Final Word from Thursday, June 26, 2003
Not since poor Vlaďka Tesařová met with a storm of protest over her demand that we publish in Czech have our readers been so united on an issue. Of the 30 emails we got, all but one reader agreed that there are no worse drivers in Prague than the Visa taxis. What about the police, the lone dissenter asked? Many readers said the problem is even graver than we depicted. The airport taxis have a monopoly, they said, and use it to gouge customers. Efforts to get Mayor Pavel Bém to do something have fallen on deaf ears, one of them said. Another, a lawyer, said there is also an antitrust issue. Another reader said he wonders how Visa can keep its name on such a symbol of fraud and irreverence. It sends the signal, he said, that Visa is the perfect card for crooks. Two readers noted that the Visa taxis don't even take Visa cards. Perhaps they couldn't meet the conditions.