Ripped off Taxis

[BigC]

I am not 100 per cent sure about this but from some research and i have herd that extortion fees charged to the tourists arfe not strictly down to the taxi driver.

Apparently to get a lisence at each standby on the island the prices for the taxis to join a group can vary depending on the location.

Plus some of the drivers do not own the taxis which does not help as they have to rent them

Sometimes when something is wrong i try to look deeper for the reason.

I would have thought that if a taxi driver could take someone down the road for 50 baht or 100 baht instead of 500 or 600 baht. i am sure that they would.Well allot of them.

I find it interesting that if i get a taxi from chaweng to nathong it is 500 baht the same from chaweng to the airport.

smaller distance same price ????

[John 1]

I know your story is true. But in this day and age with so much information already available about over charging why would any tourist or local expat pay if they were not happy. There is such a think as to say no thank you mister taxi driver I will walk.

[samui34samui]

yep, they have to pay the rent of their car, plus their "licence", plus some parking fees in front of hotels, plus gasoline.... When you see where most of the Taxi drivers live, you know that most of the 300-600 THB fees per trip don't go in their pocket. Still a rip off, but taxi drivers are not 100% responsible for that..

[limbos]

Well, is there anybody in a position that may influence the prices doing anything about the situation? Or have the taxis use their meters. mandatory?

Ah, DUH, that would get rid of the silver lining, silly me.

[evadgib]

Mile for mile they're dearer than....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uW5sLug_0

[britgent]

Lonely Planet answers all your questions.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[pokerspiv]

I doubt that the writers of Lonely Planet have the slightest idea what goes on here.

[BruceSmith]

Regarding:

I would have thought that if a taxi driver could take someone down the road for 50 baht or 100 baht instead of 500 or 600 baht. i am sure that they would.Well allot of them.

I tdink u dtink too mutt

[BigC]

I know your story is true. But in this day and age with so much information already available about over charging why would any tourist or local expat pay if they were not happy. There is such a think as to say no thank you mister taxi driver I will walk.

i agree they amoun they charge prices theselves aout fo the market making it cheaper to rent a car per day than to rent a taxi for a return trip. Unlike Bangkok where i do not need a car i can get around all day on taxis and sky trains.

With so many people renting vehicles instead of paying for taxis they are pricing themselves out of the market

[BigC]

Mile for mile they're dearer than....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uW5sLug_0

yep and look what happened to the concord.no more concord

[monkeycountry]

Yes, just like in Phuket, the taxis pay under the table to local politicians to get and to keep a license. The local politicians in turn make sure that they can continue scamming the locals and the tourists, without any authorities doing anything about it. Once in a while things get out of hand and then the taxi drivers and their bosses, the local politicians have a proforma meeting to assure the public that they are taking their complaints seriously. Afterall the local politicians need to get reelected a election time.

The taxi drivers know eachother well and are excellent at sticking together whenever there is trouble, so there is nothing that prevents them from ganging up and exposing or complaining about the local politicians they are paying. However, they have no interest in doing that, as the current arrangement ensures the drivers still make a lot more money than drivers in Bangkok who are generally forced to follow the rules.

Edited August 26, 2013 by monkeycountry