It’s spring in Greece, although you can’t tell from the weather that says it’s still winter, but some taxi drivers are already rigging their meters and licking their chops waiting for gullible tourists who will literally and figuratively be taken for a ride.
Most drivers are hard-working honest people and some have drawn praise from noted Greek travel advisor Matt Barrett, but that’s been overshadowed by the shifty scams of some who have Three Card Monte sleight of hand in short-changing you after you pay the fare.
The drivers have succeeded for years as a lobby, second perhaps only to soccer fans and hooligans, in getting successive governments to back down from tightening regulations on the industry, politicians afraid of the drivers’ clout.
There are about 13,600 taxis in Athens, all yellow and many new, including luxury brands, with many of the rest in the second-largest city of Thessaloniki, In 2018 the government caved in after pressure and effectively banned Uber.
You perhaps can’t blame Greece’s taxi drivers for wanting a monopoly, no competition, no requirement to shift to electric vehicles, and no revocation of licenses for dangerous driving convictions because that’s how the country works.
The game is rigged – almost all of them are in Greece – to favor those with influence and power, and the drivers repeatedly strike if there’s any attempt to corral them, although this time the government majority in Parliament approved reforms.
That was after yet another strike that inconvenienced people needing taxis, the action called by the Panhellenic Federation of Taxi Owners (POEIATA) which said the measures would “undermine the role of taxis and their public character.”
Well, a cheating taxi driver’s lack of character is his fate and the reforms were properly designed to try to make sure that the riders would be protected, and not at the cost of drivers trying to convince tourists there’s no decimal point on the meter and that the fare is actually 100 euros and not 10.0 – without the tip.
The union decried what it called the “despicable provisions of a revenue-centered bill,” but the translation is that they don’t want any interference with their revenue-centered switch lane chicane schemes.
The drivers wanted to stop Article 52, which regulates privately owned passenger vehicles with professional drivers – private hire vehicles – complaining it would bring competition, depriving them of more marks to sting.
The industry is a closed-shop profession in Greece – no more licenses are being given – which means people who want to operate a taxi have to obtain a license from an existing owner.
That can cost more than 100,000 euros ($115,700) so you can imagine the pressure on purchasers to try to recoup the investment as fast as possible, especially when fares are around 1 euro ($1.16) per kilometer (.62 miles) and a 1.30 euros ($1.50) base fee.
The big bugaboo for the drivers though, is fear of Uber, Bolt, and taxi-hailing apps like FREENOW because they don’t want you getting into any vehicle that isn’t theirs. You can Uber in Greece, but you’ll get a taxi, not a private vehicle.
The hacks argue, weakly, that any move toward fully liberalizing the market for private services violates the rights of taxi drivers. What would business be without competition that gives people a choice? It would be Greece’s taxi monopoly.
New taxi registrations will now be required to be electric emission-free vehicles but the government is providing subsidies up to 20,000 euros ($23,122) for the purchase of full electric vehicles.
You won’t find any sympathy from anyone who’s been taken by a Greek taxi driver, especially being given counterfeit bills or being the victim of the old switcheroo in how much you paid and how much change you got.
The drivers who’ve given the whole sector such a bad reputation typically overcharge unsuspecting tourists – like one in the summer of 2025 whose card was charged $82 instead of $17.10 for a short ride from the port of Piraeus.
What to look out for is drivers not starting the meter, claiming it’s broken, or using a higher night tariff for day rides, unlawfully demanding only cash, charging exorbitant fees for luggage, insisting on high flat flees, or taking the long route.
When you pay a driver, announce the amount and watch the hands because their fingers are faster than the offspring of a politician and pickpocket in a crowd in Athens or on the Metro, and you’ll find yourself at risk of being ripped off.
At the risk of sounding manic, be warned about getting into a taxi in Greece although most drivers are what their union claims – professional – and even welcoming – it’s the ones who are not that bring the disrepute.
The situation is not going to change imminently, although even while you’re getting a taxi with Uber X some social media posts indicate the passengers felt less likely that they were going to be overcharged.
As usual, there is a complex set of regulations at work and the current Uber Taxi model is a compromise trying to satisfy the drivers and somehow protect passengers.
Even Matt Barrett, whose love for Greece is boundless and who has his own favorite taxi driver, nonetheless posts this caveat: “For those coming to Greece, please when taking a taxi make sure the meter is visible.” The driver’s hands too.