Grab Car taxis - good service?

[AbeSurd]

I used Grab Car a few times a year ago and it worked well for getting round the Pattaya/Jomtien area. Seemed a bit pricey but, as an occasional user, it was worth it for me for the convenience.

Is the service more or less as good as it was a year ago?

Do you still pay the driver - rather than have to prepay through their app? I don't want to prepay.

Thanks.

[Odin Norway]

You pay the driver the price that comes up on the app.How you think it was a year ago is hard for others to say

[AbeSurd]

3 minutes ago, Odin Norway said:

You pay the driver the price that comes up on the app.How you think it was a year ago is hard for others to say

Thanks.

OK, I'll ask it a different way ...

Is the service more or less the same as it was a year ago?

[RoadWarrior371]

Grab is the way to go in Pattaya.  Just configure the service to pay cash, and pay the driver each ride.  Noting that I often arrange a pickup that is away from central Taxi locations, since I have not been interested in gangfights with the taxi thugs, yet.

[AbeSurd]

1 minute ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Grab is the way to go in Pattaya.  Just configure the service to pay cash, and pay the driver each ride.  Noting that I often arrange a pickup that is away from central Taxi locations, since I have not been interested in gangfights with the taxi thugs, yet.

Great. Sounds good.

Yes I remember that being the advice a year ago. Don't get picked up or dropped off near a main taxi location. Thanks for reminding me.

[thaitero]

I tried this about 2 weeks ago. Address was condo. Noticed that Grab car and Grarab taxi showed same price. I ordered taxi and no complaints about ride but usually prisewise any different prices if choosing taxi or car ?

[AbeSurd]

4 minutes ago, thaitero said:

I tried this about 2 weeks ago. Address was condo. Noticed that Grab car and Grarab taxi showed same price. I ordered taxi and no complaints about ride but usually prisewise any different prices if choosing taxi or car ?

Can you clarify? Are you saying there are 2 separate services/businesses operating in the Pattaya area: Grab Car and Grab Taxi?

 

My app is called 'Grab'. I tried it just now as an experiment. First it offered me 3 choices: Car or Delivery or Rewards. So I choose 'Car'. Next it asked where I was going. After I told it that, it only seemed to offer me 'GrabCar (Pattaya)' with an estimated arrival time for the driver to pick me up.

[thaitero]

Yes there is an option to choose yellowred grabtaxi and (private drivers) grabcar. This has been case earlier also than my last try was but that time i remember grabcar was a bit cheaper. Maby now the prices are same because of taximafia ???

[Hans Gruber]

Grabcar is the way forward.

 

i think it's a really good service.

[Emmess]

41 minutes ago, thaitero said:

Yes there is an option to choose yellowred grabtaxi and (private drivers) grabcar. This has been case earlier also than my last try was but that time i remember grabcar was a bit cheaper. Maby now the prices are same because of taximafia ???

The option of choosing between Grab car or Grab taxi has not been there for a long time now. The app just gives you the option of a car and when it turns up, only then you get to know if it's a taxi or a private car.

[thaitero]

O.k. Thanks for the info Emmes. The phone used 2 weeks ago was old one not used for long time also. I quess i had some really old version of grabapp but managed to order my ride nevertheless ????

[wpcoe]

You can enter a credit card number and store it in the Grab app.  I did that after a couple drivers "no hab change"...

[Henryford]

I am never happy to give my credit card details on to a thai web site. If you know the price before have the right money.

[AlexCanada]

Tried to book Grab the other day and rides that used to be around 200 baht are now 340 baht.  340 baht from Soi Buakhao to Thepprasit Night Market.  Taxi is 200 to 250 baht.  Hope this is just a temporary Songkran blip and not a permanent thing for Grab.

[AlexCanada]

5 hours ago, AlexCanada said:

Tried to book Grab the other day and rides that used to be around 200 baht are now 340 baht.  340 baht from Soi Buakhao to Thepprasit Night Market.  Taxi is 200 to 250 baht.  Hope this is just a temporary Songkran blip and not a permanent thing for Grab.

Prices appear back to normal now. Odd it didn't specify it was a price surge when I saw the higher prices. 

[Lumbini]

Prices continue to go up here with Grab but not in Bangkok . Even drivers say they get paid almost twice as much per kilometer in this area compared to Bangkok . Here there is no competition from MRT & BTS


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[AlexCanada]

4 hours ago, Lumbini said:

Prices continue to go up here with Grab but not in Bangkok . Even drivers say they get paid almost twice as much per kilometer in this area compared to Bangkok . Here there is no competition from MRT & BTS

Bangkok has it good.  No taxi drivers asking for 200 baht to go the same distance it would cost 35 baht in Bangkok. 

 

Grab is a total rip off in Pattaya.  Is Thailand the only country in SE Asia where there isn't a fairly priced ride sharing program like Grab/Uber throughout the entire country?  

[wpcoe]

The trip from my Jomtien condo to Bangkok Hospital-Pattaya used to be B180-B200.  Now it's usually B300-B350. 

 

Grab also used to be cheaper than the pickup truck "taxis" in the Tesco parking lot, but now they are roughly the same price.  It can be a hassle to play the "where to meet to avoid the taxi mafia" game, so I have surrendered and just use the pickup trucks now.  No waiting.

[AbeSurd]

16 minutes ago, wpcoe said:

The trip from my Jomtien condo to Bangkok Hospital-Pattaya used to be B180-B200.  Now it's usually B300-B350. 

 

Yes, within the last month the taxi business at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya charged me 250 baht to go from the hospital to Jomtien Soi 5 Immigration. That's cheaper than Grab for the same journey.

[wpcoe]

17 minutes ago, AbeSurd said:

Yes, within the last month the taxi business at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya charged me 250 baht to go from the hospital to Jomtien Soi 5 Immigration. That's cheaper than Grab for the same journey.

You know, it never occurred to me to ask the rate for a taxi there at the BHP entrance.  Next time I will.  Thanks!

[thaitero]

3 hours ago, wpcoe said:

 

 

Grab also used to be cheaper than the pickup truck "taxis" in the Tesco parking lot, but now they are roughly the same price.  It can be a hassle to play the "where to meet to avoid the taxi mafia" game, so I have surrendered and just use the pickup trucks now.  No waiting.

You can buy also online from Tesco so one can use that also for the "heavy" shopping...

[Lumbini]

The trip from my Jomtien condo to Bangkok Hospital-Pattaya used to be B180-B200.  Now it's usually B300-B350.   

Grab also used to be cheaper than the pickup truck "taxis" in the Tesco parking lot, but now they are roughly the same price.  It can be a hassle to play the "where to meet to avoid the taxi mafia" game, so I have surrendered and just use the pickup trucks now.  No waiting.

 

Same situation for me also plus Uber ALWAYS had weekly promotions that really cut the rate more and much superior app .

 

 

[wpcoe]

Yeah, I miss Uber.  Not just because it was competition to keep rates down a bit, but I thought they were a better run operation.

[mike787]

Excellent service and price.  Highly recommended.  I have used them in every country possible, with consistent results. 

[sunnyboy2018]

Grab are just the same at the taxi hustlers but marginally cheaper. There software ain't up to snuff and they are much dearer than Uber. Better than nothing but a bit hit and miss.

[wpcoe]

16 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Grab are just the same at the taxi hustlers but marginally cheaper. There software ain't up to snuff and they are much dearer than Uber. Better than nothing but a bit hit and miss.

Agreed.  The biggest pluses for Grab at this time are that (a) you can easily summons them to wherever you happen to be and (b) not have to negotiate a price.