Which Nanaimo taxi service is better - AC Taxi or Swiftsure?

[TH2008]

And which is cheaper?

And which one comes to your home sooner?

Also, how do these cab companies charge? By the mile or by the minute? Or?

Thanks in advance.

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TH

[Smokey©]

Helpful Hints for Taxi Customers (from nanaimotaxi.com) used with permission©

• If you require a vehicle for 5 passengers, please advise the call taker as many taxis are equipped to carry only 4 passengers. This will save you from having your trip re-dispatched causing additional waiting time.

• If you have excess baggage let the call taker know so they can send an appropriate vehicle. Requesting a van to move goods other then wheelchairs require an additional surcharge on top of the metered rate.

• If there are stopping restrictions where you are calling from please be at curbside. This will ensure you will not miss your taxi.

• The computerized dispatch system (AC TAXI only) results in quick, efficient service. This system requires exact house or building number and proper street name, plus your buzzer number if living in a coded apartment building.

• If your taxi does not arrive within 20 minutes please give them another call and inform your call taker this is a callback. This allows us to track your taxi order and determine how soon your taxi will arrive.

• If you have ordered a taxi and have changed your mind, please give us a call to cancel your arrangements. Also, please ensure that you only call one company at a time. This assists us by providing other customers with prompt service, as our cabs are not required to go to pick up points where they will not be required.

Which one is cheaper? All taxis in British Columbia are governed by the Passenger Transportation Board and the rates are the same for both companies.


The following rates and taxi meter formula apply to both taxicab companies in Nanaimo effective January 7, 2008:

Rates include 5% GST

Flag $2.85 for the first 51.79 metres

Distance (per km) $0.10 for each additional 51.79 metres

Waiting Time (hourly) $34.5850 $0.10 for each consecutive 10.41 seconds

If a taxi is waiting at a traffic light or you want to stop and have the taxi wait before continuing on then the waiting time kicks in.

I am biased and prefer AC Taxi with their 40 Taxis and over 40 years experience in the community. Swiftsure has 20 Taxis so mathematically you should get quicker service with AC Taxi, however remember when it is beautiful out and all of sudden we get a rain shower like yesterday, both companies will get extremely busy REAL FAST!

[Soda]

my two cents... ordered a taxi the night before for a 7:30am pickup from Jinglepot North to the ferry terminal... cab showed up at 8:10... called the cab company three times and twice they had no recollection of either my booking the night before or of my previous phone call(s).... Let me just say the IMO Swiftsure is neither swift nor sure.

[kittenkapoodle]

I am never taking swiftsure again. Drivers don't know where they are, or where they're going. I've always had to tell them where to turn when I took a cab ride home after work.

AC has much more friendly drivers and dispatchers, IMO, and they're quicker at getting to your pickup place, and always look for the shortest way to your destination.

[kickidee]

Old thread but I like AC better myself. Mind you on a friday evening when folks are getting off work it can be a long long wait. What can you do? Its an Island. Cabs have been pretty good with the recent snowfall too. just a bit of warning and I can get to work by 7:30. Dont know what its like during a later hour though? Anyone else been getting a cab in the christmas of 08 snow fall? (What a joke that is)

[All Ages Music Concerts]

My boss sent me home in a cab (Swiftsure) on Wed last work at 2:30 pm in the start of the snow storm. The cab finally got out the parking lot after being stuck so many times, only to get stuck again coming out of the parking lot onto Turner Road. I got out and walked home. No sitting for me waiting for the cab and everyone else to get unstuck and also risk getting hit by another car trying to get up the hill.

[Smokey©]

Current Rates for a taxi in Nanaimo.

$2.95 flag
$2.00 per kilometer
$35.80 per hour waiting time

With the snow it is best to get picked up where it is most convinient as well as logical. If beinig picked up where Thrifty's is at Longwood, it is in your best interest to ask for a taxi to pick you up on the TOP part closer to Uplands then the pub is. If the driver does not have to go up or down hill it is safer and faster for both of you. An other suggestion is, IF YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE, make sure the person answering the taxi company phone HAS YOUR CELL NUMBER. This can be helpful if the driver cannot locate you or make it down your street.

AC Taxi now has 41 taxis (4 and 5 passengers plus driver) plus 3 wheelchair vans (one of them carries 6 passengers plus the driver). If you REQUEST the van and it is NOT FOR A WHEELCHAIR, there is an additional charge of $15.00

[darbados]

We just caught one driving like a bat out of hell when it was snowing heavily out at night. He was going so fast it would have been scary even if it was a sunny day.

[TH2008]

We just caught one driving like a bat out of hell when it was snowing heavily out at night. He was going so fast it would have been scary even if it was a sunny day.

Don't they have GPS in taxis to monitor a taxi's speed at the dispatch office?

--
TH

[WWiebe]

I'm from Winnipeg and arrived in Nanaimo for the snow on Feb 25th. The SwiftSure cab driver I got from the ferry was a was a lunatic. He drove in the centre of the road, he did NOT know where he was going, I was very literally choked out of the car from the smoke of spinning tires, and I never got to my destination. I realize it was tough going that night, but I didn't see any other drivers laying on the gas until their tires melted and a cop had to tell him to get out of the road. If he wasn't bragging that he he could pull out of an uncontrolled swerve without putting down his coffee, he was cursing and swearing at people trying to avoid him. If that's not ENOUGH, I came across this forum while looking for the phone# for SwiftSure so that I can ream them out for fraudulently charging my credit card $30 instead of $25 that I charitably paid the maniac for dropping me in the middle of a whiteout.
So who got me to my sister's house? Nanaimo transit. They let me on the bus in the middle of a street, radioed the bus I needed for my route, and when THAT got stuck, they sent out a 4 x 4 to get me to my destination. The driver was a peach, too.
So if you can't get AC, take a bus. Or a jack ass - but don't let it drive.