Taxi fare hike: Whatever....but don't blame us when we choose Grab

[webfact]

Taxi fare hike: Whatever.... but don't blame us when we choose Grab

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Daily News reported that the Thai public are resigned to accepting the fare hike of 10% for using taxis even though they are angry at not having been consulted. 

 

But in a vox pop survey they have said: 

 

Fine.....but don't blame us when we use Grab!

 

Daily News said their survey showed that Thais were fed up with taxis and most don't agree with the fare increases. 

 

They say that their service is not worth it......if you can call it a service. 

 

It is not safe, the drivers are rude and throw in the constant refusals to take passengers where they want to go and the rip-offs experienced by both locals and tourists and you have only one answer....

 

We're turning to Grab. And don't blame us!

 

Transport minister Saksayam Chidchob was all smiles with the taxi drivers this week as he announced the new measures. 

 

He also said that he was speeding up the full legalization of services like Grab. 

 

Flag fall is to remain the same at 35 baht but fares will go up about 10% with a 20 baht increase in the airport surcharge in Bangkok.

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-08-09

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[lust]

Yep, grab is much better for avoiding the thugs that drive these taxis.

[OneMoreFarang]

I am maybe 80% happy with the taxis.

If I am in front of a hotel I walk 100m to get away from the no-meter taxis. Problem (mostly) solved.

And if I wait on the road for a taxi and they don't want to use the meter, no problem, I take the next one. There are enough of them.

 

I was only once in a GRAB taxi because a friend ordered one. He had no idea how to get to our destination. That didn't convince me to try that service by myself.

 

What I love is PassApp Taxi in Phnom Penh. I wish something like that would exist in Bangkok.

[MaxLee]

17 minutes ago, lust said:

Yep, grab is much better for avoiding the thugs that drive these taxis.

But if you unfortunately stop at an area with thug taxi drivers, you're toast

[DualSportBiker]

I don't condone the refusals or the bad behaviour, but the cabbies are not exclusively to blame, far from it. It's not as if they have it easy, or that cabs here are expensive. There are too many cabs - not enough fares each to make a reasonable wage. Add to that that buying a cab means paying 8% interest where normal cars are sold on 0% finance. The prices have been fixed for 25 years but cost of living has gone up multiples. Who among you would accept slow depreciation of earnings for 25 years? Without inflation-adjusted income their earnings have been slashed both in real-world terms and by slicing the pie thinner and thinner

 

Allowing 120,000 cabbies on Bangkok's roads has exasperated traffic problems and thinned earnings for all. Too little work and appalling traffic means fares to many areas are only paid one-way making the journey a significant cost to the driver. Were traffic better, many would refuse less rides. With less cabs on the road, drivers would have more fares per day. Less traffic would also increase total fares per day as the roads would be a more viable option.

 

The BMA needs to reduce the number of cabs by half; taking 60,000 cars off the streets would improve traffic overnight. It would increase earnings for the remaining drivers. On the other side of the equation, bad cabbies need to be dealt with more effectively.

 

I'll keep dreaming...

[Aachen]

50 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I was only once in a GRAB taxi because a friend ordered one. He had no idea how to get to our destination. That didn't convince me to try that service by myself.

If you order a Grab you see the planned route an accept. The driver sees the same route on his navy. So there can be no problem.

[VocalNeal]

And let us not forget the Russian or...customers who have no change and go into 7-Eleven for change and never return.

[Oztruckie]

Give me a Grab taxi everyday of the week,you know the exact fare to yr destination before even getting into the car.

[Farangwithaplan]

48 minutes ago, Aachen said:

If you order a Grab you see the planned route an accept. The driver sees the same route on his navy. So there can be no problem.

That works in theory. I've had a few situations where the Grab driver was in all sorts of mental pain trying to follow directions.

 

First guy came from the north and took a short cut through a private moo baan to get to us. We were heading south. He decided he wanted to drive back north to pick up his license and divert onto a different major road to get us to our destination. Probably would have doubled the time the 15 minute run should have taken. A firm but polite 'no' followed by him stopped on the road pouting for a few minutes before he followed our preferred course.

 

Driver could not find the entrance to my condo. After 3 calls with him, I just gave up and cancelled. The guy was about 300 metres away and it clearly showed on the app where he was and where I was.

 

There are others but you get the point. Grab can be good, but so can regular taxis.

 

Taxi drivers have a tough job for not a lot of coin. Like anything there is a rouge element. If the driver does his job, drives safely, doesn't give me any hassle about destination I will always give a good tip. If I am going somewhere that it could be reasonably expected they won't get another customer quickly or it is late at night, I give them a bit more.

 

If I have a laugh with them or a pleasant conversation, I tip them a bit more. If I need them to be quiet and they do because I am planning something or reading or whatever, I tip them.

 

If they try to make me stick my head in the front passenger window to ask if they will be kind enough to take me somewhere, I just walk a few steps away and look for another taxi.

 

There are a lot of extremely unsafe taxis running around now. They need to be taken off the roads. I usually only choose the newer Altis taxis these days. The older Toyotas - often manual gearboxes from my experience - are mainly death traps waiting to happen.

 

[kevin612]

You know the price when use grab, taxi drivers always ask for more money.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Aachen said:

If you order a Grab you see the planned route an accept. The driver sees the same route on his navy. So there can be no problem.

It seems there is a difference between theory and practice...

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, MaxLee said:

But if you unfortunately stop at an area with thug taxi drivers, you're toast

You walk 100m. Problem (mostly) solved.

[yellowboat]

A small percentage of drivers are bad.  Taxi companies need to modernize to compete with Grab, or they will suffer the same fate as many companies the world over.  Always amused that Thailand is so surprised by these sorts of problems that ail the rest of the world.  Is there world news in Thailand ?

[Bob12345]

Used GRAB a few times and was surprised by the brand new vehicles and polite drivers. Might have just been lucky but for as far as i see they offer good service.

[AgMech Cowboy]

I've been here 22 years and have only been ripped off once by a taxi. That is not including the obvious cabs with soaped up meters and even those aren't 'that bad'. The taxi rates have been the same all 22 years. They need to increase the fares. I think the meter should start at 50 baht and the baht per kilometer should be increased to 6.00 baht. IMHO

[Bangkok Barry]

6 hours ago, DualSportBiker said:

It's not as if they have it easy, or that cabs here are expensive. There are too many cabs - not enough fares each to make a reasonable wage. Add to that that buying a cab means paying 8% interest where normal cars are sold on 0% finance. The prices have been fixed for 25 years but cost of living has gone up multiples. Who among you would accept slow depreciation of earnings for 25 years? Without inflation-adjusted income their earnings have been slashed both in real-world terms and by slicing the pie thinner and thinner

 

Well, no-one forced them to take the job. Jeez! And if they actually accepted passengers instead of shaking their head then those passengers would give them money. So many drivers don't appear to understand that basic concept. They would rather drive on, empty.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Well, no-one forced them to take the job. Jeez! And if they actually accepted passengers instead of shaking their head then those passengers would give them money. So many drivers don't appear to understand that basic concept. They would rather drive on, empty.

I think that is not entirely correct.

Should a taxi driver accept a passenger to a place when the taxi driver knows that likely he will end up standing in traffic for hours on the way back not making money? Officially he has to accept but I understand if the drivers think twice.

 

As with all jobs people chose to work in those jobs. But in general it is good when people in any job can expect to have a reasonable amount of money from working in those jobs.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think that is not entirely correct.

Should a taxi driver accept a passenger to a place when the taxi driver knows that likely he will end up standing in traffic for hours on the way back not making money? Officially he has to accept but I understand if the drivers think twice.

 

As with all jobs people chose to work in those jobs. But in general it is good when people in any job can expect to have a reasonable amount of money from working in those jobs.

 

How does it work in your country? Do taxis refuse to take you where you ask to go? Again - the driver chooses the job and knows there is sometimes heavy traffic. Just like in any other city in the world, but he probably doesn't know that part.

[OneMoreFarang]

10 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

How does it work in your country? Do taxis refuse to take you where you ask to go? Again - the driver chooses the job and knows there is sometimes heavy traffic. Just like in any other city in the world, but he probably doesn't know that part.

I don't remember the details, it's a long time ago that I was in that country. But I remember taxi drivers has some rules like they don't have to take a passenger if the trip would go outside of a certain area. I am sure they had lot of other rules.

[phkauf]

I would say that about 20 to 30% of the cab drivers I encounter are complete sh!t. Either refuse a fare, want to go off meter, don't know where they are going (or get lost on purpose to jack up the fare) or horrible drivers -or drunk. The remaining guys are honest hard working and deserve a solid wage for their day's work. 

I don't mind the fare increase as long as service from the bad guys improves. If not, roll back the fare increase.

And I think this was a smart move to increase the fares, as a way to formally legalize Grab. Once they have to compete with Grab, these guys are going to suffer big time. And the sad part is the good drivers will probably suffer more than the crooks.

[Letseng]

9 hours ago, lust said:

Yep, grab is much better for avoiding the thugs that drive these taxis.

And Grab Taxi costs more and is driven by the same "thug" you want to avoid. Difference is a higher fare for Grab. I've not had an experience bad enough to pay warrant the surcharge for a Grab vehicle. I've been here for 15 yrs. My "Grab" attempts ended in time waste as the guys always cancelled due to more a more worthwhile trip like airport rather than Ploenchit-Surasak. I flag down a car when I need one. No unnecessary waiting.

[justin case]

grab in thailand is more expensive than taxi, which do most of the grab work...

 

 

[sunnyboy2018]

13 hours ago, Aachen said:

If you order a Grab you see the planned route an accept. The driver sees the same route on his navy. So there can be no problem.

But that can be a problem as the machine sometimes chooses the wrong route. Happens to me all the time in Pattaya travelling between Pratumnak and BIH.

[sunnyboy2018]

3 hours ago, justin case said:

grab in thailand is more expensive than taxi, which do most of the grab work...

 

 

Yes true in some towns. Pattaya and Phuket being the exception 

[Issannative]

Anyone tried to take a taxi in samui you need to take a second mortgage

Sent from my LDN-LX2 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sunnyboy2018]

5 hours ago, Letseng said:

And Grab Taxi costs more and is driven by the same "thug" you want to avoid. Difference is a higher fare for Grab. I've not had an experience bad enough to pay warrant the surcharge for a Grab vehicle. I've been here for 15 yrs. My "Grab" attempts ended in time waste as the guys always cancelled due to more a more worthwhile trip like airport rather than Ploenchit-Surasak. I flag down a car when I need one. No unnecessary waiting.

I have a list of drivers for most towns i frequent.  Only use grab in pattaya

[Penicillin]

10 hours ago, yellowboat said:

A small percentage of drivers are bad.  Taxi companies need to modernize to compete with Grab, or they will suffer the same fate as many companies the world over.  Always amused that Thailand is so surprised by these sorts of problems that ail the rest of the world.  Is there world news in Thailand ?

No, it’s not a “small percentage” that are bad, It’s the vast majority.  Just try asking one to use his meter.  Maybe you feel lucky to find one that does , only to discover it’s rigged. 

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Always amused that Thailand is so surprised by these sorts of problems that ail the rest of the world.  Is there world news in Thailand ?

Yes but it takes 3 generations or more to react !

[yellowboat]

16 hours ago, Penicillin said:

No, it’s not a “small percentage” that are bad, It’s the vast majority.  Just try asking one to use his meter.  Maybe you feel lucky to find one that does , only to discover it’s rigged. 

My reliance on taxis is minimal, and yes, in certain areas at certain times, you will either get refused or asked for an off meter, exorbitant rate. 

 

Tried to take a cab from Hau Lam Pong station, and they were all not using the meter that day.  One cabby put his hand on my shoulder, and said in his best, heart felt English; "this is the lowest fair I can offer you".  I told him to take a swim in a filthy Klong.  I can find taxis that use the meter on the main road.  So I left the station and found a taxi.  Got taken at Saigon Airport once too.  Would just leave the airport and find a taxi on the main road or use Grab.     

 

I can see where you get your percentage from. 

[DualSportBiker]

Of course they understand they get paid for driving passengers - don't be a muppet. What you seem to refuse to accept/understand is that a long trip to a suburb often results in no fare back. A long trip in heavy traffic with an empty return trip in heavy traffic is just not worth it for them; it's a conversation I've had a dozen times. Add to that that many cab drivers get ripped off by passengers who get out and run away in traffic, or disappear into an apartment block to 'get the money they need to pay' and never emerge again. Ask a cabbie how often he gets shafted for a fare.

 

On 8/9/2019 at 5:28 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

Well, no-one forced them to take the job. Jeez! And if they actually accepted passengers instead of shaking their head then those passengers would give them money. So many drivers don't appear to understand that basic concept. They would rather drive on, empty.