File photo

 

Thai media jumped on what they called the latest drama out of Phuket where the much heralded Sandbox reopening entered it's first weekend.

 

A tour operator called Nattakorn Reungroj went on Facebook to say he was "feeling emotional" after the age old problem of tourists being ripped off for taxi rides reared its ugly head. 

 

Nattakorn referred to the importance of the first tourists as people advertising the holiday island. 

 

But their stories were of being demanded to pay hundreds of baht 

over the odds.

 

Nattakorn begged the people responsible to not let history repeat itself. 

 

One poster had said they had been asked for a lot more than they expected by their hotel and wanted to know if they could use the SHA+ transport.

 

Others chipped in with tales of 800 baht (to Patong), 900 baht (to Karon) and even 1,350 baht rides. The last of these was one way from the airport to Kata Noi that the poster said would normally be 600 baht. 

 

Last week Thai premier Prayuth Chan-ocha stressed the importance of stopping the "taxi mafia" in their tracks when he spoke to his tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan, notes ASEAN Now. 

 

-- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-07-05

"You can take a boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy".  Or "you can't teach an old new tricks".  Same, same but not different.  Welcome back to the Land of Smiles.  

Thais will never learn.  These taxi drivers deserve to starve.

Taxi mafia, who would have guessed.

Another reason to never go there for me anyway , Phuket has always been known as a rip off place where most foreigners have to pay a lot more for everything and this comes from people i know who have been and will never go back .

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

A tour operator called Nattakorn Reungroj went on Facebook to say he was "feeling emotional" after the age old problem of tourists being ripped off for taxi rides reared its ugly head. 

Well that didnt take long did it?

Stupid just plain stupid, but then again what can anybody expect from the taxi mafia?

12 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

"You can take a boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy".  Or "you can't teach an old new tricks".  Same, same but not different.  Welcome back to the Land of Smiles.  

..................dog..................

Time to arrange for an airport bus link............................see how that goes ! Oh wait !

Good for tourism... But the Governor should interfere and ban these taxidrivers. If you want that people come and if you focus on tourism you have to get rid of all the scam. Let them starve because THEY give the country a bad name 

16 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Taxi mafia, who would have guessed.

Isn't the whole island governed by the same ethics ?

Tourists apparently are easy marks.  Meters are there for a reason. If the meter is not turned on when asked as I get in, I tell the driver to stop, and I exit the vehicle.  A trip from the airport to Cape Panwa generally runs us 400 baht.  If we use the hotels service we pay 500 baht.

Where are those that feel sorry for these  Kamoys , as someone stated earlier let them starve or get them arrested

17 minutes ago, mancub said:

Time to arrange for an airport bus link............................see how that goes ! Oh wait !

the smart bus was a great deal , MAX 180.

unfortunately it has not run in over a year because of low numbers>
 

Lets do everything to make quicksand island tourist friendly............ just as it was pre covid.

 

Taxis rip offs in full swing.....next the jet ski scam!

 

Hug a Thai!

Use the airport bus as it is far safer and cheaper. If that's not convenient then use Grab, which is also safer and cheaper.

36 minutes ago, keith101 said:

Another reason to never go there for me anyway , Phuket has always been known as a rip off place where most foreigners have to pay a lot more for everything and this comes from people i know who have been and will never go back .

Phuket,  Island of Thai greed

 

Swore it off 16 years ago based on taxi  never would consider it other as an alternative to ASQ.

 

10 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

the smart bus was a great deal , MAX 180.

unfortunately it has not run in over a year because of low numbers>
 

That and the vehicles being set ablaze by certain affected parties . https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/Battle-lines-drawn-new-Phuket-bus-service

No surprise. I lived there for 2 years and the whole place is a ripoff. Even local market sellers who know you are living there try and charge you extra for being a foreigner, even as you go out of your way to support them. So much so that I stopped using them and started going to the big chains where prices are marked.

 

Then there are the tuk tuk mafia, the taxi mafia, the 'win' mafia etc. No taxi ever uses a meter. If you complain then you risk a beat down by 5 of their mates. Even many restaurants have a separate Thai menu where prices are around 30% lower than the inflated ripoff English printed menu.

 

I got to the point where my gf handled all the cash when we went out. If I paid for stuff, the evening was 50% more expensive. What a place...????

 

They don't deserve tourists.

 

 

 

 

I've been waiting for this to happen it was guaranteed 

800B to Patong and 900 to Karon has been the fixed price for the past 10+ years as far as i know for the standard grey airport taxis? I assume this is from the airport? Rip off, yes. but nothing new here.

The trashy ways of a great many Thai citizens at every level of society never fails to undermine that "image" they go on about ad nauseam.

 

The internet has exposed a great deal of what was formerly hidden, they are never getting back to their glory tourist days, especially if they keep up this CoE madness.

 

Still, some farang oddballs love visiting North Korea too, so there's that.

 

 

No surprise really when no tourist  want to come at all what will they do.Just like at swampy taxis are another rip off,the smart people know the train is available then a taxi and much cheaper. I have seen so many  arrive get a taxi straight to pattaya and get ripped off.if you know the train and other ways it saves you alot of money and not get ripped off

3 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Even many restaurants have a separate Thai menu where prices are around 30% lower than the inflated ripoff English printed menu.

 

I got to the point where my gf handled all the cash when we went out. If I paid for stuff, the evening was 50% more expensive. What a place...????

 

They don't deserve tourists.

 

 

 

 

I have to admit I have not seen that for a long time about the menu's Im the same I let my wife pay for everything she misses nothing

Yippee! We’re open and everything is back to normal.

4 minutes ago, bristolgeoff said:

No surprise really when no tourist  want to come at all what will they do.Just like at swampy taxis are another rip off,the smart people know the train is available then a taxi and much cheaper. I have seen so many  arrive get a taxi straight to pattaya and get ripped off.if you know the train and other ways it saves you alot of money and not get ripped off

Local bus to Pattaya from the Airport car park, beers and ice from the airport sewen, open air windows, who cares how long it takes, we got ice-cold beer!

I always rent a car when I go to Phuket as you can usually get a rental for around the same price as a short one way tuk tuk ride. It really is common sense. Don't know why more people just do this instead of supporting the taxi mafia. It is often fun coming out of the airport terminal and seeing the looks on those taxi mafia driver faces when I ignore their calls and head to the car rental counter. I will pay 1000 baht for a nice one day car rental vs 1000 for a one way trip to a hotel.

It is called 'maffia' for a reason: we are untouchable and do as we please.

 

Yes, there is a problem with the drivers, but the main fault that the fares just don't reflect reality, is AOT (Airport's Authority of Thailand).

They auction the taxi concession and pull in so much profit, it leaves the official taxi operators struggling to cover their costs and make a profit.

If AOT became less greedy, the taxi-operators would have no choice but to pass some of those savings to the customer.

 

As to the black taxis, they just match the "official rate", or more and make a nice living with none of the true costs.

40 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Tourists apparently are easy marks.  Meters are there for a reason. If the meter is not turned on when asked as I get in, I tell the driver to stop, and I exit the vehicle. 

Doesn't always help - watch out for the button on the indicator column or the "Speedy Meter".  I had one like that from Swampy once, pointed it out to him and he said "how much do you usually pay" ... and that's what I did pay.

 

Got to watch all the time, but new tourists often don't know how much a destination usually costs.

48 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Good for tourism... But the Governor should interfere and ban these taxidrivers. If you want that people come and if you focus on tourism you have to get rid of all the scam. Let them starve because THEY give the country a bad name 

Prayuth told the Governor not to let the Mafia start up again.