Uproar over shameful exploitation by taxi drivers at Muang Thong Thani convention centre

[AustinRacing]

32 minutes ago, quake said:

It's never happened to me before.   

 

 

Me too. Why? I enquire first. If don’t like, don’t use. 

[quake]

9 minutes ago, AustinRacing said:

Me too. Why? I enquire first. If don’t like, don’t use. 

You missed the joke from the post above my one. 

[ikke1959]

iT is the fine that they have to pay of 2000 THB.. That is not of this ear anymore Make it 20.000 THB if they don't use the meter or even revoke their license... A lot of taxi drivers behave normal, as it should be only these rotten apples you have to get rid off, But this is Thailand and because there no institution that is willing to do their job it is a mess

[quake]

2 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

iT is the fine that they have to pay of 2000 THB.. That is not of this ear anymore Make it 20.000 THB if they don't use the meter or even revoke their license... A lot of taxi drivers behave normal, as it should be only these rotten apples you have to get rid off, But this is Thailand and because there no institution that is willing to do their job it is a mess

The authorities could do many things to sort this type of thing out.

but we know what will be done.

A big fat nothing.

Maybe the new kids on the block,  will put it on the to do list. 

 

[AustinRacing]

8 minutes ago, quake said:

You missed the joke from the post above my one. 

Did I? ????????????????????????

[richard_smith237]

8 minutes ago, quake said:

17 minutes ago, AustinRacing said:

Me too. Why? I enquire first. If don’t like, don’t use. 

You missed the joke from the post above my one. 

Indeed he did.... 

 

He also prefers to be stranded when 10 taxi’s in a row refuse to use the meter !!!!... 

 

Never happened to him though, right ??.... Even when there are news articles of highlight the dishonest behaviour of the taxi drivers we always have the ‘it never happened to me’ crowd piping up... I wonder if they ever even leave their houses !!!!... 

[Kaopad999]

1 hour ago, StayinThailand2much said:

That's why I don't use 'regular' taxis anymore, cause...

 

1. They either want to overcharge you upfront, or cheat you after you're in the cab, announcing to you that they won't use their meter.

2. It is sometimes a pain to get a taxi, cause they don't like longer trips, or only want to go certain routes, don't like it if you have larger bags, etc.

3. They don't speak or understand English (anymore), unlike taxi drivers 10 or 20 years ago.

4. They often don't know how to get to the destination (if it isn't the airport or another landmark)! And a good number don't seem to be able to read properly, and follow GPS instructions.

5. They sometimes use longer routes than necessary, thereby wasting passengers' time and money.

6: Blasting out loud Isaan music.
7: Stink to high  heaven as they sometimes sleep in their taxi.

 

[quake]

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

we always have the ‘it never happened to me’ crowd piping up... I wonder if they ever even leave their houses !!!!... 

Sure they do, when there wives drive them to the ATM., every week. 

 

[bob smith]

all taxi drivers are louts/bandits.

 

dont give them the satisfaction.

 

call a grab instead.

[ChipButty]

18 minutes ago, bogs smith said:

all taxi drivers are louts/bandits.

 

dont give them the satisfaction.

 

call a grab instead.

BOLT is cheaper in Phuket

[steven100]

nothing new here ......  the usual Taxi thieves & cheats, thai all over ......... 

[Grumpy one]

I guess we will soon be reading about some kind and thoughtful cabbie handing in a bag of lost money

[RandolphGB]

2 hours ago, Classic Ray said:

Take photo of licence plate and driver, call taxi bureau and report, or at least say you will and spoil his day.

 

Authorities should deal with this more harshly, have more inspectors and hidden shoppers, and should also raise fares to a living level, they are much too cheap, which is why so many drivers cheat.

 

Or go the whole way and turn them all over to Grab or one of the other ride hailing services. Maybe even have a Govt ride hailing app.

Grab having a monopoly would be dangerous.

Plus the government could not build a tree house, let alone an app with a fraction of the functions of Grab and its market cap of 12 billion dollars listen on the NYSE. 

Thais are inherently lazy, corrupt, selfish and have no consideration for others or the wider social good. 

The only solution is to strengthen the existing laws and enforce them. 

But then we go back to the fact that police, state bodies and the judiciary are inherently corrupt, lazy, selfish, and have no consideration for others or the wider social good.

 

[Marco51]

Bangkok, a unique and charming chaos,  has tried to become a 2nd Singapore for many decades and has made all the wrong decisions , as usual, in regard to what problems (if they are ) to attack first. Came up with removing the street stalls e.g.Sukhumvit and Silom, to central, rather invisible or badly accessible areas, whereas exactly that chaos was what made BGK so different and interesting, same for the fast food stalls whose Kuai Thiao was at times the best available plus the many stalls working class needed to pick up their meals on the way to the workplace. The gentrification of whole previously picturesque albeit a bit rundown areas , the filling in of canals where the last connecting boats would take one to the river and on to destination.....adventurous and very very much fun, having the plod in party areas only in small and mostly inactive movements, drug controls and urine sampling of everyone and everybody caught in nightlife spots, no more cigarettes in public places, etc. etc. The really important and not so obvious but thought through measures Singapore had taken a long time ago and long before the massive law and order thingummie was to fight corruption and Chinese style chaos and disorder everywhere and see to it everyone had acceptable housing and health care , examples : the signs in all taxis giving the name of the driver and the rules by which he keeps his licence , a complaint tel. line (no, the other end did not say "Thonglor police station, what can you do for me?" and the call for "no tipping" , sidewalks where one did not disappear in if one was busy watching the overhead signs and cables at 1.5 m, talking of which: electric and telefone cables are not the chaotic spaghetti that cause so much havoc in every sense. Aaah, I just remembered the time in the 80s when the metered taxis were introduced..........."velly solly sir, not working, meetah, where you go? I know very cheap place for diamonns, goverment, no cheating...." and you were taken from Nana Hotel via Silom and back via MBK to Sukhumvit to a shop where you spent at least 1 hour ..." So really, what has changed at the bottom line?

[TruthinThailand]

They can’t help themselves. Scamming is in their DNA. But as we all know taxis are controlled by organisations who are in powerful positions so there is only 1 guy who can sort this out!!!!!

[Accidental Tourist]

This is going on since the exhibition center opened his doors over.... So what's the surprise... what's the New story? 

[actonion]

Obviously   this lot are different to the Taxi drivers who hand in  Hundreds of Thousands of Thai baht they have found on the back seats of their Taxis

[Deez]

How is a 1000 baht fine a deterant when they are charging 4000-4500 extra per fare?  

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, Deez said:

How is a 1000 baht fine a deterant when they are charging 4000-4500 extra per fare?  

Schoolboy error...............did you forget this is Thailand?

[kaneko86]

The route of the problem the government needs to solve is probably the ridiculously cheap fares taxis in Bangkok can charge when they regularly use the meter. 

I understand we are in Thailand but a 200 - 300 baht for a 15 km ride is simply not justified. I like cheap things but for this one service I honestly think the price should be higher.

What we all forget is we just ride one way but the cabs mostly have to return to their starting point (due to assigned taxi waiting spots), the gasoline, the buying of a car, the regular changing of tires, maintenance of the car, the risk and responsibility a driver has if he incures in an accident with a customer inside and last the price of a regular license to do the job - which Bolt doesn't have).

[VocalNeal]

Stupid place for an exhibition centre. I never go there. No BTS, parking hopeless, traffic a nightmare. et al.

Bang Na by contrast is much better.

[h90]

1 hour ago, bogs smith said:

all taxi drivers are louts/bandits.

 

dont give them the satisfaction.

 

call a grab instead.

I had several very nice taxi driver....outside of tourist areas I would say 99% are honest. Only downtown it is bad.

[bignok]

Solution is fixed wages for drivers. Paid for by departure taxes.

 

Otherwise just ban them. Everybody uses Apps.

 

 

[h90]

5 minutes ago, kaneko86 said:

The route of the problem the government needs to solve is probably the ridiculously cheap fares taxis in Bangkok can charge when they regularly use the meter. 

I understand we are in Thailand but a 200 - 300 baht for a 15 km ride is simply not justified. I like cheap things but for this one service I honestly think the price should be higher.

What we all forget is we just ride one way but the cabs mostly have to return to their starting point (due to assigned taxi waiting spots), the gasoline, the buying of a car, the regular changing of tires, maintenance of the car, the risk and responsibility a driver has if he incures in an accident with a customer inside and last the price of a regular license to do the job - which Bolt doesn't have).

They all use gas which is super cheap. If the fare would be too low, you wouldn't find a taxi driver. But all is full with them so the fare is high enough. One Taxi driver from Suvanabuhmi airport to downtown was whining that he make so little money, just 3000 Baht per day....I think that is pretty good.

[bendejo]

Eventually they screw over the wrong person who talks about it publicly and it might shame them.  When hotels in the Asoke started giving guests pamphlets on how to deal with police stopping them on the street for drug testing our BiB friends began behaving themselves.

 

 

[Goat]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Only Thailand could build a 10,000 seat arena with no way to get to it except by road and taxi.

Geez Barry. 

You seem to habitually make up stories about "only Thailand" when plenty of other countries have the same issues.

Please fact check on google before making things up.

[IamNoone88]

Competition will eventually punch their proverbial ticket. Driverless cabs, on test and in use in other parts of the world will sort them out. No-one to intimidate or beat up. A robot on wheels powered by AI. Fast, efficient, safe and standard pricing. Sadly, it will take out a few "good guys" as well. It will be the end of the crazy van drivers as well. Two birds with one stone.

[h90]

7 minutes ago, IamNoone88 said:

Competition will eventually punch their proverbial ticket. Driverless cabs, on test and in use in other parts of the world will sort them out. No-one to intimidate or beat up. A robot on wheels powered by AI. Fast, efficient, safe and standard pricing. Sadly, it will take out a few "good guys" as well. It will be the end of the crazy van drivers as well. Two birds with one stone.

Thailands scientiest are programming it was we speak: It can speak already in 37 languages "No Meter" and find a route that adds 20 km to a 2km ride. It is called CheatGPT

[h90]

39 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Eventually they screw over the wrong person who talks about it publicly and it might shame them.  When hotels in the Asoke started giving guests pamphlets on how to deal with police stopping them on the street for drug testing our BiB friends began behaving themselves.

 

 

Or they get someone who had a really bad day and his girlfriend left and he has no money and than complete freak out.

[SportRider]

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

Use BOLT taxi service, app is super easy to use, a little cheaper than GRAB.

 

Bolt has options of car with full taxi branding, motorcycle or 'econo' car, meaning basic car in good condition and very clean, no taxi branding. I use 'Econo' car, about 10 to 15 Baht cheaper than branded taxi. 

 

One item: BOLT curently only accept cash, soon to be changed to have QR code etc. Drivers always have change.

 

Can add extra details of location of pick up in English, their app automatically/immediately changes your message to Thai for the driver. 

 

App shows where the car is all the time. 

 

BOLT driver's courteous and focused.

I have also had good experiences with the InDrive app.