London taxis the best, Roman taxis the worst, recent survey finds
2010-10-27
A recent survey of 1,900 travelers conducted by a travel website found that London's taxi drivers are considered to be the best, whereas Rome's taxis are thought of as the worst.
Travelers participating in the poll were asked to rank taxis and taxi drivers in various world cities based on their cleanliness, driving skill, value, availability, friendliness, safety and knowledge of the area, Reuters reports. London's taxis, despite being among the most expensive, were considered the best primarily for the friendliness of the drivers and their knowledge of the city.
Roman taxi drivers managed to score so poorly primarily due to poor driving on their part; almost one in 10 travelers claimed Roman taxi drivers had the worst driving skills in the world.
New York's taxis ranked second on the list due to acing the availability component of the ranking. However, the city's drivers were widely considered to be rude. Manhattan cabbies tied with Parisian drivers for the rudeness component of the ranking.
"Traveling by taxi is one of the first experiences that many travelers have upon arrival in a new city," a spokesman for the website said, commenting on the importance of such perceptions.
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