I’ve made the trek to Manila a few times now, mostly to take care of business at the U.S. Embassy, and I’d thought I would comment on some taxi drivers in Manila.

My first experience was 50/50 positive and negative, and my last few trips have confirmed it turned it to 30/70. I’ve stayed at various hotels during my stay from 3 start to 5 star hotels and have noticed a trend when dealing with taxi drivers and their usage of meters. The higher the class of hotel I stayed at, the higher the number of times the meters are turned off.  After several experiences of actually getting out of the car to find another taxi, it tends to get tiring as the next taxi driver will do the same thing.

When I do happen to get a taxi driver that keeps the meter on and charges me the proper fee, I often give them are more than reasonable tip just for being honest about it. None the less, it’s good to be back in Cebu where I don’t have that problem!