Tuk tuks and taxis: Bangkok’s solution to overcharging crisis

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, WilliamSmits said:

Even in MBK taxi line the first 5 taxis did not want a ride with meter.

It will not change unless all refuse these taxis and use apps

 

It would change if the authorities wanted it to. All they have to do is get soldiers out of their barracks where they do who knows what all day, put them in civvies and send them to places like MBK. If the driver refuses to use the meter then he needs to be reported and his licence removed. Now. No second chances. Or they could get foreigners to go 'under cover' as they do occasionally to catch pimps. The word would soon get around. Of course, as now, they'd only do a one-day crackdown and it's back to normal next day. Thais are ungovernable as there is never any enforcement. Anything said to the contrary, as in the meeting referred to in this thread, is only hot air. Everyone knows that, including those at the meeting.

[rwill]

Turn up the Benny Hill theme song for this article.

[stateofmind]

3 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

There's a pretty simple solution to the overpricing: as soon as they ask me how much I want to pay I walk away and go to the next guy until I find one who either wants to use the meter or give me a fair price in fhe case of motorbike taxis and tuk tuks. 

I do the same. Always. 

 

Also: I have started to use the Bolt app more. And there are of course others. I have the impression that because more people do, the Taxi drivers are getting more desperate to find someone to scam (the non-App clients are the victims), as they simply cannot when using apps such as Bolt. Those apps also makes it much easier to explain the exact destination (because there is nothing to explain), and you don't have to worry about the driver taking you for a huge detour and making you pay. I hardly know any Thai people that don't use apps. Also for security. Especially for the ladies.

[RandiRona]

This will have same effect as the policies to stop flooding in Bangkok or smoke in Thailand. Keep it up Thailand!!!

[Frankie baby]

BMA will issue coveted stickers to tuk tuks

 

Until they have the guts to revoke their licenses nothing will change. This is just another PR to justify quit a few jobs for the boys?  

[Clarkey611]

24 minutes ago, cdemundo said:

I have had Bolt drivers say they want cash when I am already paying on my CC through the app.

They were ok when I explained that though.

Another Bolt driver messaged me before pickup that he wanted cash so I canceled as same problem, and I don't want to pay twice.

Has never happened to me with Grab.

I had a BOLT driver yesterday (Jomtien to Laemchabang) wanting to increase the fare from 242 to 300 because it was out of his way. I told him to cancel the ride and booked another.

[Surasak]

12 hours ago, observer90210 said:

it would be nice to have the helpline and complaints numbers for foreigners wishing to complain agains the taxi and tuk tuk mafia crooks.

 

Very good for Bangkok, what what about the other towns like Phuket-Hua Hin-Pattaya ?

 

Foreigners in Bangkok mostly use the skytrain so this would be more of concern in the other beach towns

Its not just confined to beach resorts, most of if not all cities with taxis have the same problem. Can't tar them all with the same brush, but many try it on.

[Marco51]

1 hour ago, stoner said:

 

 

hahahah even AI couldn't keep up with this. 

use pegasus from Israel, you have it . just no idea what to do with it except follow Move Forward members around so far,  so you know where these damned tourists are that complain......then allow the evil empire to assist in the QRC scanning of every passenger that boards a taxi and install cameras with AI face recognition ind mikes in all taxis , one with noise filters in TukTuks (after all Pi  must also know what they are talking about, <deleted>, English, damn................).........................oh, I misunderstood, sorry. Maybe some specialist could hop over to Singapore and see how it's done? (people actually queue up for a taxi patiently and a sign says NO TIPPING and please report any discrepancies) ? And when Indonesia doesn't accidently burn, the pollution is very limited despite being an industrialised nation.

Seriously ??? The dickering, the clogged sidewalks, the potholes, the nana plazas, the free round trips to "my cousin's very cheap gemstone gallery" while one wanted to go eat...................why was it again you guys came to Asia on holiday? To see a hotter version of your own country and more shopping malls ?

[Toby1947]

My Thai lady friend will not get in a taxi alone with any of them. She describes them as disgusting little perverts, talking sexally to lone females continuously. Surely that aspect also needs sorting out.

[Cabradelmar]

If you don't like the fare, find a different taxi. But if you think any of these rehashed/rebranded ideas are going to somehow now be affected, you probably the same type of person who can't help themselves and change taxis when you don't like the fare. 

[alex8912]

30 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I got a taxi from Swampy airport. The driver didn't want to use the meter. I walked away to get another taxi. He called me back and said he would use the meter. He did, but drove in such a roundabout way that the fare ended up as what he had originally wanted. Of course, a tourist new to the country wouldn't know they had been cheated. 

They would certainly use their GPS on phone and know the correct way to get from airport to anywhere. 

[mran66]

Looked at calendar, it's not fools day yet. Story mistakenly released one month early? 

[stix40]

Seal Of Trust 

Sounds like a quest from game of thrones? 😂

[Surasak]

2 hours ago, Gandtee said:

This article seems to have been written by Captain Mainwaring's script writer for the UK TV comedy, Dad's Army. All it needs is a bit of flag waving and shouts of 'Over the top.'😄

Private Jones, 'They don't like it up em'.

[marin]

21 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

They would certainly use their GPS on phone and know the correct way to get from airport to anywhere. 

Sure they would🤣

[ignore it]

"The BMA will issue coveted stickers to tuk tuks, taxis, and shops committed to fair pricing. These badges of integrity signify registration with the BMA, promising tourists a shield against overcharging and scams."

 

My local sticker seller advises stickers will be on sale shortly after design is finalized.   His chinese supplier promised expedited processing.

[dougieboy]

The so called “meter taxis 🚖 “ who often don’t want to use meter are angry at the “Grab, Bolt, Etc era they find themselves in. Not surprisingly, however these new types of app based taxi wouldn’t exist had it not been for the greed of some (a lot) of the meter taxi drivers. 
The Taxi industry is like all others in that, if you are too expensive the competition door will open. 
It’s hard to find a solution when corruption exists at all levels and introducing a scheme which rewards drivers by giving them gold star badges just opens up another potential layer of bribery and corruption. I have visited Thailand every year for the past 15 years and finding the taxi who’s driver instantly says yes when asked to use the meter is year on year becoming increasingly difficult. 
😞 

[john donson]

artificial intelligence, woehahaha... there are men in brown paid to police the city, but too busy with other more lucrative activities

[natway09]

I see nothing in this article that will help the problem unless they start to understand what the word "enforcement" means

[bendejo]

8 minutes ago, john donson said:

artificial intelligence, woehahaha... there are men in brown paid to police the city, but too busy with other more lucrative activities

 

Motion detection cameras can be considered AI.  Same for word completion when you're typing.  Maybe not all that intelligent, but definitely artificial.  It's all a matter of perspective.

 

[brianthainess]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Permanent Secretary Wanthanee Wattana spearheaded this pivotal moment following an intensive meeting

Here's a suggestion, go in plain clothes, say to Nanna and ask any meter taxi, in morning rush hour to take you to almost any embassy using a meter. Good luck with that. All I got was "me go Airport only (no meter)"

[sambum]

The "arsenal of measures seems to have left one guy in particular  quite overwhelmed!:-

 

[SuwadeeS]

It is so easy to fix the whole story.

The Thai Police and BMA should send disguised inspectors onto the streets to check Taxis and Tuktuks. As soon as someone is caught who does not want to use the taxi meter or refuses to use it, their taxi license should be confiscated immediately for 5 years, and the second time forever.

Some speeding measure cameras as in Europe with an automated Billing system.

If you don't pay your ticket within 3 months, your vehicle will be confiscated until everything has been paid.

[HuaHinNew]

OK, let's keep the scam pricing Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) strategy meeting going.

 

What about a plan for dual pricing of golf courses and national parks that scam Farangs.

[Lemsta69]

36 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Here's a suggestion, go in plain clothes, say to Nanna and ask any meter taxi, in morning rush hour to take you to almost any embassy using a meter. Good luck with that. All I got was "me go Airport only (no meter)"

 

What the hell is Nanna? That'd better be an autocorrect fail.

[cracker1]

WORDS, WORDS and more WORDS ! 

Nothing will change,

[Lemsta69]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

All they have to do is get soldiers out of their barracks

 

You're sick dude, get help.

[Sydebolle]

Go elsewhere, Thailand has clearly lost its plot ............ only once the Phooyais understand, that they cannot eat money and that alien, dirty farang, jeck and whatever else the semi-divine call non-Thais, are human beings too, have to work for their money too and should be treated according to the Thai constitution stipulating that all are same ............

For the time being, without any changes on the horizon, some are samer than others ........ 8-)

[Accidental Tourist]

After knowing and partly living in Thailand for 30 years, those issues remain the same and NOTHING has changed. Stop talking and come to action 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, thesetat said:

I tried to report a driver once on the app and once on the phone. I had video footage of what happened for each incident. Nothing ever came about my reporting the drivers.

"Nothing ever came about my reporting the drivers".

How could you know that?