Phuket airport taxi fare probe goes nowhere

[webfact]

Tanee Suebrerk, Deputy-Director of the Department of Land Transport, arrived in Phuket yesterday (July 7). Photo: PR Phuket

 

By The Phuket News

 

PHUKET: Tanee Suebrerk, Deputy-Director of the Department of Land Transport, arrived in Phuket from Bangkok yesterday to preside over a meeting with airport taxi operators to investigate and discuss issues regarding taxi fares charged while the COVID economic crisis continues.

 

At the meeting, held at Phuket Vocational College, airport taxi operators “agreed” to charging “20% off” fares as long as the crisis continues, said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

 

Present at the meeting were Phuket Vice Governor Vikrom Jakthee, Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Banyat Kantha, along with other officials and representatives of local taxi companies.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-airport-taxi-fare-probe-goes-nowhere-80610.php

 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2021-07-09

 

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[smedly]

I can get a taxi from pattaya to BKK airport for Bt1000, a distance of about 100km

 

How far is it from Phuket airport to Patong - seems to be around 25km

 

maybe if they used the meter then no problem

Edited July 8, 2021 by smedly

[NanLaew]

Don't blame the hard done by taxi drivers.

 

“At these prices, they may not be able to cover the cost [of operating a taxi] because we need to handle many costs, including insurance, petrol and the concession,” said one of the representatives, not named by the PR Phuket report. ...

It was not explained whether AoT, the Thai public company that resulted from the privatisation of the state-owned Airports Authority of Thailand (AAT), would offer any relief in the concessions to be paid for operating taxis at the airport."

 

There's your problem right there. I don't think it's the taxi drivers or their owners or operators that are getting rich here. Follow the concession money.

[simon43]

My mad ex used to own a battered old taxi that was allowed to drop/collect at Phuket Airport.  The concession fee that she had to pay for this lucrative privilege was 1 million baht (and that was more than 12 years ago...)

 

[lolalol]

48 minutes ago, smedly said:

I can get a taxi from pattaya to BKK airport for Bt1000, a distance of about 100km

Wow. Only 1000 Baht? I usually pay 350+ going from Asoke to Don Mueang Airport. 

[tracker1]

Wonder if they paid off the officials? 

[ezzra]

It is well established that given half a chance some Thai people will use any opportunity to price gouging and over charge with no qualms or shame, this is part of holidaying/living in this country...

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

I can get a taxi from pattaya to BKK airport for Bt1000, a distance of about 100km

 

How far is it from Phuket airport to Patong - seems to be around 25km

 

maybe if they used the meter then no problem

More like 50 km and no fare allowed on way back.

[Whale]

My house to Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok is 32 km ..... 220 baht plus 50 baht surcharge..

 

 

[smedly]

18 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

More like 50 km and no fare allowed on way back.

Airport to Patong is not 50km - looking at google maps it is no further than 30km and that is tracking the road all the way there - it is more like 25km so 5km thrown in for error 

[smedly]

1 hour ago, lolalol said:

Wow. Only 1000 Baht? I usually pay 350+ going from Asoke to Don Mueang Airport. 

don't get me wrong - I could easily pay 2500baht if I was sucker enough to pay it

[gim12]

i thought people flying in had to use hotel arranged SHAPlus transport, does this mean the shaplus hotels  are part of this price rise?

[nkg]

40 minutes ago, smedly said:

Airport to Patong is not 50km - looking at google maps it is no further than 30km and that is tracking the road all the way there - it is more like 25km so 5km thrown in for error 

 

Why guess? If you search for Google Maps Directions and type in the 2 places, it calculates the distance of the route for you.

 

36.1km taking 54 minutes by car.

 

 

 

 

[JoePai]

46 minutes ago, smedly said:

don't get me wrong - I could easily pay 2500baht if I was sucker enough to pay it

Please PM me with the contact details of the 1,000 Baht taxi to Swampy - as I am always charged 1,200 Baht 

[smedly]

14 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Please PM me with the contact details of the 1,000 Baht taxi to Swampy - as I am always charged 1,200 Baht 

pm sent

[HAPPYNUFF]

A million baht concession  to  ply your taxi around Phuket airport..  Me thinks   your mad ex was telling just a little porky pie, hoping you would  help  pay the  bill.    Ive noticed Thais always exaggerate  the cost of anything they either buy or sell.    An example,  a woman near us was bragging how her farang boyfriend paid 1 million baht for land for her.   My wifes Uncle  owned and sold that land to  her,, cost 450,000.        Another   claimed her boyfriend bought her a "chopper" style  motor bike for  680,000 baht.     Actual sale price was 300,000 baht, as it  was  clapped out... Me, Im rather shy, and  tell the Im an extremely wealthy farang,, but a very mean one.

[fangless]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

It is well established that given half a chance some Thai people will use any opportunity to price gouging and over charge with no qualms or shame, this is part of holidaying/living in this country...

It is well established that given half a chance some Thai people will use any opportunity to price gouging and over charge with no qualms or shame, this is part of holidaying/living in this country...

[hotchilli]

"Probe goes nowhere"

It should go right to the very top... tell the governor, sort it out or you're out.

[MajorTom]

1 hour ago, nkg said:

 

Why guess? If you search for Google Maps Directions and type in the 2 places, it calculates the distance of the route for you.

 

36.1km taking 54 minutes by car.

 

 

 

 

Not far off. To be exact, under normal conditions you would never go the shorter coastal route. You would follow the main road(402). Thats 38km to the north end of Patong. So if you are going to a hotel near the beach i think its fair to say its closer to 45km. (One way systems in patong)

 

All that said, the 800B is very expensive. This one way taxi system in Phuket where they are not allowed to return with passengers cant be fixed IMO. It needs to be completely replaced by meter taxis only.

 

 

[MajorTom]

And to add to that: Airport Taxis are not the worst problem in Phuket.

Taxi from Patong to Kathu which is 5km will cost you 400B!!! If you argue maybe 300B, never less.

Patong to Phuket town is 500.... Thats 13km.

This is absolutely insane. Using those rates, a taxi to the airport should cost about 3-4000...

Not to mention a 100m tuk-tuk ride in patong at 200B. (similar will cost 10B in Pattaya)

[madmitch]

12 minutes ago, MajorTom said:

Not far off. To be exact, under normal conditions you would never go the shorter coastal route. You would follow the main road(402). Thats 38km to the north end of Patong. So if you are going to a hotel near the beach i think its fair to say its closer to 45km. (One way systems in patong)

 

All that said, the 800B is very expensive. This one way taxi system in Phuket where they are not allowed to return with passengers cant be fixed IMO. It needs to be completely replaced by meter taxis only.

 

 

I don't think the "regular" fares to and from the airport are expensive, particlularly when you consider the one way system, which also applies when going from, for example, Karon to Patong; 7km for 400 baht, which is well overpriced.

 

As you rightly point out, this is what needs to be sorted, though whether tha would change the fares is possibly doubtful.

 

Now is the time to get this sorted, before the masses of taxis return to the roads in anticipation of the return of tourists.

 

A Phuket taxi thread; the first for ages. One tiny step closer to normality

[Khun Yogi]

3 hours ago, lolalol said:

Wow. Only 1000 Baht? I usually pay 350+ going from Asoke to Don Mueang Airport. 

Its about 80 km from Pattaya to the airport. B 1000 is pretty normal. Most taxis use LPG which is a lot cheaper than petrol. Going to the airport is no problem, its the getting a taxi at the airport to your destination where the problems start. Touts, Taxi companies etc etc rule the roost. Expats know how to avoid this, tourists don't.

[MajorTom]

3 minutes ago, madmitch said:

I don't think the "regular" fares to and from the airport are expensive, particlularly when you consider the one way system, which also applies when going from, for example, Karon to Patong; 7km for 400 baht, which is well overpriced.

I think its overpriced. If you could take a BKK taxi and put it in Phuket Airport with BKK rates, the trip would cost you about half. I don't see any reason in that.

 

But as mentioned, Airport taxis is not the main problem in Phuket. Its the local stuff that's just plain robbery.

 

A friend  of mine lived in Kathu for many years. He wold go out in Patong sometimes, and the 5km taxi back home was 400B.

He now lives in Jomtien. He showed me this Bolt app: Jomtien to Pattaya beach which is about the same distance was around 60B...

[chuang]

20 hours ago, smedly said:

I can get a taxi from pattaya to BKK airport for Bt1000, a distance of about 100km

 

How far is it from Phuket airport to Patong - seems to be around 25km

 

maybe if they used the meter then no problem

They need to pay so-called tea money...dont like taxi use car rental or shuttle bus...why all the fuss. ...try taking a taxi from tokyo airport to town..

Edited July 9, 2021 by chuang

[Ganesh108]

2 hours ago, HAPPYNUFF said:

A million baht concession  to  ply your taxi around Phuket airport..  Me thinks   your mad ex was telling just a little porky pie, hoping you would  help  pay the  bill.    Ive noticed Thais always exaggerate  the cost of anything they either buy or sell.

No, the 1 million Baht story is true. I'm on good terms with a few drivers and know the hospitality industry in Phuket. The fees to run an airport limo are prohibitive. So most of the fare actually goes to some higher ups, not the drivers or the limo owners. 

[khunPer]

The article says...

"The representatives explained that the fare from the airport to Patong, a distance of “about” 38.9 kilometres, used to be B800, but right now they were charging only B640, the report added."

 

If the Koh Phuket taxis run their meters after island-rates - like on Koh Samui - it would be 36.9 kilometers of 20 baht each = 738 baht, plus 100 baht meter fall including the first two kilometers, i.e. total 838 baht, so viewed in that light then 800 baht doesn't look too high, and 640 baht is a bargain.

 

But of course, if compared to Bangkok rates, 800 baht is (very) expensive.

 

And if compared to Koh Samui's no-meter fixed-price taxi fares, 800 baht is half price only...????(Rolling On The Floor Laughing-emoji)

[Tropicalevo]

As far as I can ascertain, for 2021 the numbers are :-

 

10.7 million is the Thai population of Bangkok

438,000      is the Thai population of Phuket

<60,000      is the Thai population of Koh Samui

 

Of course taxi fares are more expensive on the islands.

The potential customer bases are much smaller.

It is not not realistic to compare Bangkok with the smaller cities.

 

Taxi fares in Bangkok would not be as cheap if there were less than half a million people there.

[chalawaan]

Negotiating with criminals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Thai Government that promised to stamp out corruption.

[Harveyboy]

3 hours ago, Khun Yogi said:

Its about 80 km from Pattaya to the airport. B 1000 is pretty normal. Most taxis use LPG which is a lot cheaper than petrol. Going to the airport is no problem, its the getting a taxi at the airport to your destination where the problems start. Touts, Taxi companies etc etc rule the roost. Expats know how to avoid this, tourists don't.

bell bus 200 baht door to door drive same speed arrive approx time .used them for many years sorted .. 

[chalawaan]

6 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

As far as I can ascertain, for 2021 the numbers are :-

 

10.7 million is the Thai population of Bangkok

438,000      is the Thai population of Phuket

<60,000      is the Thai population of Koh Samui

 

Of course taxi fares are more expensive on the islands.

The potential customer bases are much smaller.

It is not not realistic to compare Bangkok with the smaller cities.

 

Taxi fares in Bangkok would not be as cheap if there were less than half a million people there.

What a rubbish argument.

1. The locals never pay these prices.

2. The tourists more than make up for the population argument you advance.

3. Why should honest business people suffer with closures, even as you defend habitual criminal cartels on the basis of hard times?

Reprehensible.