Rank Rats

One group of passengers who really annoy me are taxi rank rats. Those people who on seeing a line of waiting passengers walk away from the rank to pinch an approaching cab. When they hail me it’s a real struggle not to give them the finger, but then there’s much satisfaction in pointing to the rank as I pass by, thus highlighting their cheating.

However the most despicable rank-jumpers are those who steal taxis from either the elderly, women alone or with children, or the incapacitated. They are utter bastards, as are the many cabbies who will stop and pick them up.

There once was a taxi regulation which stipulated no pick-ups within 200 metres of a cab rank. A rule expressly created to protect those waiting in line from selfish rank jumpers.

Yesterday afternoon I encountered rank rats outside Concord Hospital. On approach, twenty metres short of the rank, two women aged in their thirties hailed me. Slowing down I intuitively checked the rank and, sure enough, waiting there was an old man on a walking stick, feebly waving to me.

Another woman emerged from the footpath crowd and marched across the road hailing me. As with the first hailers I pointed to the old man waiting at the rank, when what I really wanted to say to her was, "Imagine that’s your father, waiting to get home during the afternoon rush hour with no one to help him secure a cab."

Rather than acknowledge my pointing finger she feigned ignorance and looked off into the distance for the next approaching cab to steal. Rank rat.

Comments

[Joanne]

You are a great man (and I mean that - its not meant to sound sarcastic)

[Josh]

Does picking up a cab at the domestic departures gate when you arrive in Sydney count as a rank rat?

[Juffy]

I think I encountered the opposite once, when I flew into Sydney last year - a taxi driver rank rat.

I was about to walk out the main doors downstairs (the ones with the taxi rank right outside) when I got collared by a taxi driver. He asked me where I was going - St Leonards. He said fine, and led me about 50m off to the side where his taxi was parked.

Apparently he'd had a dud booking and presumably didn't want to circle around to wait in the rank, so he grabbed a likely looking traveller who would conveniently give him a $50 fare while taking him back to the city. :)

[steph]

what about cab driver rats? From Westfields Bondi taxi rank, I had rang for a cab as none were at the rank, another lady arrived and rang for one too. A cab came a few minutes later and he called out HER name. It was no suprise to me when I asked her where she was going to discover she was going out to Strathfield, alot further than I was going. coincidence?

As for old people, I've had them jump the queue in front of me on more than one occasion. I respect my elders and would be more than happy to let them go ahead of me if they'd asked instead of just using their age to jump the queue.

[Sprite]

You should have just run her down!

Juffy, you know, they do that as a matter of course at Bangkok airport. Perhaps the practice is spreading here?

[Krupo]

Juffy describes what to mean sound like pirate cabs. Except that I assume the cab actually had a license.

I experienced one like that late at night in Madrid.

We could've split the ride with 3 Americans girls - 5 people, 4 seats, no big deal!

It would've been a huge saving all around, but the girls backed out.

The whole ride into the city the driver spoke in rapid-fire Spanish about how silly the girls were.

[Britt]

thanks for sticking up for the elderly and woman folk! when i lived in new york city, men would always steal my cabs, pushing me out of the way, and i was always shocked the drivers didn't say anything!

[Britt]

thanks for sticking up for the elderly and woman folk! when i lived in new york city, men would always steal my cabs, pushing me out of the way, and i was always shocked the drivers didn't say anything!

[LaLa]

That behaviour is despicable, I've actually experienced it the other way round too.
I recently went to Canberra on a business trip and had to take cabs all over town. I got chatting to one cabbie, Dougie, and took his number and organised ahead of time to be picked up after meetings and dropped to the next one. Much easier than using Canberra Cabs shit automated system. One of my last meetings finished early in the city so I had about half an hour to wait until the agreed time to meet Dougie at a specific rank so I bought a drink and magazine and sat on a seat just near the rank. An elderly lady approached and sat down and asked if I was waiting for a cab but I explained my situation and she said that a lot of Canberra cab drivers won't stop for elderly people in the city as they know it will not be a large fair as they live close to the city. I watched her try to hail 2 vacant cabs down with no luck.
As a female dressed in suit and heels with a "pulley" case I looked like I was going somewhere so I hailed and popped her in it.

What goes around comes around.

[Juffy]

Krupo - he did indeed, it was the first thing I checked. I was already twitchy when he led me away from the main entrance, if his license had looked sus I would have been out of there in 2 seconds. :)

As far as I can tell he was just a lazy cab driver who didn't want to wait in line. I didn't care one way or the other, and being Sydney airport it's not like he was the only cab around.

[Nic]

At Hong Kong Airport I hate those who ask foreign tourists inside the terminal if they want a (dodgy) cab, taking cash away from the guys outside who have paid a legitimate license fee and have waited for an hour. When it happens I look for the nearest cop on duty and dob the prick in.

[Heisenburg]

I recently got ratted in Manila by an American - waiting outside a shopping mall in the taxi rank, waited for AGES, taxi pulled in and the Yank, in line behind us and loudly bitching the whole time about the wait, literally pushed us out of the way and got in with his Filipino wife. What can you do? Being polite Aussies the best retort we could think of was to yell "get out of Iraq, you bastard!" after the cab as it pulled away - and feel like a royal pair of wankers afterwards...but at least we then spent the next two weeks glaring at every Yank we came across, guilty of not travelling well or not...

[Dataceptionist]

I HATE rank rats, in Manly on any night other than a Saturday theres virtually no point waiting at the rank, but that said, its only a practice that works because the drivers won't do what you did Adrian and keep driving to the rank, they stop and pick up the filthy usurpers knowing full well there's a full rank down the road.
OR they slow down on the other side of the road and ask the crowd if anyone's going to the city, and the people run over.
There's guards on Saturday nights so the drivers can't do it, but its so incredibly frustrating as a passenger.

[Nam]

Steph - I would hardly consider a cabbie picking up the lady who called for Strathfield over you a cab driver rat. If anything he is actually fulfilling his duty by picking up his booking.

[AdventureGirl]

It is not 'a matter of course' at Bangkok airport, it is underhanded just as it is in Australia. You are probably going to pay extra for not going to the proper rank.