A no-nonsense introduction to Warsaw taxis
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Going by taxi in Warsaw is significantly cheaper than in western european capitals and becomes essential when you explore Warsaw's night life, as hopping from club to club to bar is only half the fun if in between you have to wait for 30 minutes for the next night bus to come.
Good taxis and bad taxis. The big majority of Warsaw taxis are equipped with metres and belong to taxi companies. They charge regular and controllable tariffs and can be identified by a broad taxi sign across the whole roof, showing the name of the company and a telephone number, or by a small yellow sticker in the rear windows displaying the tariff per kilometre (between 1,40 and 2,00 Zloty). The minority of unorganized taxis only feature a small black-and-white taxi sign on the roof. Even these may offer a fair tariff (in fact better than a taxi company) and are equipped with metres, but the rip-you-of taxis that charge you London or Paris prices look very similar and only differ in not having the yellow stickers. Using the taxis of the international hotel chains is not a good bet as they usually drive London lawyers, Brussels officials and Frankfurt bankers and charge accordingly. Besides, it is as uncool as sticking to fastfood in a foreign country.
How to get one. Arriving at the airport you simply leave the arrival hall and pick a company taxi from the outside taxi stand. Beware of the independent drivers that ask you in the hall (taxi? taxi?). Former habits of going upstairs and looking for empty taxis on the departure deck are no longer required. A company taxi will charge you between 20 and 30 Zl. for the ride to the city centre.
In the street you may wave a taxi to you, but often they are full and you have to keep trying. You may ask for the next taxi stand; there are numerous ones in Warsaw. Or you may call a taxi company by phone, as you will most likely have a mobile phone with you: I recommend MPT with the number 919 (Warsaw city code is 022); they speak english, have the largest taxi fleet and normally modern cars. In return, they are slightly more expensive. However, an inner city ride, say from the Old Town to the Palace of Culture should cost you no more than 10 Zl.
Todds story. In fact, Warsaw taxi divers really care about their customers and are mostly very honest, as the following story shows. Todd, speaking no polish at all, was supposed to meet us all at the train station for a trip to the mountains. Jumping in an unmarked taxi in front of his home and putting all his baggage in, the next moment he jumps out again, having forgotten the beer for us. He shouts "wait for me, I get the beer" in english to the driver, runs inside, comes back, and the taxi is gone. Convinced that his baggage was stolen, he comes to us to the station, we inform the police and we all go through the shock of being a victim of crime.
Three days later, though, Todds mother calls from the US, gives him the phone number of the taxi driver and tells him that the driver has his things and wants to give them back to Todd. How that? The driver found on Todds guitar the address of his brother in England. By luck, the driver's daughter worked in England, too, so he asked her to contact the brother. However, he didn't know where Todd were at that moment, so he gave their mother's number. The driver's daughter called to the US and informed Todd's mother. The cause for the trouble: The taxi driver understood that Todd wanted to buy the beer, not get it from home, so he waited in front of a nearby shop.
Good taxis and bad taxis. The big majority of Warsaw taxis are equipped with metres and belong to taxi companies. They charge regular and controllable tariffs and can be identified by a broad taxi sign across the whole roof, showing the name of the company and a telephone number, or by a small yellow sticker in the rear windows displaying the tariff per kilometre (between 1,40 and 2,00 Zloty). The minority of unorganized taxis only feature a small black-and-white taxi sign on the roof. Even these may offer a fair tariff (in fact better than a taxi company) and are equipped with metres, but the rip-you-of taxis that charge you London or Paris prices look very similar and only differ in not having the yellow stickers. Using the taxis of the international hotel chains is not a good bet as they usually drive London lawyers, Brussels officials and Frankfurt bankers and charge accordingly. Besides, it is as uncool as sticking to fastfood in a foreign country.
How to get one. Arriving at the airport you simply leave the arrival hall and pick a company taxi from the outside taxi stand. Beware of the independent drivers that ask you in the hall (taxi? taxi?). Former habits of going upstairs and looking for empty taxis on the departure deck are no longer required. A company taxi will charge you between 20 and 30 Zl. for the ride to the city centre.
In the street you may wave a taxi to you, but often they are full and you have to keep trying. You may ask for the next taxi stand; there are numerous ones in Warsaw. Or you may call a taxi company by phone, as you will most likely have a mobile phone with you: I recommend MPT with the number 919 (Warsaw city code is 022); they speak english, have the largest taxi fleet and normally modern cars. In return, they are slightly more expensive. However, an inner city ride, say from the Old Town to the Palace of Culture should cost you no more than 10 Zl.
Todds story. In fact, Warsaw taxi divers really care about their customers and are mostly very honest, as the following story shows. Todd, speaking no polish at all, was supposed to meet us all at the train station for a trip to the mountains. Jumping in an unmarked taxi in front of his home and putting all his baggage in, the next moment he jumps out again, having forgotten the beer for us. He shouts "wait for me, I get the beer" in english to the driver, runs inside, comes back, and the taxi is gone. Convinced that his baggage was stolen, he comes to us to the station, we inform the police and we all go through the shock of being a victim of crime.
Three days later, though, Todds mother calls from the US, gives him the phone number of the taxi driver and tells him that the driver has his things and wants to give them back to Todd. How that? The driver found on Todds guitar the address of his brother in England. By luck, the driver's daughter worked in England, too, so he asked her to contact the brother. However, he didn't know where Todd were at that moment, so he gave their mother's number. The driver's daughter called to the US and informed Todd's mother. The cause for the trouble: The taxi driver understood that Todd wanted to buy the beer, not get it from home, so he waited in front of a nearby shop.
