Las Vegas Advisor reader Prof. Augie Grant, of the University of South Carolina, offers some advice, gleaned from his experience as a frequent visitor to Sin City.
"If a cabbie attempts to long-haul a customer and you get them to change to the proper route, there is no sanction for the driver. If a cabbie does long-haul you and you complain at the destination, the cabbie can simply refuse to charge you anything -- if so, they aren’t guilty of any offense because they haven’t technically overcharged you," he writes. "The only way the Taxicab Authority can take a complaint against a driver is if you get longhauled, then pay, then later complain. But you don’t get your money back right away -- that doesn’t happen until after there is an investigation by the Taxicab Authority. Although the laws don’t seem to give consumers much protection," Grant concludes, "they do protect the drivers from customers. There are very specific regulations that make it illegal to do anything that a driver might find threatening, including touching the driver."
For lots more useful information about how the whole cab system works in Las Vegas, what to look out for, and what to do if you believe you've had a bad experience, check out our Taxi Tips feature. Although admittedly a few years old, it was specially compiled for us by a real-life Vegas cabbie and contains a wealth of useful information.
