Airport Metered Taxi Experience

[grumpyoldman]

A couple Sundays back I come in from BKK and get a metered taxi.

Firstly as I stood there for awhile and nobody moved I walked up to the trunk of the cab to open it and throw my bag in and all of a sudden the driver walks up and makes a "shoo me away" wave with his hand. Hmmm..........not a good start.

As we head out of the airport the guy is tailgating, making weird lane changes. He then stops at the first LPG station and says "pay me".

I say "no I'll pay you when we get to the destination".

Guy gets super angry, gets out slams the door so hard I thought it broke, he starts ranting outside the cab comes back in, scrapes for some change and then says "I take you back to airport", which he did.

Obviously he had no money for the fuel to get me to where I needed to go, nice professional taxi service.............metered cabs suck.

[kawapower]

Did you pay him anything? One situation that could have become very nasty.

[grumpyoldman]

Did you pay him anything? One situation that could have become very nasty.

Did not. And as an under the radar kinda guy did not file any type of complaint, just jumped in another cab and hit road. I did mention to the ladies in the booth (in Thai) the guy is not polite and a nut.

Back to my regular driver.

[kawapower]

Did you pay him anything? One situation that could have become very nasty.

Did not. And as an under the radar kinda guy did not file any type of complaint, just jumped in another cab and hit road. I did mention to the ladies in the booth (in Thai) the guy is not polite and a nut.

Back to my regular driver.

A lucky escape, only ever used a meter taxi once which was 3 yrs ago, a nice guy, obviously not all are nice!!

[hansgruber]

Taxi meters still have to pay money upstairs to the powers that be. They aren't immune.

The whole system is broken.

[falkan]

meter still cheaper then limousine taxi and black cab..

if you want to pay some extra for service, go ahead!

[Shot]

Is it true they close at midnight? Or, were they just out of taxi's again.

[snamos]

Do the metered cabs actually turn the meter on?

[LivinginKata]

don't think they close at midnight, more that there are not any incoming flights. Last time I caught a late flight (from Bali) near mid night we caught the last meter taxi, driver told us no other meter taxi were coming back to airport, and he turned on the meter.

[petercallen]

Never had a problem with meter taxis, always tell them to go on the meter which they do and tell them they will get a tip it they drive safely, still cheaper than the other forms of transport at airport and have some insurance

[spidermark]

A couple Sundays back I come in from BKK and get a metered taxi.

Firstly as I stood there for awhile and nobody moved I walked up to the trunk of the cab to open it and throw my bag in and all of a sudden the driver walks up and makes a "shoo me away" wave with his hand. Hmmm..........not a good start.

As we head out of the airport the guy is tailgating, making weird lane changes. He then stops at the first LPG station and says "pay me".

I say "no I'll pay you when we get to the destination".

Guy gets super angry, gets out slams the door so hard I thought it broke, he starts ranting outside the cab comes back in, scrapes for some change and then says "I take you back to airport", which he did.

Obviously he had no money for the fuel to get me to where I needed to go, nice professional taxi service.............metered cabs suck.

Call the taxi administrator. This guy was a dick, and he would be disciplined. Write down his name and taxi #. But, next time do not even get in the taxi unless the guy is pleasant. Go up to the 4th level for taxis. They are thrilled to have you as the alternative is a long line, or returning to town empty. Do not tolerate the nonsense, ever. There are plenty of delightful taxi drivers in bangkok.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

[stevenl]

A couple Sundays back I come in from BKK and get a metered taxi.

Firstly as I stood there for awhile and nobody moved I walked up to the trunk of the cab to open it and throw my bag in and all of a sudden the driver walks up and makes a "shoo me away" wave with his hand. Hmmm..........not a good start.

As we head out of the airport the guy is tailgating, making weird lane changes. He then stops at the first LPG station and says "pay me".

I say "no I'll pay you when we get to the destination".

Guy gets super angry, gets out slams the door so hard I thought it broke, he starts ranting outside the cab comes back in, scrapes for some change and then says "I take you back to airport", which he did.

Obviously he had no money for the fuel to get me to where I needed to go, nice professional taxi service.............metered cabs suck.

Call the taxi administrator. This guy was a dick, and he would be disciplined. Write down his name and taxi #. But, next time do not even get in the taxi unless the guy is pleasant. Go up to the 4th level for taxis. They are thrilled to have you as the alternative is a long line, or returning to town empty. Do not tolerate the nonsense, ever. There are plenty of delightful taxi drivers in bangkok.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

You're on the Phuket forum now.

[snamos]

A couple Sundays back I come in from BKK and get a metered taxi.

Firstly as I stood there for awhile and nobody moved I walked up to the trunk of the cab to open it and throw my bag in and all of a sudden the driver walks up and makes a "shoo me away" wave with his hand. Hmmm..........not a good start.

As we head out of the airport the guy is tailgating, making weird lane changes. He then stops at the first LPG station and says "pay me".

I say "no I'll pay you when we get to the destination".

Guy gets super angry, gets out slams the door so hard I thought it broke, he starts ranting outside the cab comes back in, scrapes for some change and then says "I take you back to airport", which he did.

Obviously he had no money for the fuel to get me to where I needed to go, nice professional taxi service.............metered cabs suck.

Call the taxi administrator. This guy was a dick, and he would be disciplined. Write down his name and taxi #. But, next time do not even get in the taxi unless the guy is pleasant. Go up to the 4th level for taxis. They are thrilled to have you as the alternative is a long line, or returning to town empty. Do not tolerate the nonsense, ever. There are plenty of delightful taxi drivers in bangkok.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

You are correct though...ive caught hundreds of taxis in bangkok. Ive never had a problem with any...cant say the same as the greedy thugs in Phuket

[LivinginKata]

You are correct though...ive caught hundreds of taxis in bangkok. Ive never had a problem with any...cant say the same as the greedy thugs in Phuket

Oh no, if you try a taxi sitting about in one of the touristy side streets they will ask 500 baht (in an unpleasant manner), walk to a main road and wave down a passing cab and they are happy to take you to the airport on meter for less than half that price.

[petercallen]

When we were in Bangkok we caught a taxi outside the hotel and hold him where we wanted to go

he drove around the corner stopped the car and wanted to take us to tourists outlets, when i refused

we were told to get out of the taxi and he drove of

We went back to the hotel and told the management what happen and they closed the taxi rank outside of the hotel

On another day we caught another taxi to the old royal palace i think the fare was 250 baht with tip

When we came out and tried to catch a taxi at the taxi rank they all demanded 500 baht for the return trip

Stopped a taxi in the street who agreed to use meter, return trip cost 250 baht including tip

You can report taxis in Bangkok for overcharging there is a phone number in the taxis but i doubt it would be effective

Never had a problem with taxis overcharging at Phuket airport

Edited August 4, 2012 by petercallen

[Grifter]

Taxis that park outside hotels and on tourist streets operate a totally different system to the cabs you see driving about. The ones parked up are looking for a small amount of high paid fares much like tuk tuks and the rest are looking for the opposite , as many fares as they possibly can regardless of the price of the fair.

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

The way I see it they are charging a premium for being ready and waiting. If you would rather hunt down a cheaper taxi then that's up to you. As long as everybody is up front with negotiations and doesn't back track on prices there shouldn't be a problem.

[snamos]

Perhaps i see it through rose coloured glasses because of the novelty of being able to catch a metered taxi at any time of the day or night in bkk. With the bkk taxis if its a short fare i promise them a 50 baht tip....if its a longer trip ill offer 100....whereas in phuket on many occasions when i was living in kata....the drivers would try and extort extra cash all the time when coming from Patong after a night out

[LivinginKata]

Taxis that park outside hotels and on tourist streets operate a totally different system to the cabs you see driving about. The ones parked up are looking for a small amount of high paid fares much like tuk tuks and the rest are looking for the opposite , as many fares as they possibly can regardless of the price of the fair.

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

The way I see it they are charging a premium for being ready and waiting. If you would rather hunt down a cheaper taxi then that's up to you. As long as everybody is up front with negotiations and doesn't back track on prices there shouldn't be a problem.

Ready and waiting ... ?? What the big deal about 'hunting down' a meter taxi, there are thousands on the roads in BKK. Sure, maybe a 100 - 200m walk, so what. Last time I was in BKK I walked past the touristy taxis hanging about, walked to the end of the side road, flagged down a taxi, young guy, arrived at Don Muang (Nok Air) in record time, 170 baht on the meter, gave him 200b baht and told him to keep the change. He was delighted. Screw these 500 baht chancers in BKK.

[KarenBravo]

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

There are no "passing taxis" in Phuket. Metered cabs are not allowed to pick up passangers except at their designated taxi rank.

The number of metered taxi ranks in Phuket can be counted on one hand.

Edited August 4, 2012 by KarenBravo

[snamos]

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

There are no "passing taxis" in Phuket. Metered cabs are not allowed to pick up passangers except at their designated taxi rank.

The number of metered taxi ranks in Phuket can be counted on one hand.

And u have to pay for the return journey to the origional pickup point too

[Grifter]

Taxis that park outside hotels and on tourist streets operate a totally different system to the cabs you see driving about. The ones parked up are looking for a small amount of high paid fares much like tuk tuks and the rest are looking for the opposite , as many fares as they possibly can regardless of the price of the fair.

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

The way I see it they are charging a premium for being ready and waiting. If you would rather hunt down a cheaper taxi then that's up to you. As long as everybody is up front with negotiations and doesn't back track on prices there shouldn't be a problem.

Ready and waiting ... ?? What the big deal about 'hunting down' a meter taxi, there are thousands on the roads in BKK. Sure, maybe a 100 - 200m walk, so what. Last time I was in BKK I walked past the touristy taxis hanging about, walked to the end of the side road, flagged down a taxi, young guy, arrived at Don Muang (Nok Air) in record time, 170 baht on the meter, gave him 200b baht and told him to keep the change. He was delighted. Screw these 500 baht chancers in BKK.

200 metres with 2 kids and 3 suitcases can be a pain and it will often take 20/30 minutes plus to get a cab at certain times.

Having a taxi waiting for you right outside your Khao San hotel at 3am when you have kids, suitcases and a plane to catch is well worth an extra couple of hundred baht to a lot of people. If it's the middle of the day and you're on your own and in no hurry then you walk right past them and flag a meter taxi down from the main road, just like you do. We have the choice to use which ever system suits our needs.

Not everybody in LOS is a penny counting expat, tourists and expanse have different needs and they are both catered for in BKK. I don't understand where your anger comes from on this matter.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Grifter

[Grifter]

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

There are no "passing taxis" in Phuket. Metered cabs are not allowed to pick up passangers except at their designated taxi rank.

The number of metered taxi ranks in Phuket can be counted on one hand.

We're talking about BKK!!

[hansgruber]

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

There are no "passing taxis" in Phuket. Metered cabs are not allowed to pick up passangers except at their designated taxi rank.

The number of metered taxi ranks in Phuket can be counted on one hand.

We're talking about BKK!!

Yeah but this is the Phuket forum.

[Grifter]

The tourist taxis aren't doing anything wrong as long as they tell you the price in advance, if you don't like it you simply say no thankyou and wait for a passing taxi.

There are no "passing taxis" in Phuket. Metered cabs are not allowed to pick up passangers except at their designated taxi rank.

The number of metered taxi ranks in Phuket can be counted on one hand.

We're talking about BKK!!

Yeah but this is the Phuket forum.

Tell that to the people who wrote posts 13, 14, &15 then.

[KarenBravo]

..........and #21, #22 & #24

[Shot]

Why not send back taxi’s after midnight? That’s just stupid. Lots of flights coming in late. Asiana, Korean, and Air Asia all have regular flights coming in after 11 pm. By the time you clear immigration, and or get your luggage, it’s midnight. Those flights alone mean 600-700 people looking for a taxi. The last time I tried to use them, they were “closed”. The time before that, they wanted me to wait 2 hours. Before that, I never had a problem. Talk about a good service going bad quick.

[EmptyBasementBin]

Phuket is now well ahead of Pattaya in the Shitholes of Thailand list, firmly placed in the number one spot.

The OP's story is so typical.

Can't fathom why Westerners choose to live there.

[seabear]

Do the metered cabs actually turn the meter on?

In BKK they do. In HKT they don't.

[falkan]

Do the metered cabs actually turn the meter on?

In BKK they do. In HKT they don't.

sometimes 20/80..

[NamKangMan]

Now picture yourself as a first time to Phuket tourist and experiencing that type of behaviour, within an hour of landing at the airport, for you long awaited holiday that you are excited about. Not a great first impression.

Then, you have even worse behaviour from the tuk-tuk drivers over the period of your holiday while you are trying to explore the island.

Like Hans says, "The whole system is broken."

Edited August 4, 2012 by NamKangMan