Boarding A Taxi in Lagos? Read This

Boarding taxis in Lagos may come with mixed feelings. There are 2 different types of taxis in the Lagos metropolis, the government controlled through the NURTW which are mostly in yellow and black stripes and the private owned types, these are mostly in good conditions and their approach to customers are quite impressive unlike the yellow cab where 85% of the drivers are mostly old men who are in their 50s or 60s. Boarding a taxi may require some extra tips for newbies or those who have been used to the system, as the adage says, Life is a teacher, the more we live, the more we learn. The following tips may help you in making a right decision.

1. Negotiate your price before you board the taxi
Nothing gets these guys more mad than when you refuse to give the their correct fare, a lady was humilated somewhere around Apapa last month just because of 500 naira, the driver agreed on 3000 while the lady said she can only pay 2500, it got messier when its time to pay and she paid 2500. Please before you begin your journey, make sure you both reach a concesus.

2. Don’t board a taxi from the road side
Boarding taxies from the road side can be dangerou most times as someone may fall into hands of kidnappers or robbers, it is advisable you board mostly in the park, investigation however shows that boarding at parks maybe expensive compared to the ones you pick at the roadside, but in a situation where safety and lives are involved, its better you pay the utitimate price to stay alive. Most of these union members know their selves and they can esaily be traced unlike those on the road that you neither know their park or their routes.

3. Avoid travelling with huge cash
It was reported in the news last month of how a foreigner was robbed by an Uber driver just because he saw the huge sum of money the lady was holding. These drivers were human too, they may be tempted to play the fast track on you even through they are real and geniue drivers, don’t tempt them by been too flashy or too bulky, its advisable you travel light, if you have to move around with cash, do all your dealings online or if you must, go with your personal car.

4. Arm yourself with a weapon or a self-defence
When I say weapon, its not neccessarily a gun, knife or any dangerous item. Self defence is preparing yourself for any unforeseen event that may want to come your way. Imagine you boarding a taxi and the driver is trying to molest you as a lady, you can arm yourself with a pepper spray in your bag and try to run. Pepper spray is an handy and portable spray you can take along with you. This is mostly useful for our ladies, we live in the end of the age.

5. Be awake and try to be alert.
People who are mostly robbedor kidnapped are mostly those who sleep in the vechicle. You told the driver you are going to Lekki and 5 mins into the trip you are far asleep, any driver with an evil agenda may likely use this to either rob you or do something nasty. It is advisable you should be security conscious and you should be able to direct the driver in case you noticed he is going outside the normal route.

6. Pray before you enter any vechicle
This may look funny and quite hillirious to some. Nigerians believe in the power of prayers. Have you ever seen a scernio whereby your spirit does not board a particular cab/bus and later on you find out it has an accident. Prayers help in averting some evils and horrible things you may encounter on the way. So before you enter that cab, why can’t you say a little prayer based on your belief. All is well.