Phuket tuk-tuk drivers protest illegal taxis

[eezergood]

I would rather walk than pay for a tuk-tuk in Poo-ket

On a few occasions I have walked rather than take a Tuk Tuk. Infuriates them when they see you walking down a rural road and they stop and invite you in. When I decline they cuss and swear - lovely

I walk home from work a lot in high season, its faster, and the abuse you get cause you dare not to take the transport offered!

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Before, we could earn about B500 a day but after they came our income has fallen to only B300.”

This is a joke surely? I remember around 15 years ago a bunch of lazy tuk tuk drivers sleeping (midday) at a spot on the KataKaron Road. I asked what fare to Nai Harn (remember this is 15 years ago) and they turned over and went back to sleep after I refused the 400 baht fare. Fck the lot of them. And the motosais bottom of the island, particularly Rawai, are getting just as grasping as their four wheeled chums. 100 from Flintstones to The Mangosteen. I'll walk.

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Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Wrong. I have, many times. I do, however, look formidable

[pomchop]

A good start would have been to arrest the 200 tuk tuk drivers as they are the CAUSE of the problem....charge a fair price, no more than a Bangkok taxi or tuk tuk and problem solved.

[bangon04]

"“I do not want to see people getting away with breaking the law in Phuket,” she said."

She added later...."I know it is happening and I know who is behind it all, and I know exactly why it is like it is, but at least I do not want to see it, so I can pretend to you that it is not happening. Besides, only the people who are entitled to ignore the law in Phuket should be allowed to break the law in Phuket, and like I say, I do not want to see it...." but tis part of her quote was left out of the article it seems.

[captspectre]

Drove past all the tuk tuks this afternoon. Most of the drivers were asleep in there tuk tuks

sorry no sympathny here, the tuk tuk drivers brought this upon themselves with their outrages fars and in your face attitude! serves them right!

[TheWizardofRnR]

55555555555555555 What a load of Bull

These scum could be said to be like "the pot calling the kettle black"

And yes their incomes might be down but these a'holes are a big part of the problem, and not the solution.

Only when the last tourist has left; Only then will they find that money cannot be eaten.

Yes , money is the root of all evil but E V I L spelled backwards means LIVE !

[TheWizardofRnR]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Wrong. I have, many times. I do, however, look formidable

OOOhhhh , Formidable.....don't you think it foolish ,

to only bring your ego to a gunfight!

[oldsailor35]

ha ha ha ! "our income has fallen because of the illegal taxis"....................Of course the blatant ripping off of tourists has not become obvious to public knowledge yet

[oldsailor35]

If they are only making Bht300 per day, then this means that they are only getting one fare each per day. In this case, surely the answer is that there are far too many Tuk Tuks. The solution is to cancel at least half the licences and then see how it goes .

[ChrisY1]

Get these rotten, stinking, noisy Tuk Tuks off the road......they're a menace to all other traffic.....run by gangsters and just a pain in the ass.......Thailand wide!

[kannot]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

[kannot]

55555555555555555 What a load of Bull

These scum could be said to be like "the pot calling the kettle black"

And yes their incomes might be down but these a'holes are a big part of the problem, and not the solution.

Only when the last tourist has left; Only then will they find that money cannot be eaten.

Yes , money is the root of all evil but E V I L spelled backwards means LIVE !

"daehkcid" spells summat else though?

[oldsailor35]

Mr Tuk Tuk,

economic is simple, If the illegal taxis can live or make profit from a 500 B ride, so can you

meaning your price is to high.

In patong I see 200 tuk tuks, and 40 of them driving = 140 tuk tuks too much

60 tuk tuks that drive 10 time at 150 B = 1500 B

but with to many tuk tuks , you can drive only 1 time, so you ask 1000 B

Bad factory

Chris

Dont you know? that's the Thai way of doing business. Anyhow, most of these businessmen we are talking about, never went to school. Hence their strange practices.

[FDog]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Don't feed the troll.

[oldsailor35]

I have told all my friends in oz to give Phuket a miss because they will surely be ripped off by either Tuk Tuks, Taxi drivers or Jet ski scammers.

And do you know what! they have done just that! Five families all changed their itineraries and now are going to Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Koh Samui instead. If everybody with visiting friends did this i am sure they would start to notice it down in Phuket.

Edited June 27, 2013 by oldsailor35

[NamKangMan]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

I often ask for a price, then say, "Too expensive" and walk off. They don't care, but either do I, because I was never going to hire them anyway. :)

[MyFriend You]

Okay, now that they're all in one place DRONE the forking barstewards.

Pop their miserable charred corpses into empty chemical barrels.

Fill the barrels with quick-set and load them onto a barge.

Drop the barrels into the sea.

Repaint their stoopid trashcan taxis a nice cool green colour and refit them with Tesla electric motors.

Offer free transport or a voluntary payment system for a year.

Watch Phuket tourism flourish.

Nobody, not one damned person, will shed a tear.

I hope they suffer more financial hardship. It's the only way to eradicate or at least bring reforms to the industry. The time is coming, the media attention lately is getting more intense.

Yes, misplaced pressure from the police. Instead, the police should be arresting the tuk tuk cockroaches for overcharging. It is impossible to find a tuk tuk, or any sort of taxi anywhere in Phuket, willing to charge a fare that even resembles fair. How much pressure has been put on them lately? To do the right thing? To pressure them to be fair with their ridiculous pricing. Last time I was in Phuket the lowest fare I could find was 200 baht to go from one end of kata to the other. We are talking about 1km. I was feeling tired and lazy, and succumbed to their felonious bahavior. Taxis in NY, London, and LA are cheaper for short distances. Who should the police be seeking out? Instead these insects make noise, and the authorities come calling. Shows you who is really in charge. The tuk tuk and taxi goombahs OWN the police, and the local government. Those guys are bought and paid for.

The Phuket coffers are overflowing with Tax revenue - the Phuket government should pay for Taxi Meters for all the Tuk-Tuks and pay to install them, require them to be used - Huge signs at the airport - Use of Meters in all Taxi's (legal or not) is mandatory - works well in Bangkok, I haven't taken a legitimate taxi here once where the driver didn't turn the meter on - its because the BIB enforce the Meter mandatory rule, Phuket is small enough to do this - I am serious, it can work if they are willing to "Make a Law then Enforce" it. In Bangkok if a Taxi even hints he wants a 'fixed price' just get out, after taking his taxi number down, report it to the Police. There will be another one on the way soon that will use the meter.

I have been in Thailand long enough to know what will work - I still remember when the Gov made it mandatory to make all Tuk-Tuk's LPG, they paid 90% of the conversion costs, they Tuk-Tuk owners only paid 1000 baht, Thai Government paid the rest. This too will work, then we'll see what happens - now I wait patiently for the Rhetorical comments.

[MyFriend You]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

That's right Irish. What I don't understand is how everyone else can survive without charging 5-10 times the national average for their services.

So IrishIvan my Man - do you live in Phuket Oooops this subject is like

[steelepulse]

Okay, now that they're all in one place DRONE the forking barstewards.

Pop their miserable charred corpses into empty chemical barrels.

Fill the barrels with quick-set and load them onto a barge.

Drop the barrels into the sea.

Repaint their stoopid trashcan taxis a nice cool green colour and refit them with Tesla electric motors.

Offer free transport or a voluntary payment system for a year.

Watch Phuket tourism flourish.

Nobody, not one damned person, will shed a tear.

I hope they suffer more financial hardship. It's the only way to eradicate or at least bring reforms to the industry. The time is coming, the media attention lately is getting more intense.

Yes, misplaced pressure from the police. Instead, the police should be arresting the tuk tuk cockroaches for overcharging. It is impossible to find a tuk tuk, or any sort of taxi anywhere in Phuket, willing to charge a fare that even resembles fair. How much pressure has been put on them lately? To do the right thing? To pressure them to be fair with their ridiculous pricing. Last time I was in Phuket the lowest fare I could find was 200 baht to go from one end of kata to the other. We are talking about 1km. I was feeling tired and lazy, and succumbed to their felonious bahavior. Taxis in NY, London, and LA are cheaper for short distances. Who should the police be seeking out? Instead these insects make noise, and the authorities come calling. Shows you who is really in charge. The tuk tuk and taxi goombahs OWN the police, and the local government. Those guys are bought and paid for.

The Phuket coffers are overflowing with Tax revenue - the Phuket government should pay for Taxi Meters for all the Tuk-Tuks and pay to install them, require them to be used - Huge signs at the airport - Use of Meters in all Taxi's (legal or not) is mandatory - works well in Bangkok, I haven't taken a legitimate taxi here once where the driver didn't turn the meter on - its because the BIB enforce the Meter mandatory rule, Phuket is small enough to do this - I am serious, it can work if they are willing to "Make a Law then Enforce" it. In Bangkok if a Taxi even hints he wants a 'fixed price' just get out, after taking his taxi number down, report it to the Police. There will be another one on the way soon that will use the meter.

I have been in Thailand long enough to know what will work - I still remember when the Gov made it mandatory to make all Tuk-Tuk's LPG, they paid 90% of the conversion costs, they Tuk-Tuk owners only paid 1000 baht, Thai Government paid the rest. This too will work, then we'll see what happens - now I wait patiently for the Rhetorical comments.

The powers that be that are collecting the 500 baht rent per day and the 500 baht "association fees" per day will put up a lot of resistance to this 6 million baht per month cash cow.

Your plan and ideas are solid, but the real power behind this will not be easily persuated to give up his ( and his son's) 6 million per month to appease us.

[jackinbkk]

Does this explain why we are still waiting for the rail link to the airport. The most expensive taxi ride in Thailand?

[pomchop]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

Maybe some of the tuk tuk drivers would prefer to work 8 hours or so in the rice paddies for 200 baht a day rather than lounge around all day waiting to get ONE fare and ...oh the horror...have to actually drive someone a few miles.

[hawker9000]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Horse feathers. But you're right, not wanting to be beat within an inch of my life I wouldn't risk confrontation with any of that trash. Say something to their face and the knives come out. No thanks. "Decent". 555555555 My ass. FDog, you're right: probably feeding the troll here.

Edited June 27, 2013 by hawker9000

[IrishIvan]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

How elitist of you! have you tried living on 300thb a day? Thaivisa members do not dictate the salaries of occupations, the markets dictate it.

I would like to know what the honda dream driving gang cheapskates of Phuket think that public transport professionals should receive in salary? I mean because these Farang expats contribute so much to the tourism industry. Just because you eat a few Pad Krapows at a local shop and drink a few big Leo bottles out the front of 7-11, and give your wife a 5000thb a month salary doesnt make you some sort of salary dictator! The contributions that these types of expats make is less than the Russians and Chinese tour groups that they constantly complain about.

Its simple. A group of 4 Australian guys coming over to Phuket think its great that they can all throw in 200thb each and drive down to Nai Harn for the day from Patong and their freindly tuk tuk driver will wait for them and drive them back to the hotel. The tuk tuks come with booming stereos so its a mobile party, the guys can drink whiskey or beer and party on, the tourists actually LIKE IT!!!! Its only the old sexpats living on pensions and praying about exchange rates that complain about prices.

Wake up, if tourists dont like the prices they wont use them, each day I see thousands of tourists cruising around Phuket enjoying themselves. The tuk tuks add to the character of Thailand. Their prices are posted up next to the taxi stands, If you cant afford them then dont use them. Taxis all around the world are more expensive than hiring a car, thats life get used to it

[IrishIvan]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

Maybe some of the tuk tuk drivers would prefer to work 8 hours or so in the rice paddies for 200 baht a day rather than lounge around all day waiting to get ONE fare and ...oh the horror...have to actually drive someone a few miles.

It sounds like you would like that, perhaps you could be the foreman, and have a shotgun and chew some baccy, and whip their little lazy asses into shape. Are you a confederate?

[bearpolar]

Way to get rich:

Open comedy club in westernland

Subscribe to Thai newspapers.

Read it aloud to customers

Reap him massive laughs and profits

[lostmebike]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Crap

[DiNiro]

Keyboard warriors the lot of you, I bet you have never let a tuk tuk or taxi driver know to his face how you feel.

They are just decent workers trying to earn a living. Phuket is expensive so they need to charge more

Crap

Let them charge what they want. Let them block the USNavy Sailors & cruise ships.

Let them threaten and assault tourists, abuse hotel drivers and force the public busses out of business with violence ...

It won't bother me as I won't be returning to the island.

[FDog]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

How elitist of you! have you tried living on 300thb a day? Thaivisa members do not dictate the salaries of occupations, the markets dictate it.

I would like to know what the honda dream driving gang cheapskates of Phuket think that public transport professionals should receive in salary? I mean because these Farang expats contribute so much to the tourism industry. Just because you eat a few Pad Krapows at a local shop and drink a few big Leo bottles out the front of 7-11, and give your wife a 5000thb a month salary doesnt make you some sort of salary dictator! The contributions that these types of expats make is less than the Russians and Chinese tour groups that they constantly complain about.

Its simple. A group of 4 Australian guys coming over to Phuket think its great that they can all throw in 200thb each and drive down to Nai Harn for the day from Patong and their freindly tuk tuk driver will wait for them and drive them back to the hotel. The tuk tuks come with booming stereos so its a mobile party, the guys can drink whiskey or beer and party on, the tourists actually LIKE IT!!!! Its only the old sexpats living on pensions and praying about exchange rates that complain about prices.

Wake up, if tourists dont like the prices they wont use them, each day I see thousands of tourists cruising around Phuket enjoying themselves. The tuk tuks add to the character of Thailand. Their prices are posted up next to the taxi stands, If you cant afford them then dont use them. Taxis all around the world are more expensive than hiring a car, thats life get used to it

So you say the tourists like it and thousands use the tuk tuks cruising around Phuket?

So why are they protesting?

Either you or them are lying.

Ooops, there I go feeding the troll.

[IrishIvan]

Dunno what they're complaining about, they're getting 300 baht, its the minimum wage, no one with any balls big enough down there to really deal with this...........just like the rest of Thailand

How elitist of you! have you tried living on 300thb a day? Thaivisa members do not dictate the salaries of occupations, the markets dictate it.

I would like to know what the honda dream driving gang cheapskates of Phuket think that public transport professionals should receive in salary? I mean because these Farang expats contribute so much to the tourism industry. Just because you eat a few Pad Krapows at a local shop and drink a few big Leo bottles out the front of 7-11, and give your wife a 5000thb a month salary doesnt make you some sort of salary dictator! The contributions that these types of expats make is less than the Russians and Chinese tour groups that they constantly complain about.

Its simple. A group of 4 Australian guys coming over to Phuket think its great that they can all throw in 200thb each and drive down to Nai Harn for the day from Patong and their freindly tuk tuk driver will wait for them and drive them back to the hotel. The tuk tuks come with booming stereos so its a mobile party, the guys can drink whiskey or beer and party on, the tourists actually LIKE IT!!!! Its only the old sexpats living on pensions and praying about exchange rates that complain about prices.

Wake up, if tourists dont like the prices they wont use them, each day I see thousands of tourists cruising around Phuket enjoying themselves. The tuk tuks add to the character of Thailand. Their prices are posted up next to the taxi stands, If you cant afford them then dont use them. Taxis all around the world are more expensive than hiring a car, thats life get used to it

So you say the tourists like it and thousands use the tuk tuks cruising around Phuket?

So why are they protesting?

Either you or them are lying.

Ooops, there I go feeding the troll.

Read the headline pal! They are protesting about taxis that are transporting customers without green plates. Thats illegal and it takes away their living. I see tuk tuks every day transporting happy tourists around Phuket, I also see bitter and twisted expats driving around on smokey old honda dreams with scowls on their faces. And the bitter expats are the ones posting here. I dont know why the honda dream gang are complaining as they dont use the tuk tuks.