Tourist police chief acts to help Thai tourism: Tells cabbies to get professional and stop refusing fares

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The edict came down from the chief Pol Lt-Gen Sukhun Promayon via his senior spokesman Pol Maj-Gen Apichart Suribunya.

So the full extent of his efforts are to issue an edict?

 

Classic Thai.

No, that's not the full extent, as the OP very clearly stated...

"He urged tourists to call 1155 and send a picture of the registration plate. The tourist police will then contact the DLT so that the driver, if guilty, is appropriately sanctioned".

 

Classic Thaivisa poster.

[Liverpool Lou]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

On the 3rd offense sieze their cars permanently. Problem solved.

The majority of taxis are rented from co-operatives, not owned, seizing them wouldn't be possible but if they did it wouldn't be a punishment for that driver.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, NemoH said:

Just wait for a rainy day and all taxis will shut off their meters and ask for fixed fares...

Not all of them.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, swm59nj said:

The drivers do it no matter what.  

Some, not all.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

How does sending a photo of a registration number prove the driver refused a fare? More Thai 'logic' which makes no sense at all.

It doesn't...

"He urged tourists to call 1155 and send a picture of the registration plate. The tourist police will then contact the DLT so that the driver, if guilty, is appropriately sanctioned".

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Yep. In Bangkok some show red lights and some show green lights. Both mean the taxi is available, but it doesn't mean the driver will take you where to go. Try explaining that to a tourist.

The green lights appeared some time ago on new taxis with interior cameras and the emergency alarm on the inside B pillar, they are the ones that I find are the best to try.   Unfortunately, some of the older taxis are getting the green lights now.

[Jonathan Swift]

14 hours ago, ezzra said:

To be fair, in all my times of using cabs in BKK i have found most if not all cabbies doing their job properly and with courtesy...

Agreed. 

[Jonathan Swift]

13 hours ago, arithai12 said:

There are times when the refusal is justified. Especially in a megacity like Bangkok at strange hours with very far destinations that will make the driver waste gas and time with an empty return trip.

If they want to enforce no-refusals, then they should revise the fare system and the number of licences.

There are also times when the refusal is justified on the basis of the customer being unruly or perceived as a threat or having oversized baggage and so on.

So.... it requires a little more than just asking the public to report, in the era of social media some people tend to make a fuss over nothing.

Remember it's also an era when people make a fuss over SOMETHING. It's up to the police to decide what to do with the information, but they still deserve to be sent that information

[Jonathan Swift]

Without addressing the issue of fixed rate cabbies not using their meters in the outer areas such as Pattaya, Phuket, The islands, etc., this story is not particularly useful. I'm not an expert, but it seems that the local provincial governments have to be on board with this in order to really affect the problem with tourists being overcharged

[bangkok19]

I thought it was something we were used to!

I just walk away from the 'refusing' taxi driver and hail the next one.

 

I actually had a win once...   got in a taxi from Swampy to go to Sukhumvit Soi 19 during the '2014 Blockade'...  driver quoted me 500 Baht which I accepted because I knew of the traffic schmozzle we were going to encounter when we got closer to downtown e.g. Asoke Intersection closed.

Tollway was as slow as...  He got off and ended up on Petchburi Rd and turned left into Sukhumvit Soi 3.

He kept the meter running (for whatever reason) and as we turned left from Soi 3 to take the zig zag back way to Soi 19 the meter was showing 560 Baht...  the driver was getting quite angry...  at the last part of the backway between Soi's 15 and 19 he drove down the wrong side of the Soi then got stuck facing oncoming traffic!   Meter was showing well over 600.

I slipped him the 500 note (we agreed on) and disembarked with my small bag...  laughing all the way to the Honey Hotel.

 

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

He has told tourists that they should call his men with pictures of licence plates and they will do something about it

It's the job of the transport authority to clean up it's act.

If drivers refuse a fare they should have a hot-number to call.

But all they do is fine them and let them go back out to the rank again..

It's not a criminal act to refuse a fair so nothing to do with the police.

[BonMot]

I've been in and out of Thailand for 30 years.

 

Lived in Bangkok for 12.

 

I can count on one hand the truly bad experiences I've had. On the other I can count the times I've been turned down for a ride.

 

I totally side with the poor cabbies and that's excluding the fact that the rates / fares are below market - even for Thailand.

 

The notion that an individual should be forced to waste their time or lose money in a business proposition when they know full well this is the case is pure folly.

 

The poor driver who bothered to pull over, wants money declined your money because it's a loss for him in some way. Nevertheless, self service pricks see that cabbies are some sort of public social service and it's absurd.

 

A good rule for Bangkok is to stuck to BTS MRT and it's much faster as well.

 

You want a cab at 2am on lower Sukhumvit to go to On Nut Saturday night. Oh well. You wish to punish someone so that you may be served. Absurd.

 

I suspect if the same whiner's were driving the cab they'd equally whine about being forced to carry unwanted fares.

 

If Airbnb were tossed out of the country tourists would again be more centrally located.

 

As for Phuket and Samui, same thing. Why would anyone go there? These are known places to be entirely scammed. Will the comments of this officer / official change anything?? Hell no lol.

 

If you are dumb enough to live or holiday in Phuket, Samui suffer it. These scams are decades old.

 

Up 2 Them

[BonMot]

13 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

No kidding! Thailand's got to have the weirdest cabbies. Not easy to get a taxi if you're with luggage, and need one. Usually, 3 or 4 'free' ones will pass you by, till you, finally, manage to get one taking you from A to B. - But just stand at a corner, or leisurely walk somewhere (not carrying anything), and they are keen to get your attention. (And it's not like they would even lift a finger, helping you with your bags!)

Why would you carry so much luggage? Maybe the guy doesn't want to deal with it and the traffic on a street corner? What's preventing you from calling and booking a cab? B20+. Call Grab.

 

How lost and selfish

[BonMot]

12 hours ago, proton said:

Round the corner ant Amari watergate Mrs tried to get a taxi for a very pregnant woman who needed to get to hospital urgently, nobody would take her.

Not even the hotel lol. Now that's pathetic.

 

Maybe they didn't want the liability?

[BonMot]

11 hours ago, Dont confuse me said:

Almost every hotel I've stayed at in Bangkok has a few dedicated taxis serving "sorry" "ripping off" it's patrons!

I've watched them refuse countless fares waiting for someone to pay their inflated 'no meter' price!

It might be an idea to stop police corruption tarnishing LOS but we all know neither will happen.

It's absolutely common knowledge never to take a standing taxi. Why did you even waste your time? Then come here and complain like it's something. They are not drivers they are scammers.

[BonMot]

9 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

And does this happen in other countries, I wonder? I've never experienced it. Not once.

I've definitely been refused in NYC often.

[BonMot]

13 hours ago, johnnyloda said:

To get a ride from a thai taxi driver, you have to be lucky enough that your destination coincides with where he wants to go ... 

Of course and why not? It's his business.

 

Why would he want to sit in a pile of traffic or go where he's absolutely certain there won't be any fares?

 

That's just stupid

[BonMot]

14 hours ago, vandeventer said:

Not picking us up is one thing, what about all these broken meters they have?

Funny, I've lived in Bangkok 12 years and been in and out of Thailand for 30. Never have I encountered a broken meter.

 

If he doesn't want to use the meter tell him to pull over and youll get out. The meter will start working again champ...

[BonMot]

Raining and no taxi? Drivers need to be extra careful because traffic slows to a crawl and accident clog already crowded streets. Going somewhere they won't get a return fare in the rain...

 

Rains usually last at most 75 minutes so wait it out. Doubly so for tourists and retirees.

 

Take BTS MRT

 

 

 

 

People that complain about this just show their absolute lack of ability to navigate the culture and Thailand.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, BonMot said:

I've definitely been refused in NYC often.

Take the subway (responding to another of the posts you made in this thread.

[Expat68]

He should also clamp down on black cabs masquerading as legitimate taxis

[StayinThailand2much]

3 hours ago, BonMot said:

Why would you carry so much luggage? Maybe the guy doesn't want to deal with it and the traffic on a street corner? What's preventing you from calling and booking a cab? B20+. Call Grab.

 

How lost and selfish

Yes, you're 'Mr. Know It All'! Good for you... 

[BonMot]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Take the subway (responding to another of the posts you made in this thread.

But the difference is and you've wholly missed it... I'm not complaining.

 

I'll wait until there's a cab going my way.

 

I don't even understand why this is the least bit controversial except I understand how the entire world seemingly revolves around certain people getting what they want, when they want without paying what the market actually demands for it.

[JimmyJ]

11 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

 The tourist police will then contact the DLT so that the driver, if guilty, is appropriately sanctioned".

And how is it determined the driver is guilty?

Impossible to prove,

[kcpattaya]

Another one bites the dust...

[scorecard]

20 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Tourist police are the laughing stock of the police force. 

Some years back my Brit work colleague had an incient with a taxi driver. Driver locked the doors and demanded extra 500Baht for a short trip. Driver thswinging a pieve of pipe around inside the taxi. Brit guy paid 500 so he could exit the car.

 

Brit guy asked the Admin. Mngr what to do. She suggested call the Tourist Police so the Brit guy could speak to someone in English.

 

A lady answered the phone, cannot speak English. Admin. Mngr. took the phone:

 

- Lady answering was a maid at the Tourist police office, had been instructed to answer any calls.

- It was around 1:00 pm.

- Lady advised 'all tourist police gone to a birthday party for captain, call back tomorrow'. 

[spidermike007]

10 hours ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Remember it's also an era when people make a fuss over SOMETHING. It's up to the police to decide what to do with the information, but they still deserve to be sent that information

Yeah. If only the police here cared. Their apathy knows no bounds. Upholding the law, is not their strong suit. Always remember, they are franchisees, not law enforcement officers. 

[LikeItHot]

I told a cabbie my destination he said "Too near.

I gave him a farther alternate he said "Too far"

I said ok take me anywhere you want to go he said "Off duty".

This is a true story.  I've been thinking about it for years.  I can't figure it out.

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Yeah. If only the police here cared. Their apathy knows no bounds. Upholding the law, is not their strong suit. Always remember, they are franchisees, not law enforcement officers. 

More like mafia, but 'franchises' is funny.

[scorecard]

8 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

More like mafia, but 'franchises' is funny.

Yep, pay enough money and you buy access to a franchise to 'print' money.