Methodology: This is how we tested the taxi journeys

It's something we're all familiar with - taxi trips that are anything but pleasant. The driver seems to be going around in circles, only he knows what the surcharges on the taximeter are for and traffic rules no longer apply. This is all extremely unpleasant, especially if you find yourself in a foreign city, not to mention if you can't speak the language. That's why EuroTest has now undertaken a Europe-wide taxi test, something ADAC has already twice undertaken in Germany. As part of EuroTest, the consumer protection test programme involving 18 automobile clubs in 17 European countries, taxi journeys in 22 major cities in Europe were inspected. We wanted to find out if the taxi sector is really as bad as its reputation and whether stories of dreadful taxi trips are just one-off events or if it is a recurring problem.

Five routes in each city

The partner clubs selected the following cities for the inspection: Brussels (Belgium); Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich (Germany); Paris (France); Milan and Rome (Italy); Zagreb (Croatia); Luxembourg (Luxembourg); Amsterdam and Rotterdam (the Netherlands); Oslo (Norway), Salzburg and Vienna (Austria), Lisbon (Portugal), Geneva and Zurich (Switzerland); Ljubljana (Slovenia); Barcelona and Madrid (Spain) as well as Prague (Czech Republic). The inspectors were out and about in these cities on five typical and comparable routes: airport – main train station, main train station – exhibition centre, exhibition centre – hotel (3-5 kilometres), inner city – tourist attraction in the city centre (short trip up to 2 kilometres), hotel – restaurant (5 to 7 kilometres). Each of the precisely defined test routes was inspected by a male passenger during the week: once during the day between 6 am and 9 pm outside peak traffic hours (7.30 to 9.00 am and 4.30 to 7 pm) and once at night between 10 pm and 5 am. The pick-up point and destination were always the same. This means that each of the five routes in each of the 22 cities was taken twice – that adds up to 220 single trips.

Travelling incognito as a businessman

In its capacity as project manager, ADAC commissioned Skopos Next GmbH to conduct the inspections. This mystery shopper specialist is headquartered in Hürth near Cologne and works on behalf of numerous national and international companies in various industries. The company has its own resources comprising a mystery shopper pool and a telephone studio for mystery calling projects.

The professional test customers went out on behalf of EuroTest to conduct their inspections between 2 May and 17 June 2011. The test journey always began at a taxi rank. When possible, the inspectors were required to take the third taxi waiting at the rank. The experts pretended to be businessmen and had a trolley with them. They were unfamiliar with the respective cities, were not in a rush and wanted to reach their destination for the lowest possible price without any detours. They communicated with the drivers in English. As soon as the taxi set off, they asked if they could pay with a credit card, however, they paid for the trip with a 50 euro note or a 20 euro note for a short trip.

Armed with a checklist, Sat Nav and a camera

The inspectors' checklist was broken down into the following main categories: “Driver” (weighting of 40 percent), “Vehicle” (20 percent) as well as “Adherence to route” (40 percent) and contained a total of 60 items for inspection.

In the “Driver” category the inspectors noted, for instance, whether the driver complied with the obligation to carry passengers (even for a short journey), observed traffic rules, was friendly and helpful, assisted with loading and unloading luggages, communicated in English, was able to recommend restaurants or tourist attractions, or was able to deliver a receipt correctly at the end of the journey. In the “Vehicle” category items assessed included whether the taxi was clean and tidy, the taximeter was switched on correctly and the fare sign, driver ID, company address and taxi licence number were visibly displayed in the vehicle. In the “Adherence to route” category it was assessed whether drivers took deviations from standard routes and whether an eventual detour was obviously intentional or not.

Each of the experts was equipped with a Sat Nav in order to record the route taken. This data was then compared with the matching reference routes provided by the taxi associations in order to evaluate adherence to routes, i.e. whether the driver actually took the shortest and hence cheapest route. The device was also used to record speed and traffic violations.

A "Fare" item was assessed as part of the “Adherence to route” category and showed the price structure of the city inspected. In this case, the taxi fare price list valid in the respective city at the time of testing was used in order to calculate the fare for a seven-kilometre long journey with a five-minute waiting period (congestions, traffic lights, etc.) and one piece of luggage. Each inspection was also documented in photos whenever possible.

Knock-out points for detours, over-pricing and refusal to pick up a passenger

In the case of particularly serious shortcomings, a so-called “knock-out criteria” was applied which could result in the points for the category in question being reduced to zero. This was the case in the "Adherence to route" category if the driver took an unnecessary, long detour resulting in a much higher fare, and in the "Driver" category if the price was much higher than in the valid taxi price list or if the driver refused a ride.

The points given in each test journey are expressed in the following ratings: “Very Good”, “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Poor” and “Very Poor”.