Newark Airport (EWR) Taxi Service

Don't consider yourself lucky if you "bump into" a taxi driver who happens to be in the terminal, who pleasantly (or not so pleasantly) says his cab is just outside, if you happen to be looking for a taxi. If you follow, you'll likely be led to a parking garage (past the lines of official taxis) to an unlicensed car or fake taxi who will not only rip you off, but may provide an unsafe ride. If you're taken in, then come to your senses, make an excuse to get out of the situation (we like faking an urgent need to go find the nearest bathroom). 

Not a scam, per se, but this is one of the priciest cities in which catch a cab from the airport, by cost per kilometre/mile. In 2013, Newark Airport ranked #10 on The World’s 15 Most Expensive Taxi Rides From the Airport to a City, by Skift Travel IQ.

There are also scams at EWR.

IHateTaxis has recently heard a report of passengers using a credit card for payment being charged a fee of USD 5.50. 

In March 2010, a story hit the media accusing thousands of New York City taxi drivers of overcharging passengers by more than USD 8.3 million over the previous two years. These cabbies illegally set their meters at a rate that was supposed to be used for trips to the suburbs only. At least 1.8 million trips were wrongly charged at the suburban rate, which is double the rate within city limits. At that time, the city had about 48,300 licensed cabbies, and data showed that 35,558 had illegally overcharged a rider at least once.

A smaller group of drivers was responsible for the majority of overcharged trips — 3,000 cabbies were found to have doubled the meter rate more than 100 times. The scammed passengers overpaid by an average of USD 4.45 per trip. Officials discovered the discrepancy by scouring data from global-positioning devices that are required in the city's yellow cabs. 

Taxi riders now see an alert on the television screen in the back seat when the higher rate code has been activated.