Safari Taxi

They suck! Never showed and I had a medical procedure this morning. Do NOT use them.
R

They get an F
Booked a taxi for pick up at SFO, our flight landed at 2:30 AM, and they guy bailed on us because he had a 4:00 AM pick up in Novato. E-​mail says one thing and the guy calls and changes his story. He had plenty of time to make both.
Totally UNRELIABLE.

Took the airporter to the Manzanita lot, asked for a cab. Waited 20 minutes, no cab. Called their office that is literally across the street from the parking lot, and after they asked me where I was going (in Mill Valley) I was told it would take an hour to get picked up. Decided to just walk home, and as I walked past their office I saw FOUR of their cabs just sitting in their parking lot. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Driver arrived almost 30 minutes late when we needed to go to the airport. Asked for an SUV and got a rattle-​trap van instead. Felt every bump from Tiburon to SFO. Will not use ever again!

I called for a cab from Larkspur to go to San Raphael 10 minutes away. The company told me the cab would be there in 15 minutes. The cabbie called me 10 minutes later, and said he was stuck in traffic, and would be another 15 minutes. He called me 15 minutes later and said he would be 5 more minutes, then he called to say he had pulled up about 30 minutes after I called.
As I was getting in another man said he had called this cab company. The drive asked both of us where we were going. I assured the man this was my cab since the cabbie had been calling me on my cell. The cabbie looked at me dumbfounded. I asked him if he had called my cell. Again he gave me a blank stare. I proceded to call his cell. The cell started to ring and he turned the ringer off and ignored it. Then he said that he was here to take the other man and another cab would be coming for me. Still unwilling to admit he called me. I let the other man have the cab, but tried one more time to call the cabbie hoping that there was some other cabbie in the parking lot with a similar voice. The funny thing was the cabbie answered his phone but didn’t know it, and I could clearly hear their conversation. The cabbie said «I didn’t want to go to San Raphael, since my shift is over soon.»
I am sorry a 10 minute drive was such a hardship for him he felt the need to lie to me. I will never use this company again.

Called the day before to request a cab to SFO for the following morning at 11:30. Had a chat with the guy for 5 min, requested a car seat for our baby; and all went fine and confirmed. Except the cab didn’t show up at all! When I called again at 11:30, they said they had no record of our conversation… then, now in a hurry and stressed out, called
(their listing turned out top on google search) and they showed up in less than 10 min.

I have lived in Marin for almost 4 years and this place USED to be 5 star all the way. I used them so many times for us and relatives despite it being pricey. I love one of the drivers in particular, they drive hybrids and were all around great. They always got me to the airport on time and were really reliable and friendly. I recommended them on mother’s boards and to many friends. I am not sure what has happened. They have messed up our last 3 reservations in a row really badly. Like others said, if you are an airport taxi, you have one objective, to get me to the airport on time. They have failed this now 3 times in a row and we have been in a serious bind twice and this last time my brother in law had to wait at the airport for them for 40 min. The first time they failed to bring the car seat for my son that I called and reminded them about twice! So we had to quickly drive ourselves to the airport in a major scramble. The second time they just totally failed to show up and again I had to drive my in laws to the airport in a major scramble at 6:15 in the morning. This time they had the pick up time for my brother in law at 7pm instead of 2:52pm. I will change my review of them if we ever use them again and they start actually getting us to the airport. The other problem is they never actually apologize for their errors. It’s one thing to have bad service, but to then not even apologize or offer a discount for next time is inexcusable.

I needed to take 6 people down to 4^th st in San Rafael on New Years Eve. All other taxi companies were rude and acting as though calling for a cab on demand was taboo and unacceptable. I called Taxi Marin and they said they’d be outside in 15 minutes. I figured it’d take them 20 – 25 minutes, but 13 minutes later, the driver was outside of my house ready to take us. The van he drove was clean. The driver was friendly and courteous. The perfect expectation for a taxi company. Next time, this is my first choice in taxi companies.

I have never had a worst experience taking a cab. There is no communication between the dispatcher and the driver. They were late picking me up when I specifically stated that I needed to be somewhere at an exact time. They take credit cards, but the driver will give you attitude if the charge is not for 20 dollars or more. Worst experience ever! Use any other company besides this one.

I called this company the day before I needed a 3:30AM ride from Greenbrae to the Marin Airporter and was told by a woman at the company that I would be picked up in front of my home the next morning. They did not show up, did not answer the telephone when I called at 3:40, 3:45 and 3:50. I let a message, but they never called me back to explain or apologize. I will never use this service again and I encourage you not to use them either.

Just had what looks like the usual experience with these guys. Wish I would’ve read reviews on this company first! Made a reservation a day in advance for a 8:30am pick up. At 8:35 tried calling, no answer, sounded like the call was forwarded to a cell phone with an automated message saying nothing about a shuttle service. Not only did they never show up I wasn’t able to get in touch with anyone until 9:45, an hour & 15 min after I was supposed to be picked up! Not even an apology. Lucky for me a good friend lives in the neighborhood & rallied me to sfo just in time. Looks like if you need a ride to sfo from Marin you better call a reliable friend…

I had a good driver from Larkspur to OAK — 1 minute late (who cares), very professional and curteous; I thought «wow, finally a reliable and reasonable way to get to the Oakland Airport from Marin». Well, so much for that: My experience with these guys on the return trip was crummy. Over 1 hour late on the pickup, bad communication throughout, no real apologies, would not offer any concessions even after I spoke to the owner.

Do not give Marine Shuttle your credit card information. They save your records, double charge, and then promise forever to reverse the double charge. This happened to me twice with them. I finally had to cancel my credit card to have them stop. Be advised.

Don’t waste your time with this outfit. I called to schedule 2 early morning pickups. They e-​mailed me a confirmation, but the morning of the first pick up, they no-​showed. Tried to reach the dispatcher, but got no one. Persisted and somehow got routed to a driver who said neither he nor the other early AM driver had my appointment on their schedule. I had to wake up a neighbor & ask for a lift. This place put me in a real jam & I would not count on them to stick to any promised appointment. If I could give them zero stars, I would.

Better than Marin Door to Door — newer, safer vans. Same wacky Russian drivers and not too good on the ‘on time’ thing.
Is it really THAT hard to run a shuttle service?

I heard good things about this service and having had terrible experiences with Marin Door to Door was HOPING they were better… the first experience went smoothly, but the second time they reserved us for 9:15 am. It rolls around and no shuttle. we call and they (after first having no idea who we are) say «five minutesy». Hang up and wait ten minutes. now 9:30, call again: «right in town, just around the corner». They ended up nearly forty minutes late for pick-​up, totally unacceptable.
They never called to say they’d be late, and they lied twice when we called to ask where they were. We missed a chance to buy food, and came very close to missing our flight. The driver just mumbled (in a thick Russian accent– is this the same family as Marin Door to Door?!) «very busy morning». No kidding? Well, we still have to catch our flight.
Pick people up when you say you will, and show a little professionalism. That’s all it takes. Why can none of these shuttle services get it? :(

Exceptional Service
We took a two week trip to Alaska and Vancouver and it wasn’t worth it to leave a car at the airport. I am used to taking the Marin Airporter on extended trips. With 5 family members on the trip a taxi to the Larkspur terminal plus the Airporter fare was more than getting Marin Shuttle to pick us up at home and take us to SFO. This left us a lot of flexibility as to which airport we returned to. We got better fares to return to Oakland rather than SFO.
Sergio was very good at ensuring the pick-​up and drop-​off were on time. The two drivers we had were extremely courteous and did every thing to ensure our comfort. We were picked up at the time they said they would come by and on our return the driver called to make sure we had our bags and came by even as we made our way to the pick-​up point at OAK. Marin Shuttle is the way to go!

My expectations for an airport shuttle service are fairly simple. I expect them to be reliable, to arrive on-​time, and deliver me either to the airport or my home quickly, comfortably and safely.
We’ve now used Marin Shuttle for several trips and they have always met our expectations.
I will admit that there was a slight miscommunication problem with our second trip — we were leaving at 1am and they missed the 1am part. They scheduled the van to arrive at 10am the following day. I missed reading that when I received my confirmation via email. When the van didn’t show up, I called in and they discovered their error. They quickly contacted a local cab company and we made it to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. (They covered the cost of our cab.)
We’ll continue to use them.