If you’ve ever wondered why Macau taxi drivers seem so reluctant to take passengers to more remote locations like Coloane, a Chinese study has found the answer.
As revealed in Science magazine, Sihai Zhang and Zhiyang Wang from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei conducted an extensive study over two months in 2012 whereby they examined the GPS records of more than 12,000 Beijing taxi drivers.
The results showed that while the vast majority of passenger pick-ups occurred at common places such as taxi-stands, drop off locations differed greatly with some drivers clearly sticking to nearby locations while others travelled to remote locations far more frequently.
Delving deeper into the details, Sihai and Zhiyang also found a disparity in how much money drivers were earning with the best making around US$80 per day while some made as little as a quarter of that.
Comparing their earnings to their GPS results, the scientists discovered that drivers who drove only between major pick-up hubs were indeed making the most money, with those accepting longer fares losing out due to the time wasted driving back again. Incredibly, the highest earning drivers were estimated to be refusing around one in every 12 fares.
Food for thought, perhaps, but little comfort for those of us that have been stuck on the wrong side of Macau!
