Motorcycle Taxi Meters Coming To Bangkok?

[whimsy]

Came across this article about a Bangkok based company that wants to launch meters for motorcycle taxis. Do you think this will take off? They are going to be available next month.

Many thought that Bangkok would never get metered car taxis but it eventually happened. I don't know the history of how that came about. I can't see motorsai meters becoming popular unless the BMA mandates them. I would be surprised if moto drivers are as keen as this article suggests. Apart from the upfront cost, it would make them more accountable and could lead to being able to tax their earnings. Meters could make it easier to agree a fare for longer trips, but I don't see it helping much for trips up and down the local Soi.

[dantilley]

Can't see much point, motorbike taxi fares all seem pretty much regulated and fixed, which differs from taxis pre-meter (and how tuk tuks are now, most of the time) where every trip had to be haggled for up-front.

[thailandbluegrass]

Stupid thing I have ever heard of or seen. You think the moto drivers want to take these gadgets off when they are going into stores etc and at night when they go home etc etc etc.

Ridiculous really. I for one hope it never happens.

[whybother]

Motorcycles are usually for very short distances anyway, so their fares are usually fair and cheap.

Get them in tuk-tuks first.

[darrendsd]

It would be a great idea if it came off, iv'e been here 5 years now and even some of the motorcycle taxi drivers that know me still try to rip me off, i'm sure tourists pay well over the odds

[SomtamFetcher]

I would be surprised if moto drivers are as keen as this article suggests.

I don't know about this. Thais as a general rule are non confrontational. I've been in 2 situations before where the drivers were so meek and so afraid to negotiate a fare that they were asking me how much I'd be willing to pay, afraid to suggest a price outright. There will almost certainly be a percentage of drivers who will be very happy to have the device. I just can't guess what that percentage will be.

The real question is, will passengers disproportionately favour those bikes that have meters over the ones that don't? If they do, then eventually all the drivers will have them. If the passengers don't care, then it might remain a small percentage.

The article was interesting though. The safety issues of the black box technology was intriguing. I Google'd a bit and found several articles that seem to support the views in the article that this will cause the drivers to operate their bikes more safely. Certainly, given a choice, I would select a motorcycle taxi that had this technology over one that did not for that very reason alone. I know if my children were forced to take a motorcycle taxi for any reason I would demand this.

I suspect the price of the meters will not be a huge detriment, as it is likely the advertising revenue will probably offset the price of the meter in the long run. And the government just announced they would give loans to all the motorcycle taxi drivers so they can pay in instalments.

I personally think this idea has merit. I'll be curious to see if it succeeds.

[whybother]

I would be surprised if moto drivers are as keen as this article suggests.

I don't know about this. Thais as a general rule are non confrontational. I've been in 2 situations before where the drivers were so meek and so afraid to negotiate a fare that they were asking me how much I'd be willing to pay, afraid to suggest a price outright. There will almost certainly be a percentage of drivers who will be very happy to have the device. I just can't guess what that percentage will be.

The real question is, will passengers disproportionately favour those bikes that have meters over the ones that don't? If they do, then eventually all the drivers will have them. If the passengers don't care, then it might remain a small percentage.

The article was interesting though. The safety issues of the black box technology was intriguing. I Google'd a bit and found several articles that seem to support the views in the article that this will cause the drivers to operate their bikes more safely. Certainly, given a choice, I would select a motorcycle taxi that had this technology over one that did not for that very reason alone. I know if my children were forced to take a motorcycle taxi for any reason I would demand this.

I suspect the price of the meters will not be a huge detriment, as it is likely the advertising revenue will probably offset the price of the meter in the long run. And the government just announced they would give loans to all the motorcycle taxi drivers so they can pay in instalments.

I personally think this idea has merit. I'll be curious to see if it succeeds.

1) Motorcycle taxi drivers are not meek. You must have been very lucky, or paying way too much anyway.

2) Thai to Thai, they negotiate a fair fare, or in many places the fare to particular locations is written on a board (seeing as the bikes don't go far anyway). Farangs would be the only ones that would want the meter.

3) The drivers don't want to operate the bikes more safely, so they will avoid these devices like the plague.

4) How much can you see in front of you when you are on a bike taxi? The only person that will see the advertising is the driver. There won't be much of a market for that.

5) It won't succeed for a long time. Do you think they might have tried to get meters in tuk-tuks? It's not worth the effort or the expense.

[elshaheen]

Another bright idea from those who are high.

Now, just were will these "Motorcycle Taxi" drivers put their little meters?

As far as taxi's scamming people. It only happens in tourist areas of Bangkok, where tourists aren't to bright on being here in Thailand. They're ignorance is another man's fortune. For someone who lives here, Motorcycle taxi drivers can usually tell the difference between a tourist and a non-tourist.

Motorcycle taxi's are still fairly cheap in most non-tourist areas and offer a service meter taxi's don't offer, and your fair is negotiable within reason.

[dantilley]

1) Motorcycle taxi drivers are not meek.

Some are. I've had a few occasions where I've got to the end of the journey and they've asked me how much the fare normally is, and have trusted me on the fare I've quoted. Not all motorbike taxis are mindless thugs, despite the fact that some people like to claim they are.

[darrendsd]

Another bright idea from those who are high.

Now, just were will these "Motorcycle Taxi" drivers put their little meters?

As far as taxi's scamming people. It only happens in tourist areas of Bangkok, where tourists aren't to bright on being here in Thailand. They're ignorance is another man's fortune. For someone who lives here, Motorcycle taxi drivers can usually tell the difference between a tourist and a non-tourist.

Motorcycle taxi's are still fairly cheap in most non-tourist areas and offer a service meter taxi's don't offer, and your fair is negotiable within reason.

You've obvoiusly never travelled out of Bangkok very much if you think that scamming only goes on in that part of Thailand.

Prime example, i moved to my current Soi 3 years ago, every day for the first 3 months i would cycle past the soi taxi drivers on my pushbike and every day they would all say hello to me so they obviously knew me, one day i needed to go to the minibus station to go to Bangkok so used one of them for the journey

As i got off "how much?" him "roi baht" haha i laughed as i gave him the correct fare of 50 baht, so you see it's not only tourists they try to scam.

[H2oDunc]

1) Motorcycle taxi drivers are not meek.

Some are. I've had a few occasions where I've got to the end of the journey and they've asked me how much the fare normally is, and have trusted me on the fare I've quoted. Not all motorbike taxis are mindless thugs, despite the fact that some people like to claim they are.

I'm sorry but you must be wrong ! I keep reading posts that tell us all that ALL motorbike taxi's are big Mafia and will kill you as soon as look at you if you mess with them. This is doubly so here on Samui where you don't even have to upset them

[SomtamFetcher]

3) The drivers don't want to operate the bikes more safely, so they will avoid these devices like the plague.

How can we take anything you say seriously when you make such preposterous statements?

A few minutes of Googling found an article on the BangkokPost I remember from a few years back. I won't link to it to keep from running afoul of the ThaiVisa regulations, but you can find it yourself on July 27, 2009.

From motorcycle taxi operator Saichon Makcharoen, "To me, passenger safety is even more important than my own safety. I'll give it 150%."

Many of these guys are very concerned about safety, and their passengers doubly so. Why would you think they are all suicidal maniacs? I am not going to try and argue with you that every driver is a paragon of virtue, but neither am I going to accept you stereotyping all these guys as murderous, villainous thugs with no respect for human life. That is clearly outrageous and patently false. The drivers represent a cross section of Thai society, and you can probably find the same range of personalities among them as you would in any village.

The really interesting question that this story brings out is, will this device give the responsible operators a more loyal and larger customer base? If it does, you can expect all the drivers to adopt it.

I'll be watching with interest.

[whybother]

3) The drivers don't want to operate the bikes more safely, so they will avoid these devices like the plague.

How can we take anything you say seriously when you make such preposterous statements?

A few minutes of Googling found an article on the BangkokPost I remember from a few years back. I won't link to it to keep from running afoul of the ThaiVisa regulations, but you can find it yourself on July 27, 2009.

From motorcycle taxi operator Saichon Makcharoen, "To me, passenger safety is even more important than my own safety. I'll give it 150%."

Many of these guys are very concerned about safety, and their passengers doubly so. Why would you think they are all suicidal maniacs? I am not going to try and argue with you that every driver is a paragon of virtue, but neither am I going to accept you stereotyping all these guys as murderous, villainous thugs with no respect for human life. That is clearly outrageous and patently false. The drivers represent a cross section of Thai society, and you can probably find the same range of personalities among them as you would in any village.

The really interesting question that this story brings out is, will this device give the responsible operators a more loyal and larger customer base? If it does, you can expect all the drivers to adopt it.

I'll be watching with interest.

I use motorcycle taxis every day, and I have no problem using them. I think they drive relatively safely when they have passengers.

But they regularly break traffic laws, with or without passengers, and a lot of them ARE suicidal when they don't have passengers.

If these meters have black box recordings, the bike riders will not want to use them.

[Newguy70]

Hi Op,

So who is going to put out the $146 dollars to purchase the meter? As this is what the suggested price of the meter is.

It's not mandatory for the taxi motorbike, atleast not yet. Unless the maker has an ace up his sleeve, which I am thinking he may have. Looks like they spent about $1Mil U.S resesarching, per the article I read. Not sure how that 1 million was spent

Nice looking meter....

[whimsy]

Googled up another article that says

World Moto is starting its pilot project in several tourist areas in Bangkok beginning February 14, in coordination with the Bangkok city government, before making the devices commercially available. The rate is set at 10 Thai baht ($0.32) per kilometer.

So someone may spot a motorcycle meter in action soon. Also one of the developers is a member of ThaiVisa and has a gallery of images stored here. Perhaps he will be along at some point to contribute to this thread.

Edited February 15, 2011 by whimsy

[motoyen]

If you have any questions for the owner of this venture he will be interviewed on Bangkok Podcast in March. Post them here and I'll ask him in the interview.

[powderpuff]

It's a brave "tourist" who will hop on a mototaxi.

I flag them down in front of my condo, I ask how much to BTS? Answer. 15 baht. DEAL. This is Onnut 24. 15 baht is the posted fare in front of Carrefour.

But instead of going back empty they think 15 is an ok deal. I would never get on one without agreeing a price first.

[mauiguy90]

I ride motor taxis all the time in Bangkok. Fares generally vary according to how close to the city center(s) you are. Most of the drivers in less popular routes are fairly safe. A few of them are what I would classify "redneck" who are trying to prove they are tough guys and enjoy trying to scaring foreigners. I have ridden on "rogue" motorcycle taxis in Soi Aree and also in the Sutthisan area. I've also ridden with one guy who was high, either on drugs or drunk, on Sukhumvit 16. A friend of mine got thrown off the bike the same soi and ended up in the hospital. I recommend walking in some of these areas especially if the trip is short (unless you are familiar with the drivers there) or using alternative transportation such as a tuktuk.

However most of the motorcycle taxi guys I've met in Bangkok are "okay". This means you still have to hang on but that most don't intentionally drive recklessly or overcharge a lot. 99% of them treat ladies very well and drive very carefully when a woman is riding. In heavy traffic, there is nothing faster than riding a motorcycle when you are in a rush. If you enjoy that sort of thing, it can be a rush! Remember to keep your hands and legs tucked in...

1) Motorcycle taxi drivers are not meek.

Some are. I've had a few occasions where I've got to the end of the journey and they've asked me how much the fare normally is, and have trusted me on the fare I've quoted. Not all motorbike taxis are mindless thugs, despite the fact that some people like to claim they are.

I'm sorry but you must be wrong ! I keep reading posts that tell us all that ALL motorbike taxi's are big Mafia and will kill you as soon as look at you if you mess with them. This is doubly so here on Samui where you don't even have to upset them

Edited April 24, 2011 by mauiguy90