So what's the taxi meter for?

One thing I appreciate about taxi drivers in Baguio City is that they are honest and they do not take advantage of their passengers. Well, at least, most of them are.

I just came from NCR to attend a seminar at the AFP Theater.  My students and I travelled at 2:00 in the morning last February 8 so that we would have enough time to go to places we wanted to visit and would have enough time to rest before the said seminar.  We arrived at the Cubao terminal of Victory Liner at around 8:00AM.  The other group went straight to Camp Aguinaldo where they will staying until Sunday.  The group I was with decided to eat breakfast in a nearby fastfood before going to our destination, Broadway Court Apartelle. After that breakfast, we hailed a cab along EDSA and asked the driver to bring us to New Manila where Broadway Court Apartelle is located.  He agreed but said we had to add Php50 to our fare.  Since we were all tired and we just wanted to take a shower and take a nap, we agreed to pay that extra Php50. In the afternoon, we decided to go to Solaire. So, we took a cab and travelled from Quezon City to Paranaque City.  Luckily, the cab driver did not ask us to pay extra. Same was true when we took a cab from Solaire to SM Mall of Asia. But, on our way back to New Manila, the driver of the taxi we took asked for yet an additional pay.

After the seminar, we decided to take a jeepney that would bring us to Araneta Center so we could have early dinner before going back to Baguio City.  And then again, we decided to ride a taxi that will bring us to Victory Liner's terminal in Cubao which is very near the area. After a few minutes, my Korean student noticed that the meter was not turned on and so he called the attention of the driver.  He just smirked, we were not given any answer as to why the meter was not turned on. He dropped us off in front of the terminal.  My Korean student paid Php100. We were not all sure if the meter would read Php100 if it were on.  The driver was about to call our attention. Well, I am sure he would have collected more than Php100 but we did not mind him anymore. When I turned to look at him again, he looked so furious and so was I.

Sadly, I was not able to take down the names of the cabs.  I texted the cellphone number printed on the door of two of the cabs that asked for extra pay but I did not get any reply from the operators.

I wonder how thesedrivers get to feed their family with money earned the wrong way...