Strange, I have never not been picked up by a taxi! I smile and wave one down, they stop and are almost always pretty happy to take a foreigner. My Chinese isn't excellent but I can usually make it known where I want to go and they are happy and usually try to make a little conversation in Chinese. I also tip them because I hear they sometimes don't pick up foreigners so this is a little bit of encouragement!

I will say that I have had the same experience as Bad Boy, though not so often as to say it is a major concern. But yes, they have driven right past past me and picked up Chinese students or people waiting down the street. Usually another will come by quickly enough and I am picked up.

I hate it most when they drive by you with that red sign on, the FREE CAR thing (空车) and still pass you by. But other the inability of 99% (I did not say 100%) of the drivers here to drive I can't say I had those problems that often, except at the shift change periods between about 5 to 7 PM. And the buses have improved in my area so I am hop into a sardine can bus and get jostled around, but I can handle that now. I just hate when I have to elbow people out of the way because they refuse to move when I need to get off of the bus. But I tend to find that my body weight of near 200 LBs and the average local size of 120 lbs means they WILL move.

Oh shyte, I am ranting again :(

maybe because they can't speak English, they are shy, they are weak, and narrow-minded. And they don't wish to learn or improve.
It's possible:)

A nice story about taxi drivers for a change. Yesterday I left my very expensive Samsung smartphone in a cab that had dropped me off outside a bookshop. Without much hope I borrowed a mobile from one of the bookshop staff and dialled my number. No answer, so I sent a message saying I'd wait outside the shop. As I was stepping outside the guy called me back and said the driver was on the line. Twenty minutes later the taxi was back with my phone. I offered 100 kuai reward but the driver refused it. A true Bodhisattva. I'll never complain about taxis again.

Good story indeed.

No, I will continue to complain about taxis here until the day I die.

Some of them are exceptionally courteous. However, they just never seem to know where anything is. They always drop you off in the VICINITY somewhere. And then you're left to fend for yourself. Sometimes, they don't want to make a detour to take you to the exact location. It's a developing country taxi system is what it is.

Get some training to drop people off at the exact destination and maybe install a GPS system to navigate your way through the concrete jungle.

Thanks!

I've never had a taxi give up and drop me "in the vicinity". In my experience, if you have a clearly written address they go out of their way to find it for you. I've had drivers stop and ask passers-by, speak to friends of mine on the phone, look at maps, get out of the cab and wander around, etc.

It is odd how foreigners in Kunming seem to have such widely differing experiences with taxis. In my 6 years here - some 500 taxi trips - I've only had one bad experience, but others clearly have problems on an almost daily basis. Maybe it's the area of the city?

I didn't say I have problems on a daily basis. But at least on 2 or 3 occasions that I can recall, the drivers weren't able to find the spot, even with the address.

It boggles my mind how they can't locate a place with an exact address? What's the point of even having addresses?

Yeah, drivers have stopped, used their lifeline like in "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" to call a friend, and asked old ladies on the side of the road.

Maybe 5 times out of 10, they need to ask.

Why not learn the streets and get a GPS?

I think cabbies is Kunming are pretty crappy compared to the rest of China. And what is this with this stupid fuel surcharge?

Have you noticed how they always round up. I am not joking one time I had 'fewbuck.10' on the meter and the guy rounded up to the next kuai. It doesn't matter whats on the meter they always try to round up. Pissed me off so much that I have bundle of jiao's with me all the time and pay the exact fare on the meter. They get really made when I do that.
Furthermore the cabbies here are such diva's when it comes to take uncomfortable rides. Uncomfortable measn not convenient for the driver. It's never good enough for them, train station 10 min of complaining that I am so cruel and asking for a trip there, or the airport for example, where they of course want you to pay for their return fare (WTF).

Plus they always have that stupid red light switched on and refuse to take you. I get it, you want working hours on your clock but then have the courtesy as they at least have in "rude-town-city" = Beijing, there they put a little cloth over the light.

I hate Kunming taxis, although I never got cheated or ripped of besides that always overcharged surcharge.

Btw I don't mind to pay high bills but come on you put a sticker in the car whining to make sure everyone knows how bad you need the surcharge and then you don't even care about what it says....

Kunming Cabs are crap!

On more than one occasion, the cabbie didn't want to take me to the exact location because it was inconvenient for him. He would have had to make some sort of detour to go back to wherever the hell he was going. Kind of self-centered, no?