In bangkok for 3 days. Stayed at Aisia hotel at Ratchathewi. Taxi to Swampy at hotel area said 500 baht. Taxi from street 213 baht plus 25 baht for expressway. Which one is legal?

Neither!

IMHO, it would have been better to take these unlicensed taxis out of service. Surely no-one can argue that we already have more than enough(?)

There are times, usually during peak periods, when it seems that if it weren't for all these cabs, we wouldn't have a traffic problem...!!

I drive every day several times a day in different parts of the city ... hmm yep cabs cause some problems (drive slow hoping to find a fare, don't pull all the way over to pick up a fare or drop one off), but the motorcycles are by far a substantially greater problem and the buses are equally if not a greater problem then the taxis. The buses will push their way over to the far right lane to avoid traffic and then moments later push their way back to the far left lane to pick up/drop off passengers, don't pull all the way over to the side of the road, etc. But by far the motorcycles are the biggest problem, aside from the poor roads and stupid design of all roads in Thailand. The motorcycles have little regard for their own safety .. they drive against traffic. The drive on the sidewalks. You begin a lane change or a turn and a motorcycle continues to speed past you so you have to slow down or halt your movement, it doesn't matter that you had your turn indicator on for several seconds. Or they drive much slower than the prevailing traffic. Or they drive on the edge of the lane even when there are no other vehicles and cause cars to speed up or slow down to get around them. Or pile up at the head of the intersection waiting for the light to change and when it does they just drive slowly forward occupying all lanes for several seconds preventing other vehicles from moving forward. Or maybe you have missed all the SCARED drivers that drive slower than the other vehicles or are afraid to change lanes or make a turn and it takes them several seconds to complete the action.

Less than 1% of the vehicles on the road, 100,000 taxis out of the SEVERAL MILLION cars on the Thai roads causing all the trouble? I don't think so. It is just the fact that they are painted bizarre colors that makes them more apparent to the eye. In reality they are a tiny fraction of the problem. The design of the roads is by far a greater contributor to the traffic congestion than the taxis are. Considering the number of vehicles on the roads in such a small area I am surprised at how well it all does work.

I am surprised you think it works at all.

Like the jet ski insurance nonsense, this won't go far either.

After money is collected, it's business as usual.