Taxi forced to use a meters now adding fare surcharges in Samui

[notmyself]

since the running costs for a taxi are generally the same throughout Thailand, the fare structure should be same whether is it in Bangkok or anywhere else

Except there are no long trips which is where good money is made.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/731983-taxi-mafia/page-4

We may see drivers refusing fares because they are so short which I believe is also illegal.

The whole point of flagfalls and surcharges is to make shorter trips more profitable. If taxis are getting 100 baht just for you stepping into the taxi they are going to be quite happy with short trips.

Aye, a lot will obviously depend on an increase in trips. Most stationary taxis are part of a group and are subject to using a list for who gets the next fare. Take one small job on and then they are at the bottom of the list. If there is a huge increase in taxi use then it will not be an issue but if not....

[pokerspiv]

I'm sure that taxi companies are capable of working out a better method than a simple list if they wanted to. The point is that under the current cartel they have no incentive at all to improve efficiency or business practices.

[lom]

They all run on LPG. The stations that sell LPG in Lipa Noi and Near Big C do not sell anything else, they are dedicated LPG stations. If they stopped selling LPG for a few years then they must have been on holidays, because they don't sell anything else. The LPG station near Big C was only constructed about 6 months ago, so I am pretty sure you are thinking of the wrong places.

Mr know-it-all-samui, it is prolly better you ask a taxi driver how many of the 600++ taxis on Samui he thinks run on LPG.

Here are just two links I googled up:

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?21450-Samui-gets-taxis-with-meters

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/190940-lpg-gas-station/

[limbos]

A point to consider - unless I am mistaken not many of the drivers own the vehicle - they have to pay a fixed amount to their generous employer before they take the vehicle out each day.

Pity the driver - the poor sod takes all the flack from us while the real low-life scum is faceless and nameless...

I agree with Smokie - more people would use them if the fares were realistic.

Many drivers are not Samui locals. It's a business they get into with the promise of high returns supposedly.As you said the real culprit remains faceless.

Nevertheless they are a tool in an illegal operation / action, so sure they get the flak. I am sure they get into the business with eyes wide open.

Bottom line greed & Laziness.

Couldn't agree more on both points....your average Samui taxi driver wants to sit around relaxing in the shade all day and do no more than a couple of runs around town maybe making 1k Baht a day it seems.

Its a racket really....and criminal activity....I'm surprised so few Samui residents don't see it for what it truly is...but familiarity bred contempt a long time ago and most prefer to drive their own vehicles around drunk at night with associated risks rather than pay the prices.

Its understandable but a vicious circle.

Who says local Samuians don't see it for it is? My father in law used to be daytime song thaew driver and there were massive protests a few years back, against issuing more metered taxi licenses, all to no avail. eventually he sold his song thaew and is renting out the license.

[limbos]

Cancel the license of any Taxi driver in the country that does not use the meter properly, take off the road any taxi displaying signage that extra fees must be paid (except in case of tollway fees).

Up until now, the taxis on samui have been more powerful than any of the so called authorities. Let us see if that has changed now. Sure hope so. One can always hold out hope that things can improve on samui. The thought sometimes defies the imagination. Samui. The land of no progress. Samui may be the least progressive place on earth.

My guess is that unless you have a soldier ride with you, you are still very likely to be scammed...

Most of the tourists arriving at the airport are blissfully unaware of TV, and the history of taxi problems. The last thing they want is to get into a dispute on their first day on holiday and the charges are not astronomic when converting to EUR, or USD.

Only those with local knowledge object, it's no wonder they have pushed their luck for so long.

What is happening now at arrivals is also ridiculous, mini vans pay to be able to 'stand by', and block all the short, 15 minute, parking spaces at arrivals, even parking double. Sometimes parking spots are available but are blocked by double parked mini vans. Not to forget the white Toyota 'normal' cars that double park and usually belong to Korean entrepreneurs.

Whenever I mention this to the parking guy or local BKK Air staff, they agree it's not right but can't change anything. Last time I was asked to complain with BKK Air via their website by BKK Air staff. There's nothing the ground staff can do, someone is pulling the strings and making extra money there.

These mini vans are not waiting in line/at the same place with the other mini vans and airport taxi services, located in-between arrivals and departures.

[spidermike007]

Cancel the license of any Taxi driver in the country that does not use the meter properly, take off the road any taxi displaying signage that extra fees must be paid (except in case of tollway fees).

Up until now, the taxis on samui have been more powerful than any of the so called authorities. Let us see if that has changed now. Sure hope so. One can always hold out hope that things can improve on samui. The thought sometimes defies the imagination. Samui. The land of no progress. Samui may be the least progressive place on earth.

My guess is that unless you have a soldier ride with you, you are still very likely to be scammed...

Most of the tourists arriving at the airport are blissfully unaware of TV, and the history of taxi problems. The last thing they want is to get into a dispute on their first day on holiday and the charges are not astronomic when converting to EUR, or USD.

Only those with local knowledge object, it's no wonder they have pushed their luck for so long.

What is happening now at arrivals is also ridiculous, mini vans pay to be able to 'stand by', and block all the short, 15 minute, parking spaces at arrivals, even parking double. Sometimes parking spots are available but are blocked by double parked mini vans. Not to forget the white Toyota 'normal' cars that double park and usually belong to Korean entrepreneurs.

Whenever I mention this to the parking guy or local BKK Air staff, they agree it's not right but can't change anything. Last time I was asked to complain with BKK Air via their website by BKK Air staff. There's nothing the ground staff can do, someone is pulling the strings and making extra money there.

These mini vans are not waiting in line/at the same place with the other mini vans and airport taxi services, located in-between arrivals and departures.

So typical. Samui is lawless. There is nobody controlling anything. That is why we are hopeful the Junta takes some action and brings some order to the chaos and mindlessness that is Samui. The police will not, and cannot address this, as the taxi and mini van operators are more powerful than the police, with the way things are currently structured. Come to think of it, the cashiers at Tesco, are more powerful than the police in Samui. A joke of course. But, not funny. A complete lack of law and order is not a pretty thing. Corruption is never a pretty thing. When BA cannot, or will not do anything you know there is alot of dough changing hands.

[notmyself]

Who says local Samuians don't see it for it is? My father in law used to be daytime song thaew driver and there were massive protests a few years back, against issuing more metered taxi licenses, all to no avail. eventually he sold his song thaew and is renting out the license.

So licences are issued for use in a certain geographical area? I understood this to be the case for many years but was told not too long back that while Samui does issue licences, a licence issued from anywhere in Thailand is fine although you need to register as operating on Samui.

[pokerspiv]

They all run on LPG. The stations that sell LPG in Lipa Noi and Near Big C do not sell anything else, they are dedicated LPG stations. If they stopped selling LPG for a few years then they must have been on holidays, because they don't sell anything else. The LPG station near Big C was only constructed about 6 months ago, so I am pretty sure you are thinking of the wrong places.

Mr know-it-all-samui, it is prolly better you ask a taxi driver how many of the 600++ taxis on Samui he thinks run on LPG.

Here are just two links I googled up:

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?21450-Samui-gets-taxis-with-meters

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/190940-lpg-gas-station/

Your links are 6 years out of date.

I don't need google to tell me how many taxis are LPG, I have looked at the actual taxis. They all have LPG stickers on them.

If you are going to argue against perfectly uncontroversial facts, at least have the good sense not to use 6 year old information as the basis for your argument.

I own a car that runs on LPG. There are 2 LPG stations in Samui that I know of. 1 is in Lipa Noi, the other just on the Bophut side of BigC on the opposite side of the road. I have been to both of them this month. You have literally no idea what you are talking about and are relying on Google and don't even have the nous to read the dates of the "information" you are linking to.

[pokerspiv]

So typical. Samui is lawless. There is nobody controlling anything. That is why we are hopeful the Junta takes some action and brings some order to the chaos and mindlessness that is Samui. The police will not, and cannot address this, as the taxi and mini van operators are more powerful than the police, with the way things are currently structured. Come to think of it, the cashiers at Tesco, are more powerful than the police in Samui. A joke of course. But, not funny. A complete lack of law and order is not a pretty thing. Corruption is never a pretty thing. When BA cannot, or will not do anything you know there is alot of dough changing hands.

Samui airport is the private property of Bangkok Airways, they can make whatever parking regulations they like.

[spidermike007]

So typical. Samui is lawless. There is nobody controlling anything. That is why we are hopeful the Junta takes some action and brings some order to the chaos and mindlessness that is Samui. The police will not, and cannot address this, as the taxi and mini van operators are more powerful than the police, with the way things are currently structured. Come to think of it, the cashiers at Tesco, are more powerful than the police in Samui. A joke of course. But, not funny. A complete lack of law and order is not a pretty thing. Corruption is never a pretty thing. When BA cannot, or will not do anything you know there is alot of dough changing hands.

Samui airport is the private property of Bangkok Airways, they can make whatever parking regulations they like.

They are leasing the land from the government, from what I understand. They are still under govt. supervision. Money does not make you above the law, does it? So let me get this right. They have a monopoly on the airport, so they can do as they please? And the public good is never a consideration? I rest my case, in regard to my former statement about Samui.

[pokerspiv]

They are leasing the land from the government, from what I understand. They are still under govt. supervision. Money does not make you above the law, does it? So let me get this right. They have a monopoly on the airport, so they can do as they please? And the public good is never a consideration? I rest my case, in regard to my former statement about Samui.

Yes, that is kind of the definition of private property. Being able to decide the parking policy on your own private property is kind of standard. Shopping centres do it, hospitals do it, schools do it, airports do it.

You might not like the parking policy at Samui airport, but that doesn't make it illegal. Privately owned airports are unusual, but that doesn't mean they have to do whatever you like.

[spidermike007]

They are leasing the land from the government, from what I understand. They are still under govt. supervision. Money does not make you above the law, does it? So let me get this right. They have a monopoly on the airport, so they can do as they please? And the public good is never a consideration? I rest my case, in regard to my former statement about Samui.

Yes, that is kind of the definition of private property. Being able to decide the parking policy on your own private property is kind of standard. Shopping centres do it, hospitals do it, schools do it, airports do it.

You might not like the parking policy at Samui airport, but that doesn't make it illegal. Privately owned airports are unusual, but that doesn't mean they have to do whatever you like.

The simple fact alone that they would allow a private airport, subject to these kinds of abuses, is proof of extreme indifference the govt. has towards Samui. And yes, I do not like it. It is a dereliction of duty on the part of the govt.

[pokerspiv]

They are leasing the land from the government, from what I understand. They are still under govt. supervision. Money does not make you above the law, does it? So let me get this right. They have a monopoly on the airport, so they can do as they please? And the public good is never a consideration? I rest my case, in regard to my former statement about Samui.

Yes, that is kind of the definition of private property. Being able to decide the parking policy on your own private property is kind of standard. Shopping centres do it, hospitals do it, schools do it, airports do it.

You might not like the parking policy at Samui airport, but that doesn't make it illegal. Privately owned airports are unusual, but that doesn't mean they have to do whatever you like.

The simple fact alone that they would allow a private airport, subject to these kinds of abuses, is proof of extreme indifference the govt. has towards Samui. And yes, I do not like it. It is a dereliction of duty on the part of the govt.

The fact that Samui is not completely under government control is part of the reason why we like it here. If you love governments so much, why not go live in a country with a more effective one, like Sweden or North Korea? North Korea in particular would be a great place for someone who thinks that we must ask the government for permission for everything.

[notmyself]

So typical. Samui is lawless. There is nobody controlling anything. That is why we are hopeful the Junta takes some action and brings some order to the chaos and mindlessness that is Samui. The police will not, and cannot address this, as the taxi and mini van operators are more powerful than the police, with the way things are currently structured. Come to think of it, the cashiers at Tesco, are more powerful than the police in Samui. A joke of course. But, not funny. A complete lack of law and order is not a pretty thing. Corruption is never a pretty thing. When BA cannot, or will not do anything you know there is alot of dough changing hands.

I disagree with 'lawless', 'nobody controlling anything', 'chaos and mindlessness' and 'complete lack of law and order'. Crime rates are low and life generally goes on in a somewhat disorderly manner which is not unusual in SE Asia.

Anywhere you go will have glitches or perceived glitches. Samui has been left alone or somewhat abandoned for a long time because it generates a lot of cash but also because it just seems to get along without much intervention by the government/s. It is for the most part just left alone to run itself which it appears to do quite well. Aside from the taxi issue, the only other serious beef would be within the pinned Bangkok airways rant thread.

My prediction if this regulation is stuck to is that we will see a drastic reduction in the number of taxis rather than an increase in fares large enough to sustain the current fleet. Should this happen then it may boost (to some degree) the number of residents who go out to socialize but have their own vehicle.

[samuijimmy]

I have made my point before on other taxi threads.... were as some do try to rip people off, not all of them do

anyway I am out of here on this one, (at least for today!) you guys get on and babble away ..... but .... just

[oldsailor35]

Never ever tip a taxi driver who refuses to use the meter.

[oldsailor35]

I agree with Smokie - more people would use them if the fares were realistic.

How many more?

Well, there are two of us already

Plus 1

[Tao Diver]

Does Samui have CNG?

Taxis run on LPG here.

Sure about that, have they all converted?

It is not many years ago that no petrol station carried LPG.

The petrol stations still don't have it there is a separate filling station for LPG

[Tchooptip]

I agree with Smokie - more people would use them if the fares were realistic.

How many more?

[robsamui]

There is one aspect which nobody has noted. The meters themselves.

On the mainland the meters are installed by DLT-approved fitters and are checked and set to match the government requirements. Meters can be easily re-calibrated and so there are periodic checks and fines to monitor this.

On Samui right now we have the 50 baht charge to step into the car, plus another 50 baht surcharge for . . . whatever. And as Rooo has mentioned it as yet remains to be seen if this will be 50B a car or 50B per person.

And then the taxis will all run around with their happy-meter lights glowing brightly - but set at whatever price per kilometre the Samui taxi maffia have agreed privately among themselves. It might be 30 baht per click. Or 50 baht. Or anything they damn well want.

One this is totally certain - taxis here will not cost less because of this. And what's the betting that after dark the meter goes off and it's back to a negotiated fare again?

And it will be the last dying days of the Wild West if it ever happens that we see the government rates posted on each taxi. But it will happen one day!

[limbos]

Who says local Samuians don't see it for it is? My father in law used to be daytime song thaew driver and there were massive protests a few years back, against issuing more metered taxi licenses, all to no avail. eventually he sold his song thaew and is renting out the license.

So licences are issued for use in a certain geographical area? I understood this to be the case for many years but was told not too long back that while Samui does issue licences, a licence issued from anywhere in Thailand is fine although you need to register as operating on Samui.

Not sure on that, I would need to follow up.

[limbos]

Who says local Samuians don't see it for it is? My father in law used to be daytime song thaew driver and there were massive protests a few years back, against issuing more metered taxi licenses, all to no avail. eventually he sold his song thaew and is renting out the license.

So licences are issued for use in a certain geographical area? I understood this to be the case for many years but was told not too long back that while Samui does issue licences, a licence issued from anywhere in Thailand is fine although you need to register as operating on Samui.

Why bother than having signs stating that the max parking time is 15 minutes?

BKK Air usually has things rather well organized, this doesn't somehow make sense and staff seem to make the impression that it may not be a BKK Air sanctioned action. Although the latter seems rather unlikely. Who knows.

[evadgib]

Recent observations:

1. Taxi's seen driving @ night were displaying their 'John Inman' lights ("I'm free!" )

2. A motorcyclist was for the first time seen by night recently wearing a bright yellow high vis vest. I could see him at least 300m to my front, even in bad street lighting. I hope this was as a direct result of the attention to road safety by RAK.

3. The oval yellow sticker at the bottom of the taxi door in the photo in the OP seems to be a 24hr complaints hotline #1584. Curiously the writing is in Thai & rather small, whereas the surcharge sign appears only in English and in much bigger lettering....

Just my 2p

[Traveling Sailor]

I agree with Smokie - more people would use them if the fares were realistic.

How many more?

Well, there are two of us already

Make it 3!

[Traveling Sailor]

since the running costs for a taxi are generally the same throughout Thailand, the fare structure should be same whether is it in Bangkok or anywhere else

Except there are no long trips which is where good money is made.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/731983-taxi-mafia/page-4

We may see drivers refusing fares because they are so short which I believe is also illegal.

The whole point of flagfalls and surcharges is to make shorter trips more profitable. If taxis are getting 100 baht just for you stepping into the taxi they are going to be quite happy with short trips.

Not on Samui! These crooks aren't happy unless they're soaking you for 500 baht to go anywhere on the island, 600 if it is after dark. Nothing but a ripoff!

[pokerspiv]

since the running costs for a taxi are generally the same throughout Thailand, the fare structure should be same whether is it in Bangkok or anywhere else

Except there are no long trips which is where good money is made.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/731983-taxi-mafia/page-4

We may see drivers refusing fares because they are so short which I believe is also illegal.

The whole point of flagfalls and surcharges is to make shorter trips more profitable. If taxis are getting 100 baht just for you stepping into the taxi they are going to be quite happy with short trips.

Not on Samui! These crooks aren't happy unless they're soaking you for 500 baht to go anywhere on the island, 600 if it is after dark. Nothing but a ripoff!

Super post. Until now, none of us knew taxis were so expensive here. Archiving this.

[robsamui]

I agree with Smokie - more people would use them if the fares were realistic.

How many more?

Well, there are two of us already

Make it 3!

You only have to read some of the replies here and elsewhere - they begin with . . ."but in my country this is just so cheap!"

And that's the problem.

As long as tourists come here - even only one every month - with this in their heads, the taxi lottery will be waiting to catch the one they can hit the jackpot with.

R

[robsamui]

POKERSPIV -

"Üntil now none of us knew that taxis were so expensive"?

None of you who exactly!?

Anyone who has lived here for more than one week has already been able to work this one out without the need of social media confirmation.

Just check my photo above of the legal set government rates. Then archive it also.

Ir SHOULD cost 65 baht to travel 7 kilometres. It costs this all over Thailand. But on Samui it's 500 baht.

Pop it up on UR FaceBk page with lots of !!!!!!!!!!! and maybe a LOLOLOL or two.

R

OK OK attention span modification- here it is again so it's right in your face. This is the law as is applied to all of the Kingdom of Thailand. Except for . . .?

[pokerspiv]

POKERSPIV -

"Üntil now none of us knew that taxis were so expensive"?

None of you who exactly!?

Anyone who has lived here for more than one week has already been able to work this one out without the need of social media confirmation.

You are terrible at detecting irony. The sign of an inferior intellect.

[evadgib]

Never ever tip a taxi driver who refuses to use the meter.

Better still don't get in until the use of meter has been confirmed. If you're already in get out before the journey starts or at the nearest junction.