Taxis and Ride Shares

     You’re going to take a lot of taxis, and it’s complicated. It’s often hard to hail a taxi. Once you do, it’s very hard to understand pricing due to language barriers. A useful rule is that you should not actually get into a taxi until you and the driver both understand the destination and the price. Do not just hop in and expect a meter to provide a fair price.  

    In some countries it is not safe to take just any taxi. You need to look for specific companies or signs. SAS will provide specific guidance about this during the “preport” meeting the night before arrival in each country. 

Rideshare services can be much more convenient than taxis. You don’t need to negotiate prices or carry cash because the whole financial side of the transaction is done remotely in the app. Many countries do not have Uber or Lyft, but they almost all have some local alternative. Grab is a service that’s popular in Southeast Asia. Bolt is another one that is also popular in Africa. You will need to download an app for each of these and then use it as you would Uber or Lyft in the US. 

    In some countries a lot of rideshare and taxi services use motorbikes rather than cars. This is not very safe! Not only are you very vulnerable to traffic accidents, but many motorbike shares have exposed exhaust pipes that can cause serious burns to passengers’ legs! Try hard NOT to accidentally book a ride on a motorbike.

Don't get on one of these!

Some rideshare services operate by very different rules than in the US. In the US and Europe, a rideshare driver accepts a ride before they see the destination. This prevents drivers from selecting only the juiciest rides. Drivers for Grab and Bolt and even Uber in some countries are much more selective, only accepting the rides that work best for them and rejecting requests that are inconvenient.

The selectivity of rideshare drivers means that it’s much easier to get local rides in cities than it is out in the countryside. It’s way easier to get out of town than it is to get back. We got stranded more than once when dropped off in a remote location far from the city. Drivers would see us request a ride on the app but decline the ride because we were too far from town. This is really frustrating! When you head out to visit some awesome rural place, think ahead about how you’re going to get back.

If you get stranded, you can always call the ship for advice or help. We found that public transport like buses can be helpful in returning to the ship.

This place reminded me of that scene in Peewee's Big Adventure when he knocked the motorcycles down like dominos