Taxi Meter Scam Alert
Saturday, March 6th, 2010The following has come to our attention.
The Problem: Some airport taxi operators are turning their meters on before passengers enter their vehicle.
The Immediate Solution. If, when you settle into an airport metered taxi the meter is already displaying the $8.50 minimum figure(which is correct), request the Operator reset the meter in your presence. If you are refused, please exit the taxi and hire another who waits for you to get settled in before starting the meter.
[Should time allow, please advise an Airport Ambassador of your reasons for changing taxis, and better yet, take note of the company and please contact BTV Operations Manager, Mr. Rick Varney with your experience, at: rvarney@btv.aero. He'd be most interested.]
The Why’s. Some of the Operators are priming their meters in hopes of beating customers out of a maximum of $5. So we’re only talking short sighted crooked, LOL, but nonetheless the sorts who should be weeded out of the airport, as the airport taxi Operators are quite often Vermont’s first representation to the outside world(whose patronage, frankly, we all rely upon to one extent of another).
How it works. The $8.50 minimum fare includes up to 2 miles of travel and/or waiting time. So some Operators who think themselves clever souls have begun starting and then pausing(Time Off) their meter when they calculate that the $8.50 minimum is just about expired.
A sure sign the Operator is cheating you is if the meter begins accumulating dimes as you’re rolling out the exit of the airport. Meaning the Operator has timed it well enough to get the whole fiver, and more telling, that he/she is practiced!! In which case, for one reason or another, ask the Operator to swing back into the airport, then refuse to pay, and immediately report the incident to an Airport Ambassador while requesting the presence of a Burlington Airport Police Officer -if you would please- followed by a note to Mr. Rick Varney, as noted above.
If nothing else, it should develop into an entertaining story you can share for years to come.
At the very least! there will be some “instant karma” as the Operator will lose your fare and thus the hours spent awaiting his turn. Followed, at the very least -assuming he is not immediately suspended for the remainder of the day or pending a hearing- by having to start over at the back of the queue.