Perhaps one of the oddest pieces of advice my mom ever gave me was whenever possible, get a "branded" taxi. By branded, we mean taxis part of a known franchise. In this day and age where we hear about people getting robbed and murdered by taxi drivers, that's probably not a bad idea. And maybe this is another perk of Teacher's Village living but we happen to have a the Dollar Taxi car barn right around the corner.
So what's the big deal about living near the car barn?
90% of the time, we can get a cab from them without waiting or being turned down when we call in. A good 90% of the time at least. And it won't take them too long to get to us. However, I do have a couple of complaints. When you call to get a taxi, there's an obligatory 50php pick up fee. I have no idea why this is a thing but hey, it's a thing. Secondly, there was one time I called at night to get a cab for the next day at 7am. They said they'd follow up with me at 6am. Mom told me to call them and it was probably a good thing they did. They didn't reserve a taxi for me and we spent a good thirty minutes calling them back every five minutes (as per their request) to see if a unit was available. So, protip: if you do need to get a cab at 7am, call them at 6am. Chances of getting a unit are higher.
Of course, that was just one incident. 9 out of 10 times they haven't steered me wrong so... maybe I won't be giving up on them just yet. read more