From Samuiexpress

[Rooo]

A furious Samui mayor, Varakorn Rattanarak, has come forward to say enough is enough of this overcharging taxis.

The mayor has told the Samui Express he too had a bad experience with a local taxi. Recently, he said, he took a taxi from the Nora Beach Resort to Sawang Arom Temple, a distance of about 4.5 kilometers.

The taxi, Mr. Varakorn said, did not use the meter and charged him, rather arbitrarily, a hefty Bt300 for the short ride. The mayor said the rate was too unfair and oppressive.

The mayor told the Express he would do everything he could to make sure this problem is properly dealt with. As a first step, the mayor called the Transportation Department office in Suratthani to have all taxi cabs on Samui registered and all drivers found breaking the law fined.

Mayor Varakorn said he did not mind paying for the cab service as long as it was fair.

He said this has got to stop, adding that tourists and residents alike had had too much of this arbitrary taxi fares. Taxi drivers, the mayor said, cannot use as excuse for their arbitrary rates the recent oil price hikes. He said the government has a system in place protecting taxi drivers and operators from fluctuating costs of fuel.

“I ask the Transportation Department in Suratthani to take a close look at this problem. If this problem is allowed to go on, the island’s image as a tourism destination will be seriously damaged,” he said.

Meanwhile, Suratthani vice governor Thawatchai Thor-phothai and the Transportation Department office on the island have ordered drivers of all public vehicles to clearly post a schedule of fares in their vehicles to stop overcharging and avoid passenger complaints.

Mr. Thawatchai said he, too, has had enough of the complaints against Samui taxis.

The law clearly provides, he said, that fares must be shown inside the vehicle and, in the case of taxi, they shown be indicated by the meter. It is the law, the vice governor said, and anyone violating it deserved to be punished.

Thorphothai said that if the community and the government work hand in hand, “we can put an end to this problem.”

“It is imperative the that we do not let erring taxi drivers go scot free,” he said, adding that passengers victimized by them should take note of their license plates and call the Samui Transport Office right away at 077-423-309. --- YA Chathanam

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[Khun Jean]

Maybe i should give him my e-mail address.

I know of a few more things that are damaging the island as a tourist destination.

As a mayor he is awfully out of touch with his community.

The taxi is the most obvious one. The moment you get of your plane or boat you are confronted with these outlaws. Especially when you come from Bangkok where a short drive is around 50 baht.

I am not suggesting they use the same price as in Bangkok, but a fixed price per time/distance would greatly enhance their business and my feeling is they would make more money than now, because a lot of people are avoiding them for short drives.

If prices of taxis were predictable and fair, i would not even have considered buying or renting a motorbike.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Khun Jean

[Lovesun]

It is good news that this has happened to the Mayor. It is so neccessary for the government to step in and do something about the taxi situation in Samui.

I too had a negative run in with a taxi driver who tried to charged me 400 Baht for a ride less than 5 minutes. I had stuff that I needed to get home, and taxi was my only option at the time. This was my first and last taxi ride here. Im not one to argue and fight, so I just ended up throwing the 200 that I had at him and slamming the door... the worst part was I already haggled and agreed on the price before the ride, and we had a verbal understanding that he went against.

I know my story is not origional. Its awful to see unsuspecting tourists getting into taxis. Samui is so great, and there are so many strikes against it for tourism, the taxis dont even seem to realise that the worse they behave, the more their name is mud and the less business they get. Seems simple to me!

[Jiu-Jitsu]

The Taxis know that there will be another idiot along soon, who is willing to pay the exorbitant rates. Somehow rationalising that it's only ten bucks.

Obviously someone is paying those prices. Must be the same people who are staying at the overpriced and overblown hotel accomodation.

[Khun Jean]

The Taxis know that there will be another idiot along soon, who is willing to pay the exorbitant rates. Somehow rationalising that it's only ten bucks.

Obviously someone is paying those prices. Must be the same people who are staying at the overpriced and overblown hotel accomodation.

Not always an idiot!

Imagine yourself standing without transport and you need a plane to catch.

Or what happened to us, standing with a sick baby needing transport to the hospital. At the double rate! A lady driver it was. You would have thought she would have some decency when it comes to a babies health.

Never, ever took a taxi on Samui after that.

After a night out, prices are double, triple or quadruple. What is there to do? Walk?

Nope, buy/rent a motorbike and never take a taxi again is the solution.

If they asked normal prices (100 baht for a 5-10 km distance) they would not have lost 365 * 100 * 2 = 73.000 baht!!

Multiply that times the number of people who also boycot them. Som nam na to them.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

I meant from the Taxi drivers and other 'rip off merchants' points of view.

Whatever happened to goodwill?

[Rooo]

Imagine the number of people that would use their services if they were fair.But they opt to drive around all day in some instances ,at crawling pace ,causing everyone a headache & burning fuel.

A Royal decree was passed that as of January first they must use metres,that was snubbed.The cheer number of them also creates fierce unhealthy competition ,in the sense that let's charge like a wounded bull, we might not get another fare.By reducing the number of licences & maybe increasing the price of fares to a slightly higher margin then say Bangkok & actually applying the law , will that problem ever go away.

“It is imperative the that we do not let erring taxi drivers go scot free,” he said, adding that passengers victimized by them should take note of their license plates and call the Samui Transport Office right away at 077-423-309. --- YA Chathanam

The majority of people that use the Taxis , are tourists.Do you think they read Samui news or other relevant publications?Are they ever going to bother reporting? I am sorry,but the government has to take an active role enforcing these regulations.Why not have spot checks & check points as they had in Pukhet some years ago?

Better still , just drive around,see where the taxis are, get their number & just report them for the fun of it.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Rooo

[Malice in Wonderland]

“It is imperative the that we do not let erring taxi drivers go scot free,” he said, adding that passengers victimized by them should take note of their license plates and call the Samui Transport Office right away at 077-423-309. --- YA Chathanam

I know someone who called that number and the reply he got was " What do you want me to do about it?" Until they've got someone manning the phones who isn't scared of the "taxi mafia"(their words!!!) then this is nothing but a sham;I'd like to see some posts from anyone else who has had a grievenace and also tried calling....

[Khun Jean]

We called! Two times. One after the sick baby and one time after being charged 400 baht for a chaweng to Lamai drive, while he picked up another passenger for the same route and also charging her 400 baht. (Not easy do not get in when it is pouring rain and you have many luggage with you!)

Unfortunately i don't speak thai good enough and they don't speak English or any other language good enough to get the point across.

My wife is Thai and by her nature is still easily put "down" by someone with presumed higher authority.

But she got the same answer. Not much can be done except register. Maybe if enough of these cases are registered something will happen. Try calling the mayor and point him to this information source. He is in a bad mood about these taxies already so it might work.

It still bothers me a little, but since i am not there anymore i better start to get a 'mai pen rai' attitude to it.

[alh]

Samui has a mayor?!

Maybe he should get out more and do his job. Have some roads fixed, put some drainage in as well while you're at it. Clean up the trash, get some rules on taxi's, make them stop honking all the time, keep them in a taxi stand instead of blocking Chaweng beach road. Make speaker cars prohibited. Etc, etc.

[sbk]

From what I have seen the mayor has no real power, the power lies in the appointed Nai Amphur (district officer) and the appointed Governor of the province.

Taxis are regulated by the Transportation department. Road construction funding comes from the Provincial office.

Our village has a twice yearly road cleanup organized by the PuYaiBahn (village headman) and staffed by local volunteers.

[the gent]

I live in Bangkok and like everyone else feel the need to escape every couple of months. My destination of choice would be Samui but the venality of Bangkok Airways, every bit as predatory as the wretched taxis, means that for reasons of economy I end up either in Hua Hin or Pattaya.

The truth of the matter is, the Thai operate on the commercial principle of once a resource has been found that approximates to a cash cow it is milked for all its worth until the guts have been torn out and nothing is left at which point they squeal like stuck pigs demanding sympathy and government help. Whether or not that greed will precipitate regulatory intervention by the Samui authorities remains to be seen but somehow I think one has more chance of seeing those stuck pigs flying.

When I do go there I rent a jeep and in pootling around the island I contrive to obstruct as many taxis as possible. Quite childish I know but deeply satisfying particularly when abuse is hurled.

[sriracha john]

Samui has a mayor?!

apparently the taxi driver overcharging him was unaware as well...

a bit surprised that a mayor goes about unrecognized?

but if something is done about the taxi's overcharging, all the better.

[sbk]

I have just quizzed my husband about the mayor/nai amphur story.

OK, The Mayor is elected so if the taxi driver didn't know him then he wasn't a local and hadn't voted in the election. The Nai Amphur is appointed.

Taxis are regulated by the Transportation Department and the Mayor will have to go through them to get anything done.

Road repairs can depend on who had the road built in the first place and it could even be up to the OrBorDor.

My husband feels the biggest problem is that there isn't one central place where these things are all dealt with but it is divided up amongst numerous offices and departments from village to district to provinicial level.

[limbos]

Samui needs urgently similar 'city' rights like Pattaya has, so it can deal directly with problems like these.

My father in law used to be a song thaew driver untill very recently. He sold his cab amongst others because he's fed up with the enormous amount of taxi meters that's let loose on the island and the behaviour of the young cab drivers.

[Khun Jean]

I suggested some taxi drivers to use a sticker on the window with fixed prices for known places.

He just laughed and found it a silly thought.

A bus driving around the ring road would also be great.

You just need 2 or 4 busses and the transportation will instantly get better.

They could drive around in opposite directions.

With 4 buses you should not have to wait longer than 30 minutes.

A comfortable, affordable means of transportation is really needed.

Not only for the tourist but for Thai and foreigners who live on Samui.

[the gent]

Sound, reasoned, cogent arguments from an individual with common sense to spare. How on earth do you do it?