Train Passengers Flee in Panic as Locomotive Catches Fire in Kabin Buri

[fishhooks]

Not visiting here very regularly, is it possible to get a Meter Taxi by phoning the displayed number on the cabs, prior to leaving your hotel to say the Bus Station?

Or do I, as in the past, have to walk to No2 road and try to get a Baht Bus fare a bit cheaper than the entire bus fare from Pattaya to Bangkok?

I'm staying at Royal Twins Palace Hotel opposite Royal Garden Plaza.

Edited February 27, 2010 by fishhooks

[fishhooks]

Anyone.................among the fifty something looks know if the taxi service here can be relied on?

[surayu]

are you hiring the whole baht bus? by just jumping in-out and NO TALK TO THE DRIVER WHATSOEVER you should pay in the range of 10-20 baht or more for very long journeys, you will find lots of info about them by browsing the forum talking about the baht bus, the new metered taxi service seems to be another scam where the meter is never used, hope that help somehow......in normal places, not Pattaya, the easy way is to call reception/security to get a taxi ready downstair or just stop one by yourself on the road...

[fishhooks]

Thanks for that.

Wife and I have been using the taxi service in Korat for well over a year now and in recent weeks the new service in Udon T.

In both places the system works extremely well, efficient and honest.

Phone bookings are 20B in Korat and 30B in Udon.

Don't really understand why Pattaya should be so different, then again I've been visiting Thailand since 1975 and only in the last couple of years have ventured here, Pattaya.

Is the common belief held quite widely that Pattaya is and needs to be something different to the rest of Thailand, mainly in the negative.

Why are so many of you guys here on T Visa so interested and defend the place so much......................I'm still to learn!

[surayu]

Why are so many of you guys here on T Visa so interested and defend the place so much......................I'm still to learn!

there is no other place in Thailand where you can see the SWAT team in action, a yellow submarine and a constant tv commercial that keep repeating "you sexy girls and sexy guys" with a forced jamaican accent, so now that you know the secret you can join us...

[fishhooks]

I'm honored to join.

BTW, I hear you re the Baht Bus travel, just that I'm getting on a bit now and with traveling bags etc it gets a tad hard throwing them and ourselves on and off the things.

Just thought it may be getting close to the stage here now where one could phone a taxi and have it come to your hotel and remove you to wherever! No problem in the places I mentioned above and I think now in Khon Kaen as well.

[britmaveric]

Is the common belief held quite widely that Pattaya is and needs to be something different to the rest of Thailand, mainly in the negative.

Pattaya is thailand and always will be. No different then much of thailand I'm afraid. Common belief by most thai(s) fun place to come for those living in Bangkok and elsewhere. Embrace Pattaya and one will be at ease.

As for Taxi(s) - cost prohibitive, prob cheaper renting a baht bus at the end of the day.

[fredob43]

Is the common belief held quite widely that Pattaya is and needs to be something different to the rest of Thailand, mainly in the negative.

Pattaya is thailand and always will be. No different then much of thailand I'm afraid. Common belief by most thai(s) fun place to come for those living in Bangkok and elsewhere. Embrace Pattaya and one will be at ease.

As for Taxi(s) - cost prohibitive, prob cheaper renting a baht bus at the end of the day.

To my shame I lived in Pattaya for over 5 year's And I can assure you Pattaya is NOT Thailand. It's in Thailand Fact. But it's nothing like the real Thailand. And the people there are nothing like the people in the rest of Thailand. The LOS in pattaya dose not exist. To my mind it's the town of con's. Where I live now (name withheld) you can leave your key in your motor cy, or car and it will still be there when you return. I dont even close the window of my car. Try that in Pattaya. Yes fun place to come, for one or two day's maybe. Embrace, pull the plug out more like.

[fishhooks]

Probably the shame of it is that whatever Pattaya is or has become is not the doing of the Thai's, but of ourselves.

Take the taxi service; If it is as bad as being made out, it also would have degenerated or even started out with what Farangs in mind.

Obviously, Thai's use taxi's in Bangkok and probably quite regularly, but here, the whole scheme before up and running would have had the Farang in mind.

[NanLaew]

Twenty years ago, you could never get a Bangkok taxi driver to use his meter, now they use them almost exclusively. Two years ago Pattaya didn't have metered taxis so why should we deny the local baht bus (and taxi) cooperative the same long and lucrative learning curve?

Here's a question for the Bangkok long-time residents who like to live life vicariously by reading and posting in the Pattaya forum: At what point in time and through what specific act of legislation did Bangkok taxi drivers generally start using the meters that had always been installed but never turned on? For example, when I lived in Thailand in the 80's, virtually all Bangkok taxi trips were negotiated without the meter being used. Fifteen years later I return and pretty much all you need to know is how to pronounce your destination in passable Thai, the meter gets turned on and off you go.

Answers on a postcard to...

Edited February 28, 2010 by NanLaew

[eyebee]

To return to the original question. The cheapest way to get from Royal Twins to Pattaya Nua Bus Station is to flag down any baht bus going up 2nd Road. Chances are that it will go all the way up to the Dolphin Roundabout. Get off at the roundabout (pay just 10 baht) and cross over to Pattaya North Road. There you will find one or two baht buses which go out to Sukhumvit. Get off the bus at the bus station and pay 10 baht. So 20 baht in all. Or you could hire a private baht bus for 100 - 150 baht.

[Phil Conners]

Why does every second thread have to be a discussion about the pro and con of Pattaya.

Yes the taxi service is a rip off but you can call them and they will come and pick you up but at a for Thailand exorbitant price (though probably less than what you would pay back home anyway).

[Jingthing]

Twenty years ago, you could never get a Bangkok taxi driver to use his meter, now they use them almost exclusively. Two years ago Pattaya didn't have metered taxis so why should we deny the local baht bus (and taxi) cooperative the same long and lucrative learning curve?

Here's a question for the Bangkok long-time residents who like to live life vicariously by reading and posting in the Pattaya forum: At what point in time and through what specific act of legislation did Bangkok taxi drivers generally start using the meters that had always been installed but never turned on? For example, when I lived in Thailand in the 80's, virtually all Bangkok taxi trips were negotiated without the meter being used. Fifteen years later I return and pretty much all you need to know is how to pronounce your destination in passable Thai, the meter gets turned on and off you go.

Answers on a postcard to...

It s common knowledge. In Bangkok, it is the LAW to use the meters. In Pattaya the transport mafia and city hall are clearly in the same bed. Cheers.

[NanLaew]

Thailand and complying with the law.... nope, I don't buy it. You probably have a point since Pattaya has just one co-operative that has the monopoly whereas Bangkok had several co-ops.

There must have been some singular act or event that reigned in all the Bangkok taxi coops and made them tow the line. I wonder what it was? They didn't just get up one morning and collectively say, "Hmmm, I am fed up wringing baht out of the weak and desperate so I think I will use the meter from now on."

Edited February 28, 2010 by NanLaew

[Jingthing]

Thailand and complying with the law.... nope, I don't buy it.

You're wrong. They can lose their right to drive cab if too many complaints against them. The law PLUS teeth to it, backed by the city government. That's it.

[britmaveric]

To my shame I lived in Pattaya for over 5 year's And I can assure you Pattaya is NOT Thailand. It's in Thailand Fact. But it's nothing like the real Thailand. And the people there are nothing like the people in the rest of Thailand. The LOS in pattaya dose not exist.

Pattaya is no different than any place in thailand whether its Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai or any other major city. It's part of thailand, people are lovely as anywhere else in thailand, LOS exists and is live/well in brilliant Pattaya. If you do not like it fair enough, but vast majority of Thai(s) and foreigners do.

Edited February 28, 2010 by britmaveric

[fishhooks]

Yes the taxi service is a rip off but you can call them and they will come and pick you up but at a for Thailand exorbitant price (though probably less than what you would pay back home anyway).

.................................From: Phil Connors

Wrong......Calling them is useless. The first number plastered on most of the cabs, does not work at all.

A second number, 038713537, does answer and a nice lady tells you that she will try to get a cab to come to your hotel. She calls back a few minutes later and says, sorry, no-one available!

So you go the route as advised by some above, by getting a normal Baht Bus to the roundabout and a second bus to the bus station. Fine.........If that's the way it has to work so be it, but what a joke.

On the way to the bus station you pass many places where several, and I mean up to 10 taxi's are parked, like Central, where the drivers are just milling around doing nothing at all!

So to you fine people of Pattaya, yes, you do have a taxi service, a service comprising perhaps more cabs than one could imagine, but it is a joke and useless for anyone wanting a reasonable ride, particularly as I stated above where you may be getting on in years a bit.

If you want to try and shoot an old geezer down in flames, go for it, but I don't care, you are living in and part of a place that needs some common sense thinking and actions.

Common sense thinking and actions that really make this a LOS.

Over the world, many are now making their holiday bookings via the Net and are not taking what was the common thing in the 80's and 90's being a packaged holiday.

So people will want and desire to get around under their own steam. This will require a fair transport system which is reasonable and understandable.

Perhaps a lot of you don't want the touristy types to tread on your sacred ground of Pattaya, so leave everything as it is and let systems which should work go to the sh-thouse.

I only hope your Condo's and the houses you may have bought for your wives, keep their value and you haven't made a bad investment.

Edited February 28, 2010 by fishhooks

[Jingthing]

I suggest people NOT to support the current taxi fake meter system in any way. If you need a private car, use one of the many private taxis, the same basic rip off price for charters, and you are not supporting the transport mafia quite as directly. The private charter cars such as Mr. T. are quite reliable for pickups. I also wouldn't trust the mafia cars to show up reliably.

Edited February 28, 2010 by Jingthing

[wobblyjohn]

I used one of the yellow cabs (found outside the avenue) to take me and the missus up to bkk to get her uk visa 2000 baht return (not on the meter) he waited while all her info was entered on the computer and she had her interview total about 5 hours from the condo and back, quite a nice guy as well

Just to get around town I use the ordinary baht buses if I want VIP it usually cost me a minimum of 100 baht, (some have even started being quite nice, saying thank you when I pay them and also stopping to let me across the road if they are only going slow)

I know a lot of guys here have problems when they try to get away with only paying 5 baht, when the offical fare is now 8) over the last 8 years I have lived here I seem to have less problems, if I only want to go 100 yards, I walk, where a Thai will jump on a bus and only pay 5 baht, the missus has had to pay 10 baht some times when travelling from one end of town to the other with her sister

They are not as bad as some make out (I paid 10 baht 12 years ago as a holidaymaker and pay the same now so it ain't bad value in my eyes)

[fishhooks]

Fair points wobblyj, but I think a "slightly" different topic.

What I'm discussing is the fact that Pattaya has to all intents and purposes an up & running metered taxi service, which should be readily flagged down in any part of the city where you spot one, or by telephoning the prominently displayed telephone number on the cabs.

This service should be no different to similar modern services which are running quite well in Korat and Udon. Khon Kaen I believe also but as yet have not checked.

Whilst the answers here are helpful in part, one can't help reading between the lines that even the expats here define Pattaya as some type of sacred city and that if any improvements are to be made, which will aid Thai's and foreigners, special consideration should be given to the fact that the control of anything here is run by an untouchable few.

In other words stand aside or be raped.

So anything here is as touchy as a cancer, unless you have grown into the soil here.

My point as in a post above is, maybe?? as systems in general break down, so may the whole place and value, monetory or lifestyle wise go to the wall.

Edited March 2, 2010 by fishhooks

[Phil Conners]

Do you really think we WANT it to be like that? Search this forum for the endless discussions there has been on the bahtbus mafia here and how everybody (except for the usual few more-thai-than-thee crowd who refuse to see anything wrong with anything here) would LOVE to see a functional taxi service using the meter here. Unfortunately the baht bus mafia has the service locked down. The mafia have been forced by city hall to have proper metered caps, but the drivers are all under instructions to not under any circumstances use the meter and charge an unfair price so that the mafia can eventually go back to city hall and say "see, we told you that a taxi meter service wouldn't work here".

Edited March 2, 2010 by Phil Conners

[happylarry]

Korat and Udon are not main tourist spots.

The taxi mafia works exactly the same in Samui as in Pattaya...no meters and rip off as much as they can.

I imagine its the same in Phuket as well, but that wouldnt work in Korat because there are hardly any gullible tourists to "take for a ride".

HL

[fishhooks]

Wondering nearly a year on, if the taxi service here is any better or worse?

Can you hire with any confidence or are the meters still seized up from the salty air (or indifference from the local authorities)

[JWJ]

The lack of meter taxies in Pattaya is costing local businesses millions. I would use a legit taxi service a few times a day.

I save allot since it's too difficult or expensive to get around.

Recently, I needed a ride to Siam Country Club from Pattaya Second Rd.

The guy refused to use the meter and wanted 500 baht.

This ride with a legit metered service would probably cost 60 baht or so.

Isn't there a law regarding taxies and the use of the meters?

[catwho]

Why NO meters,cause the meters are set too low, in bkk you have a big area,pattaya from jomteim to naklua around 12ks radius,city hall have put on too many taxi's and they are in competion with baht bus'es [songthaw]that run the regular routes again unlike bkk.nearly ALL taxis are driven by drivers who work for the owners paying the owner between 800.1000bt a day plus petrol gas etc,before they make a baht,the trouble with the drivers WHO ARE NOT MAFIA NOR ARE THE OWNERS, is that they think like thias, easy come easy go,i not give in,,they dont realise once they get some one in the taxi they can promote themselves to take people to airport,etc,but again most dont speak or want to learn english.Again owners [mafia] do not tell the drivers what to do,its their own stupid selves that bring them undone.before when my wife was driving one she use to say to a customer who had asked another taxi how much to ?.

and he knock the customer back cause would not pay his price ,wife would under cut him cause he would not come down.and get fares later on to [zoo etc].

the taxis have radios but company donth have radio service,also have GPS rarely used.how do i know i own 2 of the em.ME BIG MAFIA FROM AUSTRALIA...its the same with the baht buse's drivers dont own them

SO people like jinthing WHO ALWAYS COMPLAIN and have nothing better to do,do your home work.

cat

[Jingthing]

It IS a mafia (AND a transport monopoly) in the sense that city hall (hint hint) allowed the taxi "fake" meters to be controlled by the same organized syndicate that owns the baht buses. No non-corrupt government in the world would ever do such a thing. I don't buy the distances too short BS. The Pattaya metro area when you add dark side, Naklua, Na Jomtien ... is HUGE. Plus you do indeed have intense population density here in the central areas ... LIKE BANGKOK. Plus the monopoly poorly serves or doesn't serve important areas at all, such as THIRD ROAD, Thepprasit Road, etc. The meter sets could be set somewhat higher than Bangkok if warranted, that's another matter entirely.

Foreigners making excuses and defending this totally corrupt system is seriously laughable. I will give credit where credit is due though, 10 baht is an attractively low fare for the "bus" part of the system. But it all goes to pot when you need a charter.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Jingthing

[catwho]

It IS a mafia (AND a transport monopoly) in the sense that city hall (hint hint) allowed the taxi "fake" meters to be controlled by the same organized syndicate that owns the baht buses. No non-corrupt government in the world would ever do such a thing. I don't buy the distances too short BS. The Pattaya metro area when you add dark side, Naklua, Na Jomtien ... is HUGE. Plus you do indeed have intense population density here in the central areas ... LIKE BANGKOK. Plus the monopoly poorly serves or doesn't serve important areas at all, such as THIRD ROAD, Thepprasit Road, etc. The meter sets could be set somewhat higher than Bangkok if warranted, that's another matter entirely.

Foreigners making excuses and defending this totally corrupt system is seriously laughable. I will give credit where credit is due though, 10 baht is an attractively low fare for the "bus" part of the system. But it all goes to pot when you need a charter.

you remind me of an old lady always right never satisfied will bag anybody and everything and nothing better to do.

i told you how it works but you wont listen...this is thailand,why dont you go and complain back to the country you come from.VERY LAST WORD.

[mallyrd]

It IS a mafia (AND a transport monopoly) in the sense that city hall (hint hint) allowed the taxi "fake" meters to be controlled by the same organized syndicate that owns the baht buses. No non-corrupt government in the world would ever do such a thing. I don't buy the distances too short BS. The Pattaya metro area when you add dark side, Naklua, Na Jomtien ... is HUGE. Plus you do indeed have intense population density here in the central areas ... LIKE BANGKOK. Plus the monopoly poorly serves or doesn't serve important areas at all, such as THIRD ROAD, Thepprasit Road, etc. The meter sets could be set somewhat higher than Bangkok if warranted, that's another matter entirely.

Foreigners making excuses and defending this totally corrupt system is seriously laughable. I will give credit where credit is due though, 10 baht is an attractively low fare for the "bus" part of the system. But it all goes to pot when you need a charter.

you remind me of an old lady always right never satisfied will bag anybody and everything and nothing better to do.

i told you how it works but you wont listen...this is thailand,why dont you go and complain back to the country you come from.VERY LAST WORD.

I HOPE SO!!

[Jingthing]

I stand by my comments on the transport mafia in Pattaya and currently have no plans to move away from Pattaya or Thailand (much as your real estate consultancy is appreciated). That said, please be nice to old ladies; did you have a trauma with an old lady that led to your hostility towards the dear aunties?

Edited January 22, 2011 by Jingthing

[PattayaParent]

Why NO meters,cause the meters are set too low, in bkk you have a big area,pattaya from jomteim to naklua around 12ks radius,city hall have put on too many taxi's and they are in competion with baht bus'es [songthaw]that run the regular routes again unlike bkk.nearly ALL taxis are driven by drivers who work for the owners paying the owner between 800.1000bt a day plus petrol gas etc,before they make a baht,the trouble with the drivers WHO ARE NOT MAFIA NOR ARE THE OWNERS, is that they think like thias, easy come easy go,i not give in,,they dont realise once they get some one in the taxi they can promote themselves to take people to airport,etc,but again most dont speak or want to learn english.Again owners [mafia] do not tell the drivers what to do,its their own stupid selves that bring them undone.before when my wife was driving one she use to say to a customer who had asked another taxi how much to ?.

and he knock the customer back cause would not pay his price ,wife would under cut him cause he would not come down.and get fares later on to [zoo etc].

the taxis have radios but company donth have radio service,also have GPS rarely used.how do i know i own 2 of the em.ME BIG MAFIA FROM AUSTRALIA...its the same with the baht buse's drivers dont own them

SO people like jinthing WHO ALWAYS COMPLAIN and have nothing better to do,do your home work.

cat

Doesn't sound like you've ever been to Pattaya, Cat.

The 'taxi's are owned and run by the Baht Bus Co-operative whi are owned and run by the police and City Hall.

They have no interest in providing a publicly convenient transport system and when a private company attempted to do so they made sure they were shut down,