It was around 30 years ago when they introduced the meter. I was in Thailand then, actually before then. The fares are pretty reasonable when you think of it. To give you an example, when I go for my yearly medical it takes around 45 minutes to 1 hour to get there depending on traffic. The is always less than 200 baht which is cheap considering the time. If we compare it say to the UK, and the prices I believe have gone up again since I was there, I had to return to get a full visa for my job. I was staying in a hotel maybe 2 miles from Heathrow. It cost 20 quid or about 800 baht.