Let’s face it. It’s hard to trust cabbies in most nations in the world and although Riga’s taxi drivers may not be the worst we’ve come across, we have received numerous complaints by readers who’ve been taken for a ride. Reports of being charged 10Ls just to cross the river are not unheard of and even we were once charged 15Ls for a trip to the airport. We conducted an experiment by hailing a cab in English and soon reaped the rewards. Calling a taxi is always your best bet and local companies BalticTaxi and Lady Taxi are reputable and won’t rip you off. You can even pay with a credit card, but let the driver know you want to use plastic before you start your journey.
In case, you do meet an unscrupulous hack, don’t get mad, get even. Take down the cab’s information – company name, cab number, etc. – and lodge a complaint by phone at (+371) 67 37 81 44 or e-mail at taxi.complaints@gmail.com. You’ll need to submit a brief explanation of how you were swindled, where you began and ended your trip and, most importantly, a receipt. Let Joe Taxi know that his days of scamming tourists with astronomic fares are over!