Taking a Taxi in Shanghai is pretty cheap compared with US, Japan or HongKong, though is a little expensive compared with other cities in China.
The Taxi fare rate changes with the distance increasing.
0~3 kilometers -- 11 RMB.
3~10 kilometers - 2 RMB/km. 10+ kilometers -- 3 RMB/km.
For example, a 5 kilometers ride costs 11 + 2x2 = 15 RMB. A 15 kilometers ride costs 11 + 2x7 + 3x5 = 40 RMB.
All the rates are 30% higher after 11pm.
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What's good about Taxi in Shanghai is there is a huge amount of Taxies in Shanghai, more than 50,000! Assume 1/3 of them are running on the streets, there are usually about 15,000 taxis available. Taxies take a high percentage of the cars running on the streets. So it is usually quite easy to get a Taxi. When it is raining or in hot areas, such as city center in weekends, it could be hard to get a Taxi.
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What's not good about Shanghai Taxi is the service. Taxi drivers do not make too much money so a few of them would attemp to try some "methods" to make you pay more than a normal fare. One method here is to lead you by a wrong and longer way. Another method is a modified meter, which can generate a fare that is much larger than a normal fare.
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So how to avoid being trapped by a Taxi driver? A good practice is to pick a Taxi from a good Taxi company if possible. There are more than 150 companies that provide taxi serveces in Shanghai. Some of them are quite small and lack of good management. Taxi drivers of large Taxi companies are much less likely to attempt to do something out of the companies' regulations. Even if they do, make a call to the taxi company or Shanghai Taxi management department and complain, they will give you twice or triple of what you paid.
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Always remember to take the receipt for the Taxi fare, using which you can complain to the Taxi company. When the Taxi driver writes a receipt for you, don't take it. All the Taxies in Shanghai should be able to print a receipt that looks like the following picture. You have the rights not to pay for it if the driver can not provide a printed receipt like the following.
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There are several bigger Taxi companies in Shanghai. They have their unique colors for their Taxies. The color of the taxies from smaller taxi companies is usually red.
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The biggest Taxi company in Shanghai is Da Zhong(大众), who also provides best service. The color is light blue.

Phone number to call a Da Zhong Taxi: 96822.
Phone number to complain a Da Zhong Taxi: 62580780.


Other big Taxi companies:

Qiang Sheng(强生), color: yellow.

Phone number to call a Qiang Sheng Taxi: 62580000.
Phone number to complain a Qiang Sheng Taxi: 62581234.


Ba Shi(巴士), color: green.
Pic
Phone number to call a Ba Shi Taxi: 96840.
Phone number to complain a Ba Shi Taxi: 64312788.


Jin Jiang(锦江), color: white.
Pic
Phone number to call a Jin Jiang Taxi: 62155555.
Phone number to complain a Jin Jiang Taxi: 64169292.


Hai Bo(海博), color: blue.
Pic
Phone number to call a Hai Bo Taxi: 96965.
Phone number to complain a Hai Bo Taxi: 62130011.

	Chinese	Pin Yin
Taxi	出租车	Chu Zu Che
Da Zhong	大众	Da Zhong
Qiang Sheng	强生	Qiang Sheng
Ba Shi	巴士	Ba Shi
Jin Jiang	锦江	Jin Jiang
Hai Bo	海博	Hai Bo