Putin's Nuclear Threats: Rhetoric or Reality?

[rwhoov]

Has ANYONE ever seen Pattaya police enforce any parking restrictions anywhere in Pattaya? There are half a dozen traffic dead zones because parking restrictions are never enforced.

[Jingthing]

These a**holes drool when they see you coming out of the store with large boxes or bags.

Pay sucker.

What are you gonna do? Walk?

Good for commerce. Punished for shopping.........

That's true but I find it amusing when they turn on the high pressure just because you're carrying a shopping bag of ANY kind.

[WaywardWind]

These a**holes drool when they see you coming out of the store with large boxes or bags.

Pay sucker.

What are you gonna do? Walk?

Good for commerce. Punished for shopping.........

Why are they a**holes simply because they are trying to make a living and position themselves so that they are convenient to potential customers? Does that opinion hold true for all taxi queues such as those at the airport, etc?

When I come out of Central with 6 bags of groceries, I am pleased that I can get in a taxi which will drop me at my door - as opposed to taking two different baht buses and a mototaxi to get home - and am more than willing to pay more for that convenience.

[Tolley]

These a**holes drool when they see you coming out of the store with large boxes or bags.

Pay sucker.

What are you gonna do? Walk?

Good for commerce. Punished for shopping.........

Why are they a**holes simply because they are trying to make a living and position themselves so that they are convenient to potential customers? Does that opinion hold true for all taxi queues such as those at the airport, etc?

When I come out of Central with 6 bags of groceries, I am pleased that I can get in a taxi which will drop me at my door - as opposed to taking two different baht buses and a mototaxi to get home - and am more than willing to pay more for that convenience.

Yes I use private hires at least a couple of times a week and they are cheap and convenient I reckon.

I usually pay 120 from Big C back to Soi Daeng Dum in Pattaya Klang.

I have other issues with the drivers but the private hires suit me from time to time and they are reasonably cheap.

In contrast I took a taxi from Perth airport and it was a 16 minute ride and it was 1400 baht.

[WaywardWind]

How come you "like" a system that doesn't serve the public? As anyone can see, for the most part those empty vehicles are just SITTING there, blocking the entire block. Yes occasionally they get a mark. But as said before for the volume of people that want their overpriced service, two or three waiting vehicles would be more than adequate. What they are doing, obviously, is trying to artificially and aggressively CREATE a demand for their overpriced charters that does NOT exist.

I had a quick look on Google Street View and, lo and behold, there are about 6 plainly marked parking slots on Beach Road right in front of Central Festival, so if the taxis weren't there, then there would surely be other vehicles.

Much as you might like it to be (and I am uncertain as to why you think that would be an advantage given the location of the two ramps to/from CF), it is not a bus stop.

[joepattaya1961]

I've already stated you can walk away from the large area of blockage.

That isn't the point.

The point is this "organized" transport system thinks they have the right to block an entire block in front of the mall, blocking access in that area to baht bus boarders.

Who gave them them that right? Why is their right more important than the general public?

Who denies them of that right? Is there a law that prohibits double parking and waiting for customers in front of malls?

Yes, there is a law against double-parking and if the side-walk is painted red-white stopping is prohibited too.

As with all laws in Thailand........it's the enforcement!!

The first thing they should do in Pattaya is reducing the number of Song Taews to 350-400 (now approx. 650-700).

[morrobay]

I like the system just the way it is, which mimics systems worldwide for having taxi stands/ques in front of entrances of malls, hotels, etc. I have complete confidence tourists exiting the mall can figure out after seeing all the passing sawng taeos that the pick up/drop off points are about 50 metres to the north and south of CF. The same is used on the 2nd Rd. mall entrance. This has little to do with Pattaya's image, Phuket or the mafia.

They have taxi stands in Singapore and Malyasia as we all Hong Kong etc and other countries I visit. But i don't recall that they block the roads, stand around all day waiting for a sucker to con or physically attack foreigners when there is low level price dispute. So, not sure the taxis waiting outside the mall are actually mimicking those in other countries, otherwise they would not be acting like a bunch of sub human psychopathic thugs who should be kept behind bars, they would be using the meter and/or would be a offering a fixed market price, probably quite a reasonable one.

Well said paddyjenkins. I like the way the tide has shifted around here regarding calling spades spades.