...whooops, little mistake. Of course he tried some funny business. Otherwise it wouldn't make much sense, I assume.

laotou = grumpy old man

@abcdabcd
As for taxi drivers - they're here to provide a public service. Lack of professionalism on their part equates to trouble and inconvenience to me - I HATE it when other people try to make their problems my problem a la Kunming taxis - but to each his/her own. If you enjoy being rejected while another empty taxi passes by, if you enjoy the scenic routes that taxi drivers employ (example bypassing traffic by going to the third ring road and beyond), and all the other idiotic things taxi drivers do in clear violation of their contracts - to each their own.

In case anyone is interested, the UN (united nations) surveyed 30 Chinese cities in 2008 to determine the enforceability of contracts in China - Kunming ranked 29th out of 30. Lanzhou was number 30, but the cost to enforce a contract in Lanzhou was about 28% of the contract value. The cost to enforce a contract in Kunming - 36.8% (if I remember correctly). No small wonder taxis here provide marginal service...but then again - I'm just a grumpy cranky intolerant old man...a privilege of age and senility.

TAXI DRIVER SALARIES
Most of the drivers I've chatted with (while ensuring I'm NOT on the scenic route) claim to make roughly CNY 10k per month - of which they have to kick back about 30-50% (allegedly) for the licensing fees (or to the actual owner of their vehicle).

It's tough work - but pays well for relatively unskilled labor (unless you consider driving a vehicle a "skilled" labor). Naturally, drivers prefer short trips - faster turnaround.

Many taxis prefer to do hotel pickups - as there's an extra fee built-in if they wait in the hotel taxi lines a la napping joe hotels.

And as mentioned earlier - despite the fact that it's a direct violation of their licensing conditions - a clear MAJORITY of taxis like to take breaks during peak rush hour and meal times. I understand why (gas is expensive), but I don't care - especially since they already receive a CNY 2.50 gas surcharge PER FARE.

So, yeah - go ahead and call that hotline if you receive sub-par service or get dumped or refused. It's YOUR right.

I once had a wad of keys returned to me by a taxi, 100 rmb happier driver..

hey laotou, i dig you dawg. i'm grumpy too!

Here is the website for the Yunnan Taxi Regulations. These rules are applicable anywhere in Yunnan province.
baike.baidu.com/view/8235557.htm

Here is the website for the Kunming Taxi Regulations. These rules are applicable also in Anning.
wenku.baidu.com/view/4e23917602768e9951e73831.html

One of the most important rules I discovered is that the passenger has the right to refuse payment if the taxi driver did not use the meter. The rule books also explain the punishment for the driver for various offenses.

Overall, the taxis in Kunming abide by the rules 95% of the time.

@The Dudeson's
The last of the tier 2 cities in China to round down is Hefei. There is no fuel surcharge there either. However, in almost every other major city there is a fuel surcharge of 2rmb or so and the habit of rounding down is no longer. Actually for cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the rounding down disappeared a few years ago. However, in Shenzhen, I have seen Chinese people pay with the exact jiao amount. Maybe you should carry around the 1jiao coins C4 likes to give out.

I heard the same thing, my fiance who loves to talk to cabbies always talks about silly stuff and I overheard a few times that they make between 6000-10000RMB/ month. Plus, one guy said a lot of them take rental tours off the meter. So their job isn't really that bad. They sit in their cozy car, sure they heave their grumpy customers [or probably just laotou and me, :) ] but to be honest I had shittier jobs in my life with shittier pay. Plus cabbies have free transportation.

I don't mind rounding up or down to a fair and mathematically correct amount. But in Kunming they are not even trying for convenience towards the customer but to fill their own pockets.

So in my opinion, if you are a service industry employee with a rather high blue collar salary, trying to skim me for etra cash (disregarding the amount), it is plain cheating.
I don't like it and I will show my feelings by paying the exact amount on the meter. And seeing their face when I do, proves that this is hurting them.
I'm sure the cabbie would also complains when his favourite mixian place extra charges him a kuai for no obvious reason.

And so would everyone else if your restaurant of choise charges you an extra 5 kuai for profit. Whats the difference?

If you let 'em get away, it spreads and gets worse.

So it's a matter of general principle.

I was in Guangzhou last weekend and noticed major differences with the taxis. For starters, the meter begins at 10 RMB with no fuel surcharge. The distance rate is 2.3 Yuan which is higher than Kunming's 1.9.

When we got on the road the driver was strange. There were white lines on the road and he was driving between them! He actually let other cars merge instead of cutting them off. What a nerve! Further more, every time he wanted to change lanes he signaled. Who trains these people? Also, all the taxis here have some strange looking No Smoking signs in them.

Finally, at our destination, he gave us a receipt from the meter without asking. We had 3 more drivers after this and they all behaved the same way.

@ AlPage48
Yes, outrageous. I hope you reported them to the Taxi Complaint Hotline immediately!