A story in the Sydney Morning Herald travel section today..

"You've got to hand it to the tuk-tuk (taxi) operators on Phuket island in Thailand. They've taken a leaf out of the big-business book on how to operate a cartel: forget competition; if everyone agrees to jack up the fare to the same level, the punters will have no choice but to pay it and we'll all be making a nice living.

Not suggesting that the way to get rich is to drive a tuk-tuk in Phuket. But, relative to the local cost of living, the hire rates for tuk-tuks on Phuket are astronomical - 10 times the going rate in Bangkok, for example.

Nice work if you can get it for a rough, unairconditioned ride in a glorified tricycle."

Domino effect with farmer mentality as a catalyst. Bad harvest, charge more for the crop...no tourists, charge more for your service...charge more,less customers....less customers charge more...and so on and so on....

"the punters will have no choice"

lots of choice, walking around patong is fun, hiring a car for longer trips is easya

and ESB7 hit it on the head with Domino effect, its a self extinguishing problem in the long run

"the punters will have no choice"

lots of choice, walking around patong is fun, hiring a car for longer trips is easya

and ESB7 hit it on the head with Domino effect, its a self extinguishing problem in the long run

Eh? There's absolutely nothing fun about walking around patong. The place is a complete pain in the arse to walk around.

There's nothing 'fun' about Patong, period.

The taxi/tuk tuk mafia is a major thorn in the side of tourists all over Phuket. Vote with your feet and catch shank's pony.