It is either to hire a car or to use public transportation.
Taiwan public transportation has been the biggest asset for people who wish to wander around the city but for some, especially the tourist may find this as an option to take. Travelers who delve information from the internet about which is the commendable way to explore the country should have a second thought about their decision hence, here is another popular way to navigate the country, the private tour driver.
1.The situation and the traveling buddy
- It is important to know who you are bringing along the way since this will affect the mood and comfortability of the journey.
Planning to bring your entire family or bunch of friends? You should try to consider hiring private driver. In the city , MRT’s and busses are accessible everywhere you go ,especially Taipei city. You can take MRT wherever famous place you want to visit, MRT can be just at your sight. However, inconvenience arises when your destination is not in proximity to MRT’s. Perhaps it takes over 10,000 steps to arrive at the stations. If the trip takes 2-3 days, it is still bearable anyhow if you plan to take the whole trip like this with your kids and parents, this will be hassle and surely you parents will not travel with you again.
- Lacks of time to browse informations from the internet and doesn’t want to join package tour
Are you caught up with your job duties and plans to take a trip but hate to go on a package tour? Well, not only you but there’s a solution to address your needs. Do consider hiring private driver! They will not only drive you to your destination but they can also give you some advice and arrange your itinerary.
- Go with more than four people?
Why is it recommended to rent and hire a private driver for four people? Well, it is because a car can accommodate four people as its maximum. Moreover, private driver charge is based on a group cost not individually so if your group is consist of four people you may pay less. Even though taking public transportation is cheaper than hiring a private driver but this will not be the issue for those people who wish to enjoy and want to attain the sense of convenience. For example: from Taoyuan (Taipei) airport to Taichung city hotel (near Fengjia night market), to hire a private driver priced about TWD3000-3500(USD$100-USD$120), and the duration of time is about 90 mins however, when you use public transportation you have to take consecutive rides with high speed rail train and taxi.
| Airport→Taoyuan THSR | Taoyuan THSR→Taichung THSR | Taichung THSR→Hotel | ||
| PRICE | 330/TAXI | MRT 25/PER | 520/PER | TAXI/300 |
| TIME | 13-17 MINS | 40MINS | 20MINS | |
For four people: You have to spend 2,480-2,710, duration time spent is 73-77mins, and this is apart from the queuing time nor the walking time. So what if you are more than six people? Let’s try to check it out.
MRT for 6=150, THSR for 6 =3120, Taichung THSR station to hotel=600(6 people need to use 2 taxi), total=3870, the price is higher than public transportation. And when using public transportation you need to drag your luggage several times that sometimes could make you feel inconvenient.
2.Pros in getting a private driver.
- To travel is to enjoy and to enjoy is by saving time with the driver’s initiative.
The best part in traveling is when we can enjoy every piece of adventure and when we say every piece of it, it covers the reasons why people would want it so badly. There are a lot of reasons, but what most people care about is rewarding their selves after tedious work. Traveling, thus indeed helpful for them to escape the stressful life they’ve been. So, if there’s a way to save time, they could at least spend the time like waiting on the bus by having food trip and etc. instead.
- Preventing some little troubles
It has been easier for us to plot our itinerary with the use of internet but if something gets wrong, everything messes up. Common problems may we get will be the changed of route or the store you wanna go may have been closed for years. So it is advisable to double check on this matter, consult google map and find out if those still exist.
- Have some queries? The best way is to ask the local people.
Are you hungry and want to try some local cuisines but don’t know who to ask? Well, our first instinct will be is to ask the receptionist of the hotel we stay at however, we’ve been doomed about this idea. So here’s s to the favorable way, native people or people you have acquainted are much of help. But if you are not that friendly enough, you can ask the driver and for sure they can respond to your question. You can consider them as a resident in the area too so, it is certain that they know exactly what you need because they bound to work for more than eight to ten hours a day around the city. They possibly know what are those places that suit your budget. Not only that, they also know the culture and history you have probably wanted to ask and been curious about. Try to ask them and you will know.
3.Cons in hiring a private driver
- Adding up your budget from the usual.
In Southeast Asian countries, Taxi’s and MRT’s are less expensive so there is no need for us to allocate bigger budget but in Taiwan taxi fee is almost the same as Hong Kong. And to compare this with other expenditures, transportation needs more budget especially when chartering a car.
- Afraid to have chosen a terrible driver for the trip?
The first s thing you can do is to search trustworthy driver on the internet first. Internet will help you decide who is the reliable driver for the trip by checking their reviews ahead of time. It’s a big NO, NO to ask taxi driver from the street though they offer you cheaper price. It is better to be safe and have blast experiences along the journey. To choose good driver is about choosing happiness. If you have met one, then, lucky you! Since they will give you the unforgettable experience you needed. You will have the chance to experience variety of things like going to inexpensive places to dine that only local people know, to visit a place and enjoy every ticking of the clock. But, if otherwise you have chosen the terrible one, you will be disappointed for they will resort to choosing the easiest way for them and selecting the expensive ones which we avoid specifically when we just have the exact budget. So, before this article ends I will write about the tips on how to find a good driver.
4.How to determine if to charter a car is our last option.
- Duration of visit
If the spot you suppose to visit takes more than 3 hours, like hiking, shopping or DIY errands (something to be done by ones self) well, to tell you, you don’t need to hire a driver, because the main reason why we charter a car is to save and enjoy the time. For instance, if we spend 3 hours for one activity and that means our itinerary will only have 2-3 spots to visit in this situation using a public transportation would be the best choice.
However, if you plan to stay in not more than 30-60 mins, it is better to hire a driver to help you arrange a good itinerary. Oh! what I mean is that, drivers know how to plan and arrange places alphabetically like how letters from the alphabets (ABCD) are arranged. So it is a plus to hire a driver who knows to save time and waste it to many different places.
- The best time in traveling.
Some places have time limit, like sunset and sunrise. In Taiwan the sun usually rises at around 5 AM to 6 AM depending on what season of the year. If you are planning to see the sunrise, you need to depart before 6 in the morning, and if you plan to take a bus or MRT for you to see the sunrise it will be hopeless for you, because public transportation is effective at 6. And for this, shuttle is your dernier resort.
So let me tell you about the horrible story of my friend. My friend and his friends went to wetland to see the sunset. It was summer that time in Taiwan, the sunset was around 19:30, they stayed there until 20:00. When they finally decided to walk down to the bus station, the last bus had gone at 18:50. Of course they have options and it is either to take taxi or stay overnight at a hotel. Unfortunately, the cost was pricier than they expected.
- Confirm to avoid misunderstanding
Confirmation is the most important thing to deliberate over in traveling. It should be done between the driver and the customer particularly the itinerary, overtime fee and the length of the trip.
When you have an itinerary, it is a must to discuss it with your driver so that you will be able to clear things up before traveling. It is important to ask question like the length of time to use the car, if the time can accommodate all the places you want to visit, if ever you go beyond the period of time how much will he charged additionally, a driver would usually ask you TWD500(USD$16). In some cases, yes! They found a driver that offers cheap itinerary but after, the driver asked exorbitant over time fee. Do make sure you understand the charged price and ask the driver to possibly tell you earlier about the cost so that you can decide to skip some spots or pay him the over time fee.
- Confirm your insurance
Every country has every rule to follow. If you are using a taxi, you need not to worry about passenger’s insurance. Government in Taiwan implemented a law in which every taxi driver and passenger should abide. Hence, there are two types of insurance that a passenger should look onto, the passenger and tourist insurance. So what is the difference between the two insurances? Passenger’s insurance is only applicable for any serious car accidents while tourist’s insurance includes the whole trip from the time you leave your country until the time you go back. I will suggest you to apply for a tourist insurance so that if an accident happens, it is easier to claim it in your country.
- How to distinguish if the car is legal or not.
The effortless way to distinguish if the car is legit is through the car’s plate number. It should follow this code R_ _-1234. If the car has an initial letter R for the first word then, it is 95% legal. However, in some cases we should be careful if the car is privately owned by someone and intend to use for making money. For that reason, driving the car for tourist purposes is illegal because in this way they can’t provide any insurances. If you get caught by the police, be ready to exhaust yourself if in the police office for the whole day. No matter how cheap it is, don’t ever choose private car.
5.Choosing whose driver is best among the beast?
- Be a meticulous stalker.
Better check it out than to regret later. It is helpful to check your driver’s review on internet, even if the driver is recommended by your friend. If the driver isn’t that active to engage himself on posting something on his account, the best thing to do is to search some more choices. Taiwan has a lot of good driver and you can easily search them on the internet. They are fond of posting pictures they took for tourist. And also, if they add a budget for chartering a car, you had better find someone who can make tour extremely enjoyable.
- Do worry the less
If you think that low priced is better then you are choosing the wrong one. We all prefer to spend less but we tend to forget that one way or another, it hinders us to enjoy. I don’t recommend you to choose the cheapest one, especially the one that surprisingly overwhelmed you. To say that it is the best choice and the only choice is ridiculous. Let say, the driver has enough experience, he offers good service but he can’t give you big discount. So from this view we can’t say he isn’t good enough just because he can’t give us the amount that we want to please. Their reasons maybe valid that we should try to consider. Imagine selling your own product for 500, and one of your customers recommended your product to his friends. There would be some instances that they haggle for the price. So as for that, there is no need to lower the established price. In other words, the driver will need to consider a lot of things when it comes about the overall cost and profit that he may get. And if in some way the driver would agree, expect that he will find a way to earn the lost money. It might be through adding bigger commission of each deluxe and lavish restaurants you may visit.
In addition, the six seat car day tour price would cost around TWD3500-TWD4500(USD$120-150), and fir eight seat priced around TWD5000-6000(USD160-USD200). And, if the itinerary will be planned to be an over night in other city, a pay for the accommodation of the driver is observed. I believe that with this price, you can find many good driver in the city.
- Find it hard to decide?
If you have trouble on choosing who’s driver should be in the right disposition, well just look closely on them, look at their eyes and face. By that, you will know if they are kind and a reliable one. I believe there is no way for you to spend the whole day with a person who looks awful and cannot be trusted right? Maybe most people say it might not be the fair quantification but I think it is not bad choosing driver who looks kind after all.
6.To charter a car Vs. traveling alone
Are you expecting for an answer? Well, there is no definite answer. It’s like choosing where to stay between a 5star hotel or in a hostel. No right nor wrong on this matter, it depends on ones budget and situation. The purpose of traveling is to make the dream into reality, to enjoy and relax, and most importantly to unwind from the stressful world.
7.To charter a car Vs. traveling alone
Are you expecting for an answer? Well, there is no definite answer. It’s like choosing where to stay between a 5star hotel or in a hostel. No right nor wrong on this matter, it depends on ones budget and situation. The purpose of traveling is to make the dream into reality, to enjoy and relax, and most importantly to unwind from the stressful world.
Leave A Comment