HawthorneVillager.com

Just got back from vacation and I had to share my taxi to the airport experience.....

5 people travelling so we got a minivan to accomodate the luggage. It was old and in very bad repair ( things missing from the dashboard, torn, musty seats, other things broken ) but it just had to get us to the airport so we didn't really care. However, eastbound at the lights at JSP and Derry, there was one car ahead of us and the driver ( speaking costantly on his bluetooth to God knows who ) swerved suddenly into the next lane, pulled abreast of the lone car and then when the lights turned green, hit the gas pedal hard to pass the car and then swerved back suddenly in front of the car that was previously in front of us - all in the few feet of road before Derry merged into 1 lane just east of JSP. My heart was in my throat and there was no use of the indicator lights involved. This was before 6 am so there was no traffic rush to beat so I don't know why the driver was in such a hurry but it gets worse....

Derry at that point was still "GRASCANNED" so down to one eastbound lane with cones and temporary safety and instruction signs. Our still talking driver, doesn't slow down but speeds up and promptly hits a sign in the middle lane which breaks off his wing mirror. He pulls abruptly to the side of the road, swearing all the time, gets out, retrieves his broken mirror and then tosses it onto the floor of the van and starts driving. He's still talking on the phone but in his native language and the only thing in English is the swear words - I guess he was relaying what happened.

He then takes us up trafalgar to the 401 ( don't understand why he didn't just go up JSP to the 401) and has to literally stick his head and shoulders out the window to see what's coming up in order to merge onto the hwy as he no longer has a wing mirror. Of course buddy doesn't feel the need to slow down and truly believes that merging/changing lanes should be done in sudden movements in order to be more efficient. The drive was a nightmare and I prayed the entire distance.

I felt such relief when we pulled into the airport - drive from hell over I thought. But Cabbie had to give us one last parting thrill. He pulled suddenly to the curb in front of another cab who's indicator clearly told us he was pulling out and if we had waited a second, we could have pulled into his space. But not our cabbie - Nope!. If the other cab driver hadn't braked hard, he would have rammed right into us. It was such a bad experience - I am never ever using Milton Taxi again.

I would call dispatch and complain - it's not acceptable driving from a cabbie...

Absolutely call and complain. That is terrible. I would have asked to get out and/or refused to pay for such terrible service.

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I think I had the same driver to the airport a few weeks ago. Did his van sound like it was dying?? When I asked about it he said the owner was cheap.

He kept telling me that he could take the 407 and it would cost me $10. Personally, I planned more than enough time to get to the airport (1hour) so I told him to stick to the 401. He kept mumbling (as your guy did) and drove like a maniac, switching lanes constantly but putting on his signal approximately 1 second beforehand.

The traffic got to be slow around Mississuga road so he raced around to get to Derry and then at Cawthra for some reason he decided to get back on the 401. The whole time he's swearing under his breath. At one point he was tailgating so bad I thought he might hit the car ahead of us.

Well, it took us 35 minutes to get to the airport... only about 5 minutes longer than normal and I feel the ride was totally unsafe. I also will not be using Milton Taxi again except for maybe rides in Milton. I have used another company a couple of times for the same price ($45) and thought I would give the guy in town a chance, but no thanks. Not worth it. Yes, I know I should have phoned dispatch, but I'll just stick to the other company for now.

I have used both Milton Taxi and A-1 Rose Taxi for rides in Town only and have never had an issue. But again was always in town only. Definately call dispatch, definately not acceptable. FOr almost the same price for airport runs I prefer airport limo services.

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we also had a similar bad experience with a milton taxi to the airport a couple of years ago - driving was so bad you couldn't believe it!! now we just drive ourselved and park at the Viscount lot it is not really any more expensive than a cab depending on how long you are parking for.

We were walking home from the Milton Street Festival on the Saturday night, around 11pm...just as things were closing....towards Bronte to get home. This cab comes down Main Street from Bronte doing at least 70...for whatever reason didn't see any of the signs, or even KNOW there was a street festival....it was raining lightly....slams on his brakes last minute when he realized the road was closed and rammed HARD into the road barrier. Lucky he didn't take anyone out with him....

We and about 20 other people were standing there in disbelief...I believe one of the people called his dispatch. It was a "white guy" though....we almost thought that a drunk guy from a bar had jumped in his cab and taken off.....

Jessica

How horrible! I would definitely call the company to complain.

Called dispatch. The gentleman (very polite individual) said he couldn't access the name of the driver but he gave me the vehicle number ( not the plate # , just their company log number). The dispatch guy was apologetic but you got the sense that he really couldn't do/say anything.

In the past, we've driven and parked at the airport but we had 1 piece of luggage more than we could accomodate hence the need for the minivan. Next time I'll pack more wisely

I was going on a business trip so I charged my fare on the AMEX using one of the local taxi business in Milton. When I got the statement the fare had changed from $50 to $58 (50 or 60, this happened some months back). He added a 0 on top of the original 0 to make 8!

Needless to say I have stopped using them.

my wife told a cab driver about this post, then I think Milton Taxi owner called me to find the website to read this thread

Never had any luck with Milton Taxi on about 3 occasions.

I always use a Limo service to airport. Nice clean limos, uniformed drivers with clean shirts and ties and hats too. The one
I used last week was McIntosh. Milton to Airport about $63.00 one way.

Safe driver, maintained the speed limit, respectful of others on the road.

Might cost a bit more than Milton Taxi but well worth it.

i always used to get the same guy in the same car, the suspension was shot and was floating. at like 50kmh or so the car felt like it was going to spin out. the rear started to track back and fourth..

and the drivers usually harass my lady friends to some extent when theyre alone

My Taxi Driver came by the house today to apologize for the bad experience. He said he was stressed out by the accident and did not mean to put us at risk. The fact that he had customers when he lost his wing mirror made him nervous and he was grateful that no one was hurt. He had meant to apologize before. I accepted his apology.

I also had a conversation with one of the owners of Milton Taxi who also reassured me that as owners they are very concerned with customer comfort and safety. They're having conversations with all their drivers and she stressed that they have a company mechanic who looks after the vehicles.
I saw the cab and it looked in much better condition today.

Anyway, that's the outcome. It's great that this forum can effect results.

Offtopic, I apologize, but the above sentence made me think of http://xkcd.com/326/

And yes, I agree. I find that this forum is often surprisingly effective. Interestingly, we were going to be taking Milton Taxi to the airport next week and this thread completely changed our minds. I recognize the apology, but I'm not willing to risk my children.