Phuket Taxis Blockade Luxury Cruise Ship Passengers From Disembarking

[siamjimi]

When is the Thai general populous going to quit shooting themselves in the foot ? - I could imagine the cruise line will alter their destination route and pass Thailand up or at a minimum go to a port that does not have the extreme behavior of the taxi / tuk-tuk's

I have read recently that these cruise lines will anchor off and send their passengers in by smaller boat to a smaller port as well - but it may be this particular ship is small abd does not have the launch-boats like the larger ships - bcoz that a very small number of tourists for a ship this size.

What will most likely happen - the cruise line will make sure to prevent this from occurring again - if I was on-board that ship and paid to come to a destination port - I would be pissed off and would not travel or recommend the cruise line to friends - all as a result of the Thai mentality that a little is not enough.

Those passengers were about to spend their money once they boarded the tour vans and departed in-land. So now the shops lost many thousands of baht revenue bcoz the taxi / tuk-tuk drivers greed.

The reason the cruise-line uses the tour vans is to create a controlled safe environment for their passengers so as not to accosted by these morons in the first place. This ensures their passengers have a care free time and will be repeat customers.

TIT - it never ceases to amaze you - he he

I am sure the Thai's will load their proverbial guns again and shoot themselves in the foot over a new tourist subject next week - that's a trend that never changes.

[scubarick]

It is a joke !!!!!

Who is running the island ?? The taxis or the goverment ???

Of course all can book a tour company to pickup guests at the harbor, or i will suggest that all tour companies block Bangla, as they want half the customers going home !!

*** the taxis on Phuket !

No kidding.... That is a joke!!!!!! The taxi drivers are crying because the tour agencies are picking up their customers from the ferry? These people wouldn't even be in Phuket if the tour agency hadn't booked them a dam_n tour in the first place. Several of those tourist would have done some shopping, eating, and other activities..... But lets throw that all away because the taxi driver want to cry like little girls. Who is running Phuket?!? The fact that the police allowed this to happen is a disgrace.

Amazing Thailand, the people use to be so friendly, but now it's Thai "Wanna-Be" Mafia mixed with the Wild Wild West. It's just a big J-O-K-E

Agreed.

Edited April 6, 2011 by scubarick

[scubarick]

Yes, true . . . but more importantly when it comes to Tourism now, Thailand is becoming the joke of the world and a place to avoid.

Wrong , Thailand is in love with its new tourists from the Middel East, Russia and Korea, all highly educated people with developed cultural sensibilities ( who will hopefully treat the Thais for what they are).

Good, Smart thinking.

Fresh meat

[IanForbes]

Let me see now, half of nothing is precisely what? I am glad I visited Phuket ONCE. We rented a car, but most of the time I just walked. I'll never go back because of over charging for EVERYTHING. I've been going to Thailand for 15 years and spend 5 months of the year traveling to various parts of the Beautiful country. I KNOW what it costs to stay in the various tourist areas. Phuket charges double or triple of everywhere else. Pattaya is bargain basement in comparison to Phuket. And, so is Koh Samui by comparison.

[1219patrickm]

Maybe just maybe there are too many tuk-tuks on the island..LOL. They were bad before the Tsunami and it was rumored that government was going to limit their return.. Last time I was there in 08 they were even worse. It was not enjoyable when walking down the street and everyone ask "want tuk tuk". It took all my will not to scream " why the hell would I ride with you when I said no to the last 50 of you <profanity removed>". I was there for holiday, if I want to be stressed I might as well be at home working and making money. In my opinion they should make them like the baht buses in Pattaya. At least one can learn to tune out the horn when they beep every 100 feet.

The Tuk Tuk drivers have kept me from coming back. So that equals about 3 trips per year or about 12 visits.

Edited April 6, 2011 by metisdead
Profanity removed.

[saintofsilence]

Nothing will change the TAT will keep marketing beautiful safe Thailand in every nook and cranny around the world to keep the tourism numbers up and every scam in Thailand will continue it is so clear that The government shows no compassion for victims of crime they allow the mafia businesses to keep operating.

It is time that every lawbreaker is dealt with and not just slapped on the wrist.

[Jingthing]

One poster suggested negotiate with the tuk tuks and that the tourists are "willing" to get ripped off. I haven't been in awhile but I recall I tried to negotiate several times and nobody was coming down one baht from their ridiculous demands.

[krading]

For a visiting first time tourist a part of the 'Amazing Thailand' experience is taking a ride in one these world famous tuk tuks.

As part of the cruise package, offer this option at a reasonable price for those clients who are interested and set up a roster of polite and courteous co-op members to provide this once in a life time 'bucket list' thrill.

An agreement can be reached between the cruise ship companies and the 'Co-op' whereby the companies pay a levy to the co-op for the right to use tour company minivans to transport those passengers who opt for the more comfortable option.

The rostered off co-op members can then sit on their duffs all day drinking lao kao and not have to worry about wear and tear on their precious tuk tuks whilst still receiving a regular income from their share of the levy.

The tourists who arrive by air and get gouged going to and from the airport will have to grin and bear it as I don't want air fares to increase because of the levy.

[Seelow]

Sometimes I think we farangs are all talk and no action. At least Thais come out wearing red shirts and burn shit down. All we do is jump on these boards and curse the shit out of the scum of Thailand.

But what do WE actually do about it?

Nothing.

There I will have to beg to differ and say that you are totally wrong.

Obviously I have made comments on this board, but I, my family and my friends have protested in the only way that we can, and for the last two years now have avoided Phuket.

Fifteen years ago i spent my honeymoon in Phuket with a group of friends, and we used to have a reunion here every year without fail, and until recently I saw myself retiring here. On top of that there would at least one holiday of up to a week here as well for two of us.

So my protest is that a hotel now has five empty rooms, resteraunts will not serve three meals a day to ten clients, beach boys lose out on ten sunbeds and a lot of beers and snacks, the bars will not benefit from our custom nor will the shops.

I also make sure that articles like this are posted on all the bulletin boards in Hong Kong in both Chinese and in English, and know for a fact that many profession big spending couples also will not touch Phuket with a barge pole.

The plus side of all this is that I have had five or six really nice holidays exploring new resorts in Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia, all of where I have felt far more comfortable,relaxed and appreciated than in Phuket, and all of them considerably cheaper.

Not exactly doing nothing, right?

[bangkoklight]

Mafia to me means street-smart, strong, sophisticated, Italian-looking men in New York who know how to live. They don't drive toy cars around. LOL! Mafia here means and is "politicians" who orchestrate the network of scams, exploitation, and crime. The police get their cut (from the toy car drivers) for "allowing" it to happen. The police have no choice. It's their income. The whole thing is a complete farce. We're all bitching about it but doing nothing. Meanwhile, the hotel worker, the bar worker, the street vendor (even the tuk tuk driver to some extent as they have fees to pay to the local mayor for the right to extort) are the losers. The best way to change things is to turn (force) the whole thing on its head. E-mail the cruise ship owners and Cc the honest tour operators, the international hotel chains, and the government agencies. You never know, the government agencies might open their mailbox. LOL! Anyway, you'll stop the cruise ships coming in and you'll alert the hard working people - who might start taking action.

Edited April 6, 2011 by bangkoklight

[jitenshaman]

I agree with most of what you say, except: "cos' they are for sure quite wealthy...". Actually, that's not true. People who are "quite wealthy" rarely take "group tours". The people who make up the tour groups such as this are middle income people, or those who are retired and on pensions, and who are looking for the best travel deal they can get on their budgets. Many of these people have saved their money for a year or more to be able to take a tour such as this, and everything has been carefully thought and planned out.

These are also, in many cases, people who have no qualms or hesitation about filing a suit against a tour company for failure to fulfill the contractual obligation of what the customer paid for and was supposed to get. Let a few of those happen and you can bet the tour companies are going to be taking a second, hard look at places like Phuket, and advising their customers to go somewhere else.

Then all the tuk tuk mafia can sit around on the docks all day waiting for nothing.

Serves them right.

What's funny, or perhaps sad, is that last summer I found myself in a position of where I was in Chiang Mai at the Kad Suan Kaew Mall and had to get home, which is 18 kilometers from the mall. 150 baht for a tuk tuk.

Actually, the Silver Spirit is on a 119 day trip from Los Angeles to the UK, and the cheapest room aboard the vessel runs $500 per person per night. It does include unlimited champagne, wine, high end food, and a 24 hour personal butler....so in this case, I think the clients are a tad wealthy. Hopefully they all go back home and complain to Silversea about the tuk tuk scum in Phuket, which causes them an even further loss of revenue.

[jboras]

What did Pink Floyd once say; "Money is the root of all evil today" Thailand was the most beautiful Country before the Thais became familiar with Capitalism and GREED! Suppose nothings lasts for ever, not even the beautiful Thai culture, just like beautiful fruit it must rot one day!

[pwhuk]

Tee Hee....how true.

You wonder where it will end, if it ever does

The Tantrum Tukkers give the local Mafya (sic) a bad name - pratts!

rgds to y'all, Brewsta.

As part of the agreement worked out today, tour operators will now have to inform the taxi and tuk-tuk co-op when they plan to use their own vehicles, he said.

So the Tuk Tuks and taxis will now get advanced warning that they are probably just going to be sat around all day.

Can't see how that helps.

[Tonto21]

Over 5 years in Thailand now, not been to Phuket yet……..I wonder why! I was thinking of going, Scrub round that! Put that idea back on the back burner again! I refuse to reward them maggots with my money.

[livinthailandos]

You know for so many of you on thaivisa to have to constantly repeat one's complaints and then think anything in this country is going to change or improve you must really have unrealistic expectations, this is the land of scams, the country with almost 20 coups, the so called clams of a IT Hub, Aviation Hub etc. Nothing in this 4th world country changes expect for more corruption, more vote buying, more coups, more violence in the south.

[kunash]

last Jan/Feb 2010 i went to thailand for the first time (phuket). i arrived by cruise liner. anchored out at sea and took a tender to shore. a coach took us to phuket town. we were dropped off at a rather poor shopping centre. i was on one of the first coaches, and when we arrived there was already many many taxis waiting there. the dropping off point had already been passed on to the taxi men. i arranged with one taxi man to take me around some souvenir shops, and a restaurant and he stayed with me. probably about 4 hours in total. i paid him 15 US dollars. ( 500 baht ) he seemed very happy when i paid him, he had a big smile on his face, and showed the money off to his friends who were waiting at the shopping centre for more passengers.

[kunash]

People who are "quite wealthy" rarely take "group tours".

true. the wealthy people who do go on cruises, perhaps go on 2 or 3 or 4 + cruises a year. some even cruise for about 9 months a year, as a way to avoid paying tax. they have been to every destination. they do not care for the tours. if they do get off the ship at port, they would have lunch or dinner with friends or family at a 5 star venue.

[bdenner]

I've been guiding my friends and their friends, wishing to visit Thailand, away from Phuket and Pattaya for 6 or more years now and this sort of bullshlt gives me great ammunition. Effin idiots in overdrive from the jerks on the wharf all the way up to the local governments.

Edited April 6, 2011 by bdenner

[gbswales]

Surely the "tour operator buses" will be based in Thailand probably with Thai drivers - in most cases I would suspect they are chartered by the tour companies from Thai run businesses - if that is the case it is up to the taxi drivers and tuk tuk (seriously you expect cruise passengers to use a tuk tuk!!) to compete commercially and negotiate contracts with the tour companies themselves. The reason they are so upset is not the loss of metered business but because they suspect that cruise passengers are likely to be big tippers - as usual it is the Lure of cash that causes the problem.

[kiwikeith]

Please, no offence to the many good people(thai&expat) living in Phuket.

But why on earth any one would want to live in a place with such over inflated prices

and losey service is beyond me.

Definately an attitude problem in Phuket sorry to say a bit anti falung if you speak fluent thai you would not believe what,s being said behind your back everywhere even from the street vendors.Cant understand why many citys in Thailand dont have metre taxis but the answer is as comments above have said the tuk tuk mafia dont want them.

Taxis in Koh Samui have meter signs but no meter when you get in and your at there mercy unless your a bit street wise.

One Songtel driver in Koh Samui wanted 1200 baht to take us (4people) to a restuarant about 5km away, a normal thai fare of 30 bht so we just moved on to the next one and settled for 50 bht each so I feel sorry for the tourists that don"t know the ropes but som num na ( serves you right ) if you to stupid to know. Cant blame people for wanting to survive but the tuk tuk mafia in Phuket are over the top as said they will sit ther all day rather than take a lower fare I find this everywhere in thailand to varying degrees so I just walk around and another one will take you eventualy som num na to the one that sits ther waiting for the rip off.

[saintofsilence]

The tourism authority of Thailand should be handling complaints like this and seeing them through until justice is served but they are controlled by the mafia and are unable to.

Get rid of TAT and and set up a new organisation that has power to start locking these guys away and will when given orders .

The organisation could consist of Thai Police that have not been corrupted.

Edited April 6, 2011 by saintofsilence

[Just1Voice]

The organisation could consist of Thai Police that have not been corrupted.

I'm sorry, but a non corrupted Thai Police officer is nothing more than a myth, often times portrayed on many of the Thai soaps at night as a fantasy, but not actually a reality.

[Bakseedaa]

I cant wait for thai government to allow only meter taxi in phuket or something like that, most taxi and tuktuk in phuket are insanely unfriendly and overpriced and definitly a reason why tourist might not want to come back to phuket. They rather sit all day long doing nothing than lower their prices even in low season.

Exactly the same here in Hua Hin, taxis and tuk tuks are extortionate and very rude... everything should be metered and that way customers will know what the correct fare should be.. These guys run a cartel which in itself is surely illegal..... Amazing Thailand.

[Bakseedaa]

You know for so many of you on thaivisa to have to constantly repeat one's complaints and then think anything in this country is going to change or improve you must really have unrealistic expectations, this is the land of scams, the country with almost 20 coups, the so called clams of a IT Hub, Aviation Hub etc. Nothing in this 4th world country changes expect for more corruption, more vote buying, more coups, more violence in the south.

Yeah...Great init..!!

[OzMick]

For a visiting first time tourist a part of the 'Amazing Thailand' experience is taking a ride in one these world famous tuk tuks.

As part of the cruise package, offer this option at a reasonable price for those clients who are interested and set up a roster of polite and courteous co-op members to provide this once in a life time 'bucket list' thrill.

An agreement can be reached between the cruise ship companies and the 'Co-op' whereby the companies pay a levy to the co-op for the right to use tour company minivans to transport those passengers who opt for the more comfortable option.

The rostered off co-op members can then sit on their duffs all day drinking lao kao and not have to worry about wear and tear on their precious tuk tuks whilst still receiving a regular income from their share of the levy.

The tourists who arrive by air and get gouged going to and from the airport will have to grin and bear it as I don't want air fares to increase because of the levy.

"An agreement can be reached between the cruise ship companies and the 'Co-op' whereby the companies pay a levy to the co-op for the right to use tour company minivans to transport those passengers who opt for the more comfortable option."

In most countries this would be considered to be extortion. Why should tourists pay NOT to use a taxi or tuk-tuk?

[brahmburgers]

Who is running the island ?? The taxis or the goverment ???

You just know this. Thailand is governed by gangs, Sicily maybe the birth place of the Mafia, but Thailand is where Mafia have made extortions a way of life

I visited Phuket a few times. None enjoyable because of reasons mentioned above. The last time, two things happened to start off my evening in Patong: The first was a security guard walking up to me and blowing a whistle directly in my ear at full force - for no reason (maybe to share a grin from his buddy). The second was a large truck blowing his air horn downtown while going through red lights.

To answer the question, 'who is running Phuket?' - it's the taxi mafia and other groups of thugs, like the jet ski.

punks. The mayor and authorities can obviously not stand up to the taxi drivers, and do what's needed to be done.

[OzMick]

How about mandatory use of meters in taxis - meters which are rigged to a light on the roof which indicates whether the taxi is available or already working, a system in use in many countries. Easy to enforce by BIB who will love the extra tea-money, no rip-offs of customers, and much easier to identify available cabs.

[Payboy]

The organisation could consist of Thai Police that have not been corrupted.

I'm sorry, but a non corrupted Thai Police officer is nothing more than a myth, often times portrayed on many of the Thai soaps at night as a fantasy, but not actually a reality.

No no - here's one I found. But I guess even he couldn't resist a bunch of bananas.

[harrycallahan]

I'm more surprised by the naval blockade. The US navy hires their own buses for their troops, that's their business.

This whole entitlement attitude of the taxi drivers, wow, "I bought a taxi so you owe me money".

[Johnice]

These bandits always get it their own way, 'Mafia'? No just organised scum.

I thought the new Governor was going to clean this sort of shit up... obviously not.

I will not be recommending any of mtyfamily of friends visit Phuket. It is not good for your wealth or your health.

You will probably find the Governor is on the board of directors of the Tuk Tuk Mafia