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Taxi meter, Uber or Grab - Which one ?

CharlieH

By CharlieH
in Bangkok

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Fab5BKK Silver Member

Fab5BKK

Posted
Posted (edited)

Regarding Taxis, I use either metered or Bolt. Bolt, is, almost, same price than metered. The app is easy to use and cars are quick to get.

 

When traffic is heavy and where it's available, I use BTS & MRT

Edited by Fab5BKK
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realfunster Gold Member

realfunster

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Posted

 

In a busy area - I just hop in a Taxi on the street.

 

In a quiet area - I will order a Grab.

 

- GrabTaxi - metered fare + 20 baht.

 

- JustGrab - car or taxi, at 1.5/2x the standard taxi metered price.

 

- GrabCar - car at 1.5/2x the standard taxi metered price.

 

Grab, unsurprisingly, will "guide" you to the JustGrab option. This may include overstating the GrabTaxi fare, so the JustGrab option looks more reasonable. For example, I just checked my fare home from the office, and it is showing GrabTaxi as THB 197 and JustGrab a bit higher than this.

In reality, I have never paid more than THB 120 in a metered taxi. 

 

In busy periods, with limited taxi availability, you may be better off with JustGrab or GrabCar.

 

Normally, the GrabCars are pretty decent, I got a brand new MG SUV as my GrabCar this morning, which was quite nice !

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RafPinto Platinum Member

RafPinto

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Bolt is the go.

Not happy about them.

A few times a tried to book a taxi. They accepted quickly and stated, 5 min away but after 30 min, I gave up or you see them not moving at all.
Only once I got one of them and the taxi was in a horrible state. All tires absolutely bald.

Grab has gone up in price and Bolt is cheaper but I never manage to get them here on time.

 

Not happy about them at all.

 

F.ex: Grab quoted me from my place to Suvarnahbumi 490Baht as Bolt 250 but they never made it to my place.

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RafPinto Platinum Member

RafPinto

Posted
Posted
Just now, Ralf001 said:

You walk around the entire vehicle to check its condition before you get in ?

No, I saw this straight away that the tires on the site I was stepping into the car were completely gone. When I stepped out on the other site, upon arrival, saw the same thing on the other site.

 

 

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Ralf001 Diamond Member

Ralf001

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, RafPinto said:

No, I saw this straight away that the tires on the site I was stepping into the car were completely gone. When I stepped out on the other site, upon arrival, saw the same thing on the other site.

 

 

did you complain ?

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VocalNeal Star Member

VocalNeal

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

but understand it can still be an issue from parked taxi

I have found that parked taxis can be a hassle so I would advise always hail a moving taxi. 

I have been hailing moving taxis for over 20 years. Occasionally they don't want to go "my way" so I wait for the next one. Eventually there is always one.

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Ralf001 Diamond Member

Ralf001

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Posted
1 minute ago, RafPinto said:

Too much to drink already?

 

Get a coffee and sober up.

 

I speak about my "Bolt" experience.

You whinged to the police and now wonder why you are experiencing <deleted> service...

 

Bwahahahahahhaa

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Lorry Gold Member

Lorry

Posted
Posted
On 8/28/2022 at 2:46 PM, CharlieH said:

why the heck they need access to my physical activity, photos and media files, camera, audio files

They need access in order to sell your data.

This is how they make money. 

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Lorry Gold Member

Lorry

Posted
Posted
On 8/28/2022 at 7:47 PM, proton said:

why are there many normal taxis driving around with the red sign on when it should be green as they are not busy? Often flagged down a red one with nobody in it. Never used to be the case.

The red sign says "empty" (ว่าง).

The green sign says "empty", too (ว่าง).

The color doesn't mean anything.  But the green ones tend to be newer cars.

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Lorry Gold Member

Lorry

Posted
Posted

I never use the apps.

First, i value the small remnants of privacy we still have. I am happy to live in a country where not every move and every financial transaction is monitored like in the West.

Second, i like to pay and support the guy who actually provides me the service. Why should I give 30 or 40% to the predatory financial bigwigs  in California (Uber) or Singapore (Grab)? I am happy to give the full fare to the driver. 

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richard_smith237 Star Member

richard_smith237

Posted
Posted
On 8/28/2022 at 2:55 PM, 1FinickyOne said:
On 8/28/2022 at 2:46 PM, richard_smith237 said:

The reason is they don’t know the direction to get where I wanted and thinking about it was too much trouble

so, they are doing you a favor... 

No... No favour whatsoever as I know exactly where I am going and the best route to take.

 

On 8/28/2022 at 2:55 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

 

On 8/28/2022 at 2:46 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Traffic is an issue everywhere..

by everywhere, you mean everywhere in Bkk? I have lived in places with no traffic other than an occasional stop light... 

Back-end of Nakhon nowhere with only a half-cut Somchai to give you a lift doesn’t count...  on a thread discussing taxi’s !... 

 

....Traffic is an issue in the vast majority of towns in Thailand, particularly near schools at school times... and end of the month payday... 

 

 

 

 

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richard_smith237 Star Member

richard_smith237

Posted
Posted
On 8/28/2022 at 7:47 PM, proton said:

why are there many normal taxis driving around with the red sign on when it should be green as they are not busy? Often flagged down a red one with nobody in it. Never used to be the case.

Huh??.....  Ok, I get the logic... and from your (sensible) perspective the lights don’t make sense to a newbie. 

 

Illuminated Red light = available....  All taxi’s used to have red lights when available. 

Illuminated Green light = available....  a new ‘honest company’ was set up that uses ‘green lights’.

 

This ‘green light’ was to highlight that the driver would not cheat or over charge your, would not refuse your fare / say no to you etc... this was following a lot of negative taxi publicity a few years back. 

 

NO light means the taxi is not available. 

 

 

 

 

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richard_smith237 Star Member

richard_smith237

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, Lorry said:

I never use the apps.

Do you live in Bangkok ??????

 

29 minutes ago, Lorry said:

First, i value the small remnants of privacy we still have. I am happy to live in a country where not every move and every financial transaction is monitored like in the West.

Privacy works both ways. 

Of course, you’d never leave a bag or a phone in a taxi... never !!...  but...  ok ok.. not you, never !!!... 

I thought the same... until I left a good bottle of Whisky in a Grab....   called him up a few mins later and he came back... 

..... or if your taxi driver decided to be a complete and utter pr!ck... or the passenger did...  Both taxi drive and passenger are protected because both are known to grab, its safer and behaviour is better assured. 

 

Are you really worried about a 50 baht taxi transaction being monitored by the government....  me thinks you over egg your importance pudding !!!! they, whoever is following you, is not going to take your guns, don’t worry !!! :cheesy:

 

29 minutes ago, Lorry said:

Second, i like to pay and support the guy who actually provides me the service. Why should I give 30 or 40% to the predatory financial bigwigs  in California (Uber) or Singapore (Grab)? I am happy to give the full fare to the driver. 

Give them a cash tip then !!!.....  not a tricky solution that. 

 

Besides...  the driver who ‘comes into my moobaan’ to pick me up gets the fare they otherwise wouldn’t !!... win for them I’d say, and me....

Additionally, the service is more costly... by about how much... 30-40% !!!...  the drivers get their rate. 

 

But... what about before that?... there was a call centre to call up and they’d radio out for a taxi... it'd cost 20 baht surcharge but was a pain in the backside to use... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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richard_smith237 Star Member

richard_smith237

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Grab has gone up in price and Bolt is cheaper but I never manage to get them here on time.

Thats why I gave up on Bolt... 

 

They’re either too far away or just don’t move and they wait until I cancel.

 

That said, I’ve had that with Grab a couple of times...  driver accepts the ride... we play a waiting game, then driver calls me up to ask me to cancel... I ask why he accepted the ride, he says he has to accept so many rides if he signs on as available or looses his contact with Grab...   but doesn’t want to take my ride...   It get it, but thats kind of the point of Grab... the guarantee of good service !!!... 

The issue with that is that I get charged a cancellation fee until I complain that the driver called up and asked me to cancel !!!... 

 

Is it easier than walking to the street and flagging 5 taxis down and have them all say now... 

No, getting d1cked around by a driver who plays that game isn’t...  but its fairly rare compared the the amount of times I’m rejected on the street by a flag-fall taxi....   (probably because of the time and area I’m in).... 

 

First world problems !!!.....     taxi’s in general in Bangkok are still much much better than any other city in Thailand... and Grab just makes it a lot more convenient when not in an area with a lot of passing taxis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lorry Gold Member

Lorry

Posted
Posted (edited)
26 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Do you live in Bangkok ??????

Yes, maybe longer than you 

 

I know the problems you are talking about, but somehow they never bothered me so much. And for every time that I wanted to curse a taxi driver there were 2 times that I had to admit to myself that the driver was in the right and I was wrong. 

 

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