Prague - The Czech capital's status of one of the most attractive tourist spots in Europe brings significant financial influx to the city, but has its downsides as well - one of them is Prague's taxi market. Prague's taxi drivers are notorious for ripping off its foreign clients by charging exaggerated prices.
For example, a tourist who has just arrived at Ruzyně airport might be asked to pay as much as 4,500 CZK (180 EUR) for a ride to the city center. Many tourist agencies are openly warning its clients who are to travel to Prague against local taxi drivers. But this may soon be a history.
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New fish in the pool
„We are going to try to change this picture," says manager Pavel Nytr from Tick Tack taxi company that is going to start to offer its services in Prague on February 3. Tick Tack is, according to its own statements, going to conquer Prague's taxi market with fairness and affordable prices. The company will be using white Audi A6 vehicles.
„We will start with tens of cars," says Radek Nedbal from business department of Tick Tack. „However, the announced demand is so high that we are already dealing with Audi on acquiring hundreds of cars in a few months," Nedbal says. Tick Tack is modeling its services according to upper standard taxi services seen for example in Vienna.
The company has also approached two major Prague malls, Metropole Zličín and Centrum Chodov, where it would like to have its stands. It is also offering its services to tourist agencies, as the company would like to transport tourists from and to Prague's Ruzyně airport. „Hilton hotel is also very interested in our services," says Nedbal.
Uniformed taxi drivers
Our drivers will be uniformed and taximeters will not allow any price manipulations, assures the company which is also planning to have taximeters installed in a way that clients can see them, which is far from being a commonplace in Prague. In case of complaints, the route in question will be reconstructed and its price recalculated through GPS technology, and the result will be submitted to the city hall.
The clients will be charged a fixed 25 CZK (one euro) tariff for using the service and then 28 CZK for every kilometer and 5 CZK for every one minute the taxi spends waiting. Those who order their ride through dispatching central will pay only 25 CZK per kilometer, owners of the client cards will have 30 percent discount. These prices are a bit lower than the prices offered by other Prague's taxi services.
A directive of Prague City Hall states that taxi drivers may charge its clients a maximum of 40 CZK per kilometer. However, some charge even more than 99 CZK (four euro). Two years ago, the city hall established a municipal police team called TAXI, consisting of twelve policemen charged with putting the directive in effect.
Since then, the number of cases of tourists ripped off by taxi drivers decreased, however new methods have been invented to avoid police controls and punishment. For example, some drivers issue hand-written bills or „accidentally lose" their taxi licenses.
Presently, Prague's taxi market is controlled by two companies: AAA radiotaxi and FIX. Last year, these two firms won a contract for exclusive right to transport tourists from Ruzyně airport, which effectively means they share one third of the total number of taxi rides in Prague. However, the airport is not the exclusive playground of the two firms, as other taxi companies can transport for example clients of some tourist agencies or hotels. And Tick Tack sees this as an opportunity.
The „luxury for affordable price" model adopted by Tick Tack was pioneered in the Czech Republic by Radim Jančura's Student Agency and its trademark yellow buses. „Yes, this is an adequate comparison," says Nedbal, confirming that Tick Tack has a similar marketing strategy.
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Tick Tack is going to use a franchise model, with every driver acquiring his car for his own, he added.
