Complaints against taxi and bus services in Bangkok

[srchino]

I can't wait to try Uber in Bangkok. Granted there are some decent folks just trying to make an honest living by driving a cab in Thailand, but I have to say that the vast majority of taxi drivers I've encountered in Bangkok have been lazy crooks. If raising the prices would result in taxis actually taking people to where they want to go when they want to go there, I'd be all for it. It'll be nice to have an alternative, if the Uber thing eventually works out.

[shavedPotter]

Interestingly I put this to the test. A few weeks back I was returning from visiting a friend at Nana who was in town for a few weeks on holiday, I got in a taxi near the corner of soi 3. I told him I wanted to go to Ekamai and he refused citing he was waiting for an airport run. I told him no problem, I will just sit here until you are ready to do your job as I was in no particular hurry.

After about 45 minutes of him doing everything to get me out of his car including turning off the AC and playing Cookie Run for a long time, he eventually took me to my destination. He did not turn on the meter but I did pay him what the fare should have been. Needless to say no rewards for bad behavior is a universal fix.

I thought this was worthy of an update. Since I have made this original entry, I have encountered 11 taxies that did not want to take me to my desired destination. In the end all 11 took me to where I wanted to go and used the meter.

This was accomplished by simply refusing to get out of their taxi until they took me to where I wanted to go. So in short they were not going to make any money from anyone until they did their job. Also told them if meter was zero I paid zero.

In nearly all the cases the driver regressed to acting like a 2 year old having a tantrum. It was actually fun to watch as they simply could not get their way and cried and whined. In 2 cases the driver expressed concern about police check points but for the most part darting down some Soi to avoid that was the work around.

The trick is to stay calm and in control while they lose it in their tantrum. Also just take a photo of the ID plate on the inside of the back door and say automatic upload to Facebook. That tends to be very influential as they do also understand the word viral and have seen enough examples to know it is not a good thing for them. One driver was upset to say the least and blurting out NO! No Facebook. The others expressed a big change in demeanor when Facebook was mentioned. And yes my windows 8 phone automatically uploads any photo I take to the cloud with GPS position so it is no lie when I say that.

[hawker9000]

Interestingly I put this to the test. A few weeks back I was returning from visiting a friend at Nana who was in town for a few weeks on holiday, I got in a taxi near the corner of soi 3. I told him I wanted to go to Ekamai and he refused citing he was waiting for an airport run. I told him no problem, I will just sit here until you are ready to do your job as I was in no particular hurry.

After about 45 minutes of him doing everything to get me out of his car including turning off the AC and playing Cookie Run for a long time, he eventually took me to my destination. He did not turn on the meter but I did pay him what the fare should have been. Needless to say no rewards for bad behavior is a universal fix.

I thought this was worthy of an update. Since I have made this original entry, I have encountered 11 taxies that did not want to take me to my desired destination. In the end all 11 took me to where I wanted to go and used the meter.

This was accomplished by simply refusing to get out of their taxi until they took me to where I wanted to go. So in short they were not going to make any money from anyone until they did their job. Also told them if meter was zero I paid zero.

In nearly all the cases the driver regressed to acting like a 2 year old having a tantrum. It was actually fun to watch as they simply could not get their way and cried and whined. In 2 cases the driver expressed concern about police check points but for the most part darting down some Soi to avoid that was the work around.

The trick is to stay calm and in control while they lose it in their tantrum. Also just take a photo of the ID plate on the inside of the back door and say automatic upload to Facebook. That tends to be very influential as they do also understand the word viral and have seen enough examples to know it is not a good thing for them. One driver was upset to say the least and blurting out NO! No Facebook. The others expressed a big change in demeanor when Facebook was mentioned. And yes my windows 8 phone automatically uploads any photo I take to the cloud with GPS position so it is no lie when I say that.

I can see where tactics like this would work in many if not most cases of recalcitrant drivers. But I can also see where it might lead to a really unpleasant confrontation in the rare case... I try to get these questions settled (and almost always do without a problem) before I ever get in the taxi.

[guru]

Interestingly I put this to the test. A few weeks back I was returning from visiting a friend at Nana who was in town for a few weeks on holiday, I got in a taxi near the corner of soi 3. I told him I wanted to go to Ekamai and he refused citing he was waiting for an airport run. I told him no problem, I will just sit here until you are ready to do your job as I was in no particular hurry.

After about 45 minutes of him doing everything to get me out of his car including turning off the AC and playing Cookie Run for a long time, he eventually took me to my destination. He did not turn on the meter but I did pay him what the fare should have been. Needless to say no rewards for bad behavior is a universal fix.

I thought this was worthy of an update. Since I have made this original entry, I have encountered 11 taxies that did not want to take me to my desired destination. In the end all 11 took me to where I wanted to go and used the meter.

This was accomplished by simply refusing to get out of their taxi until they took me to where I wanted to go. So in short they were not going to make any money from anyone until they did their job. Also told them if meter was zero I paid zero.

In nearly all the cases the driver regressed to acting like a 2 year old having a tantrum. It was actually fun to watch as they simply could not get their way and cried and whined. In 2 cases the driver expressed concern about police check points but for the most part darting down some Soi to avoid that was the work around.

The trick is to stay calm and in control while they lose it in their tantrum. Also just take a photo of the ID plate on the inside of the back door and say automatic upload to Facebook. That tends to be very influential as they do also understand the word viral and have seen enough examples to know it is not a good thing for them. One driver was upset to say the least and blurting out NO! No Facebook. The others expressed a big change in demeanor when Facebook was mentioned. And yes my windows 8 phone automatically uploads any photo I take to the cloud with GPS position so it is no lie when I say that.

You are playing a dangerous game which just isn't worth it. Didn't you ever hear about that psycho taxi driver killing that poor American guy with a sword?