“Guido” Bem finds cabbies are thieves / “Paolo” Bem nachazi taxikare vinnymi

It is well known that Prague has a very bad reputation with its taxi drivers. Why? Because they rip you off in any way they can! Even the city looks at this issue as being detrimental to the overall tourism. To see for himself how bad the situation is, the mayor of Prague, Pavel Bem, dressed up as an Italian tourist “slicking back his hair, putting on a pair of shades, and donning fake facial hair”. And Bem did get very overcharged; not once but both times! The first trip was supposed to cost about 4 Euros but the taxi driver charged him 26 Euros!!! The advice the mayor is giving to all of the Prague tourist is try to pay in a local currency and not in Euros. You will get overcharged but not as much as 200% of the original fee…

CZ: Praha je velmi znama svymi lupicskymi taxikari; pri kazde sanci te proste oberou do kosti. I samotna mestska samosprava se na tuto situaci diva velmi rozmrzele, jelikoz to zacina mit negativni vliv na Prazsky turismus. Proto se samotny starosta Prahy Pavel Bem rozhodl zasahnout a jednoho dne se oblekl za Italskeho tursitu: slizane vlasy v culiku, cerne slunecni bryle, husty knir, a stylove obleceni od navrhare. A jak jeho vyjizdka dopadla? No, samozrejme, ze byl okradnut! Prvni jizda ho mela normalne stat kolem 4 Euro, ale taxikar mu nainkasoval 26 Euro!! Po jeho zkusenosti s mistnimi taxikari ma Bem pro turisty jednu radu: plate kournami a ne Euro. Oni vas stejen odkradnou, ale ne o smesnych 200% puvodni ceny..

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/01/prague-taxi-drivers-rip-off-mayor-in-disguise/