they mostly want to know to see if they 'like' the trip and they cancel otherwise. Very often it has to do with macet (they hate it) or proximity to their home base and probability to get another ride.

*:

Starting Friday, one in four Grab drivers will no longer see where riders are going prior to accepting a booking.

The ride-hailing platform made the adjustment in an effort to lower the number of trip cancellations and “reduce selective behavior of drivers.”

“We hear what our riders want and we will continue to improve our services while making bookings more efficient for our drivers. We will implement non-showing of passenger information before ride acceptance, as it is a major source of complaints,” Grab Philippines country head Brian CU said in a statement on Tuesday.

However, this feature will only be rolled out initially to 25 percent of Grab drivers with historically low acceptance rates.

During the wee hours, drivers will still have the option to see the trip destination for their own safety. Passengers will also be required to provide correct and complete account information for security purposes.

“We will never compromise safety and we will always put the welfare of our drivers and passengers first. We thank our drivers for understanding the masking of destination feature. We hope that our passengers will do their part and verify their accounts for safety and proper identity,” Cu said.

“For added protection during wee hours of the night, drivers, however, have an option to see passenger destination,” Cu said.

Grab will also roll out an auto-accept driver-app feature that allocates jobs automatically to drivers, allowing a more seamless experience in continuously accepting passenger requests. The new feature will be implemented in full starting Friday.

PBA party-list Representative Jericho Nograles thanked Grab for its action, but added that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) had ordered this measure more than two years ago.

"Thank you Brian Cu and Grab Philippines for finally implementing the LTFRB order after more than two and a half years," he said in a message to reporters.

"Sana naman yung refund ng P2-per minute hidden charges ay hindi naman aabot o lalampas ng two and a half years din. Sana naman yung LTFRB should check compliance of their Orders," he added.

Some 500 drivers of the company were sanctioned last week due to complaints of trip cancellations. Riders have complained that more drivers are canceling trips even after accepting the booking.

Grab maintains that the main reason for the difficulty in booking a ride is due to lack of cars, resulting in low supply.

Btw, I agree with you it was much better with Uber. There I could make a screen shot of the driver info and send it to Customer Service the moment he canceled after the call. Then they took action. Forget that with Grab....
.

 

[R Cameron]

Btw, I agree with you it was much better with Uber. There I could make a screen shot of the driver info and send it to Customer Service the moment he canceled after the call. Then they took action. Forget that with Grab....
.

That's smart! I haven't ordered Grab in a while so I don't remember, why wouldn't that work with Grab?

 

[Euc-]

Well.. I for one would like to see them seeing the destination before they accept or not, it’s no fun to cxl 5 times in a row simply because they got the wrong plate for where you want to go.

 

[jstar]

.
FROM THE GRAB FAQ FOR DRIVERS WEBSITE (Malaysia version):

Drivers’ Cancellation Rate FAQ

Cancellations are a bad experience for both drivers and passengers. To protect our community, we monitor this through the Cancellation Rate (CR) % and we take action against both drivers and passengers who frequently cancel without valid reason.

What is a Cancellation Rate?

Driver Cancellation Rate (CR%) is calculated based on the number of jobs you have cancelled out of the jobs that you have accepted. You can monitor your CR% on the driver app.

So, why did I receive a warning?

If you received a warning SMS, it means that:

1. You have a much higher driver CR% compared to other drivers
2. We frequently receive passenger feedback that you have requested them to cancel without valid reason
3. This (point number 2) has happened for a few weeks in a row

Take note: The driver CR% reflected in your app may be 0% but you may still receive a warning SMS if you have repeatedly requested your passengers to cancel your rides.

How do passenger cancellations affect me?

Passenger cancellations will affect you ONLY if you have repeatedly requested them to cancel on your behalf. We also monitor your passenger cancellation behavior across multiple weeks to avoid unfairly penalising drivers who have been cancelled on many times.

When can I cancel?

You should only accept bookings when you are ready to complete them. However, we understand that there are certain situations that require you to cancel a booking. Valid reasons include:

• Passenger doesn’t show and/or you’ve waited for too long*
• You are unable to get to the pickup within estimated time shown on app (e.g., stuck in traffic for too long)
• You are unable to accommodate a passenger’s request (e.g., fitting 5 people into a car)

*5 minutes maximum for all Grab services except for GrabShare and Multi-Stop Rides, which have a maximum waiting period of 3 minutes. [remark @jstar : in RI this is 10 minutes]

To provide a good experience, we encourage you to use GrabChat to inform a passenger of your reason for cancelling before doing so. If you have any complaints about your rides or passengers, please leave us a feedback here.

What are the stages before being banned?

If you’ve received the first warning SMS, do not fret, you can still improve your CR%. There are three stages before a Grabber is banned:

1. Soft warn

2. Warn

3. Suspend & Re-education

4. Banned

Tips to reduce your CR%: Refrain from cancelling your rides without a valid reason, and refrain from asking your passengers to cancel their rides.