Bolt Taxi in Pattaya

[Danderman123]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:50 PM, Jumbo1968 said:

I think the drivers who drive for Bolt thought initially it was a good idea, when Bolt was first introduced there wasn’t as much congestion in Pattaya. From my experience in the last few weeks I have had numerous cancellations some times 3 of one after another. I always know if its more than 5 minutes the driver will cancel, I think they bank their fares and cherry pick the most economical ones.

I never have a problem getting one back from the Soi Bukhao area only when ordering one where I live near Arunotai school.

Why are the baht buses so full in Pattaya now?

[BigStar]

5 hours ago, kevin612 said:

Bolt is the best

Woe is us.

[Andycoops]

On 12/17/2022 at 12:20 PM, pomchop said:

never had a bad experience with any bolt driver in past 3 months

Me neither.

[jacko45k]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:50 PM, Jumbo1968 said:

I think they bank their fares and cherry pick the most economical ones.

So they can accept multiple fares at one time..... ?

Maybe a software issue allowing that.... I can see allowing them to accept a new booking when a current one is nearly complete. 

I bet the drivers get messed about too.... recently read of one guy who has his GF stand on the other side of the road and they book one each, cancelling one after the first arrives. 

Wouldn't like to go back to the pre-Bolt  days. 

[NoshowJones]

On 12/17/2022 at 6:17 PM, Toby1947 said:

What a ridiculous statement, ever hear of the London black cab knowledge this takes years of studying to achieve a license. Something I doubt a cleaver Dick like you would be likely to achieve 

What about the guys who come from Isaan to work as a taxi driver in Bangkok? That would surely be a lot harder than driving a cab in London.

[Jumbo1968]

17 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Why are the baht buses so full in Pattaya now?

You wouldn’t use a Bolt taxi in central pattaya when you can go around for 10 baht would you ?

Edited March 5, 2023 by Jumbo1968
Mistake

[Guderian]

I wanted to eat in Patrick's steakhouse in Soi Diana last night (Saturday, so very busy) so dialled up a Bolt taxi. They've fixed the map app now and it actually gives the correct route to my house, instead of sending the drivers off down a dead-end street the other side of the village boundary wall, so well done on that score. I went for the Comfort option at 108 Baht and, after a few minutes scanning around, the app came up with a driver on Soi Yume, a long way away but, knowing that things would be busy and slow, I'd started looking early. He took 25 minutes to arrive, but that wasn't a problem as we got to Patrick's just after 7:30 which was fine. Getting back home from Soi Buakhao was a similar story, though quicker as it was almost 10:00, so there were fewer people using the taxis at that time and we got a Ford Ranger in under 10 minutes. So the trick when it's very busy is to be flexible on the timing and start the booking early, allow maybe half an hour for a taxi to actually arrive at your gaff. If by chance one does come within a few minutes, then just be grateful and have an extra beer to kill the time when you arrive wherever you're going. 

[Jumbo1968]

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

So they can accept multiple fares at one time..... ?

Maybe a software issue allowing that.... I can see allowing them to accept a new booking when a current one is nearly complete. 

I bet the drivers get messed about too.... recently read of one guy who has his GF stand on the other side of the road and they book one each, cancelling one after the first arrives. 

Wouldn't like to go back to the pre-Bolt  days. 

In the past when I have ordered Bolt they send me a message to say they will be with me once they finish their previous drop off, not for the first time they cancelled after I received the message.

[Doctor Tom]

On 12/17/2022 at 12:17 PM, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Everything is relative.

to what? 

[hotandsticky]

Just now, Doctor Tom said:

to what? 

Something !!

[NoshowJones]

On 3/1/2023 at 5:14 PM, Danderman123 said:

I just had a driver ask me for an extra 60 baht for a pickup.

I have used the same motorbike taxis for years to go to the Pattaya bus terminal, the last time about 4 weeks ago the driver wanted an extra 20 Bt for my case which is a small cabin bag type, he did not get it.

It seems nearly everyone is on the take these days, some blaming the pandemic and the Russian war, the pandemic is over, let's see if this scamming goes on and prices come down when the Russian war is over.

[hotandsticky]

2 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

I have used the same motorbike taxis for years to go to the Pattaya bus terminal, the last time about 4 weeks ago the driver wanted an extra 20 Bt for my case which is a small cabin bag type, he did not get it.

It seems nearly everyone is on the take these days, some blaming the pandemic and the Russian war, the pandemic is over, let's see if this scamming goes on and prices come down when the Russian war is over.

 

 

You know it will  -  it was just dormant for a couple of years.

[Jumbo1968]

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

You know it will  -  it was just dormant for a couple of years.

Prices will never come back to to pre Covid or pre Ukrainian conflict levels, people become accustomed to paying them that includes airfares where if airlines can fill planes at the current prices they won’t reduce them.

[hotandsticky]

46 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Prices will never come back to to pre Covid or pre Ukrainian conflict levels, people become accustomed to paying them that includes airfares where if airlines can fill planes at the current prices they won’t reduce them.

I never said they would.....

[huyuli]

Accepted a fare to airport then showed up to tell me it's too far. Why?

Asked me to cancel the ride. Told him to get lost. Parked and watched me frantically try to get a Grab. Why?

Not going to stop using Bolt because of one idiot but please allow for the possibility of getting one and have a Plan B. And tip generously for good service. 

[Jumbo1968]

14 minutes ago, huyuli said:

Accepted a fare to airport then showed up to tell me it's too far. Why?

Asked me to cancel the ride. Told him to get lost. Parked and watched me frantically try to get a Grab. Why?

Not going to stop using Bolt because of one idiot but please allow for the possibility of getting one and have a Plan B. And tip generously for good service. 

You can cheaper taxis to the airport than Bolt, 1000/1100 baht.

[SidJames]

I live out in the far darkside so always & I mean always have to offer more than the app shows when going home at night as they call renegoiate.

To be fair the prices the app quotes doesn't justify their time & fuel costs when it's late & a long journey.

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, SidJames said:

I live out in the far darkside so always & I mean always have to offer more than the app shows when going home at night as they call renegoiate.

To be fair the prices the app quotes doesn't justify their time & fuel costs when it's late & a long journey.

Can usually get someone to take me and I live 10-11km out....

Only issue is operating the App after a dozen beers... so much so I often get a cheap hotel and go home in the morning after a breakfast. Pre Bolt I always found a taxi for about 500 baht on second opposite the #8 school... trouble was there was always some tout interjecting between me and the driver and I just knew 100 went to him!

[Danderman123]

Some lady told me her brother drove for Bolt. He didn't know how to turn off the app while he was sleeping, and somehow the app was accepting customers.

 

He was fired by Bolt after too many complaints.

[Danderman123]

We have all heard the stories about Indian men taking a Thai lady back to the hotel, and 5 more waiting in the room.

 

Last night, a Bolt driver told me that he would get ride requests from Indians, and there would be 6 waiting to get in his MG.

 

When he complained, he was told there would be a 10 baht tip.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Danderman123

[jacko45k]

34 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Last night, a Bolt driver told me that he would get ride requests from Indians, and there would be 6 waiting to get in his MG.

Had a Bolt driver complaining to me about Indian customers all the way home along those lines!

[hioctane]

I have been using Bolt the past month. I can say it is extremely hard finding a car of any kind (except Comfort and XL at double the price) during peak hours. Outside of that, I can usually get a car in minutes.

[Danderman123]

16 minutes ago, hioctane said:

I have been using Bolt the past month. I can say it is extremely hard finding a car of any kind (except Comfort and XL at double the price) during peak hours. Outside of that, I can usually get a car in minutes.

But not as bad as last month.

 

Also, traffic is lighter.

[Danderman123]

and then Saturday night was impossible for Bolt. Even cars 5 minutes away were cancelling.

 

Of course, I could get a taxi on the other side of Pattaya, 25 minutes away, but that's a sure cancellation.

[Joebuzzz]

On 12/17/2022 at 2:19 PM, Guderian said:

I use Bolt quite a lot, and they do have some problems. Their app points the driver down a dead-end street rather than into the village where I live, which has caused a lot of problems. Then as the OP says, often a driver accepts the fare but stays where he or she is, maybe finishing up their Pad Thai, I don't know, but I give them a few minutes and if they're still not moving then I cancel it. Just leave plenty of time is my advice, it's far from perfect but you'll get there in the end, cheaply and safely, if you have a bit of patience.

One must realize that if they use Google maps, the actual location and/or address may be off. If you look for a business, address, or location on Google maps, and it's wrong, submit to Google using your Google account to fix it. It's not difficult.  I fixed BigC in Pattaya 6 years ago. It was off by 500 yards/meters. 

[Danderman123]

One of my favorite Bolt tricks is when Bolt reports the driver is finishing a ride nearby. So you wait and wait, and then when the driver drops off the passenger, the driver now has money, cancels your ride and goes to buy beer.

[Danderman123]

My pet peeve is when they claim they are 1 minute away, but are going the wrong way on a one way street, just having passed me.

 

So a 1 minute wait stretches into infinity as the taxi struggles to find a route back, before eventually giving up.

[Danderman123]

Sometimes a driver will call to talk. If they can't speak English, this invariably results in cancellation of the ride, because they want more money, but don't want to put it in writing.

[jacko45k]

22 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Sometimes a driver will call to talk. If they can't speak English, this invariably results in cancellation of the ride, because they want more money, but don't want to put it in writing.

Yeah, I have had that happen, they call to ask for some extra baht for some excuse or other. Being relatively far away from you, or there being heavy traffic in the way.  That probably blocks other drivers picking up the fare on the App.

[BigStar]

On 3/21/2023 at 5:20 PM, Joebuzzz said:

One must realize that if they use Google maps, the actual location and/or address may be off. If you look for a business, address, or location on Google maps, and it's wrong, submit to Google using your Google account to fix it. It's not difficult.  I fixed BigC in Pattaya 6 years ago. It was off by 500 yards/【457 m】【457 m】meters. 

 

I keep specific directions to a few places written in a clipboard app. When I use Bolt, I simply access the Chat facility and paste in the directions for my location at the time.

 

Been working great, no problems since I started doing that. Recommended.