Is it better to pay taxis in Philippines with cash, or do drivers accept cards or payment apps?
Stayed in Makati and Quezon City and used a mix of taxis and Grab. Grab allowed card payment through the app which was super convenient. But when I had to take a regular taxi during a rainstorm, it was cash only and the driver asked me to pay before getting out. Always good to have small bills like twenties and fifties. Cards are only reliable when paying through apps like Grab or GCash and even then not every driver is set up for it.
I was in Davao last month and found that most drivers only accepted cash. Even the nicer airport taxis asked for cash and didn’t have any terminal. I used Grab for longer trips and paid through the app using my Visa card. Worked great. In smaller towns like Tagaytay or Baguio it was definitely all cash. No drivers had machines and none used apps other than maybe texting through Viber.
Just got back from Cebu and used taxis every day. Cash is still the main way to pay. I tried asking one driver about card payment and he said no way. They expect cash for short trips and won’t wait while you try to sort an app. I used my Wise card to withdraw cash from a Metrobank ATM and paid all drivers that way. Only Grab let me pay with my card through the app, and that worked fine.
I was in Manila for two weeks and used both metered taxis and Grab. All the regular taxis I flagged down wanted cash only. A couple even asked for exact change. None of them had card machines and they were not interested in payment apps either. Grab was better because I could set it to card or GrabPay in the app and it worked smoothly. But even with Grab, some drivers still preferred cash. Best to always carry pesos just in case.