Tuk Tuk's

[naka]

What is it with the transportation systems here.

Do the locals really think tourists want to ride around in

those crappy little, dangerous contraptions they call public transport ?

OK I guess for a quick half kilometer trip down the road but any novelty

value they have wears off very quickly.

And they want to attract “quality tourists”.

Sheeeeeeeesh, gimmee a break !

By the way, anyone left in Phuket ?

[Rinrada]

What is it with the transportation systems here.

Do the locals really think tourists want to ride around in

those crappy little, dangerous contraptions they call public transport ?

By the way, anyone left in Phuket ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Err.......................Yes Again....

[davethailand]

Go home then! (again)

[RDN]

...Do the locals really think tourists want to ride around in those crappy little, dangerous contraptions they call public transport ?

OK I guess for a quick half kilometer trip down the road but any novelty value they have wears off very quickly....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The locals don't ride around - much - in tuk-tuks, but some do. The so-called 'mafia' controls the tourist transport in Phuket, although the governor - or a minister - is trying to get more metered taxis on to the island.

I think the last time a public bus service was started between Patong and Karon was in about 1997, and the driver was beaten up. So the service was halted. End of story - the mafia rules

[kasi]

End of story - the mafia rules

That's right! So watch your step or else you could be wearing cement galoshes feeding the fish in Chalong Bay!

[Wolfie]

Hardly ever take a tuk tuk these days. If i need to get somewhere and my own bike isnt available for whatever reason, i'll grab a motorbike taxi, still mafia controlled but cheaper

I always advise tourists to use taxi's (metered or otherwise) over Tuk Tuks where possible, also try and give them an idea on what a fair price is for a typical journey, but at the end of the day its down to them.

That Patong/Karon bus route thing, i heard the poor driver went through a lot more than just a "beating" when the mafia got hold of him... i understand hes fishfood... (of course i could be wrong)

[damnaam]

I'm with Wolfie on this one, I rarely use Tuk Tuks, being over-priced, scamming as they are. Nevertheless, they have price lists these days and I think the OP needs to understand things aren't always the same as back home

[sonthaya]

I have stopped using the Tuk Tuks in Patong, the price has gone up by 500% over a few years, and now they want to multiply by the number of people you are, so if you have a friend along and a couple of BG's it's 400 bath, a few years ago it was 20 bath, now we walk home screw them MAFIA

[RDN]

.... now they want to multiply by the number of people you are, so if you have a friend along and a couple of BG's it's 400 bath, ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes - I overheard a group of about six Japanese tourists at Big C talking - loudly - to a tuk-tuk driver who wanted 6 times the fair to take all of them and their shopping somewhere. So I wondered, as they all crammed into the one tuk-tuk, why didn't they take 3 tuk-tuks and sit more comfortably with two people in each? Strange people .

I also wondered what happened to their giant air-con tourist coach, complete with police motorcycle outriders, as that is their normal mode of transport .

[Sir Burr]

Yup...the tuk-tuk mafia run Phuket. All they have to do is block the airport road, and their demands are met instantaneously.

Don't use tuk-tuks very often, but, the old boy drivers in Phuket Town during the day are generally honest and polite.

[paulfr]

A hard hard rain is gonna fall when these tuktuk thugs/thieves finally get driven out of business by fair and open competition from AC'd taxis. It is just a matter of time. I hope some of them will be able to do something else, altho I seriously doubt it. So the few without alternatives will be like the tuktuk relics running around Bangkok.

It is a tough pill to take .... change. But you cannot stop technological competition forever.

Sighhhh .....

[gunkpots]

Funny that they are more popular now in the UK, they've just started making their way into the country via a company called MMW Imports and people seem to love them there. Mind, they're up to UK spec and run by responsible owners. The Rolls Royce of tuk-tuks you might say