Taxi drivers likely refuse to turn on meters in 8 spots across Bangkok

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

If they cracked down on sukhumvit vendors between Soi 3 to 15 maybe I will get to walk on the sidewalk for the first time.

[firestar]

14 years taking taxis in BKK only once did he not put the meter. sure around soi4, soi11 or late at night you'll have a cluster but I remember going out in London and mini cabs doing exactly the same.

The people crying out for "regulations" will be the same moaning they have to wait hours for a cab or pay x times more if all rules where followed.

Edited August 26, 2014 by firestar

[IAMSOBAD]

I have never had this problem, but I hear about it often.

I understand that the taxi drivers need to follow the laws, etc., but it's hard not to have sympathy when I consider how little they make.

Er, before I get flamed: I'm not justifying their actions, just saying that many are in a bad situation and are understandably driven to trying to rip people off.

And of course there are jackasses out there as well who will just rip anyone off for the sake of doing it...

Yeah...Poor taxi drivers need money for yaba so they can get high and machete their greedy farang cheapskate passengers over 5 Baht.

[anon7867763]

Pretty much same for Falang as Thai , only Thais dont see it as an outrage , they just move on and get another taxi.the places they mention are all stationary taxis.keep to the rule , only get a moving taxi and no problem.

[firestar]

Soi 11 is worst than any place in BKK. I volunteer to be one of the UNDERCOVER FOREIGN OPERATIVES as I am sure every member of TVF would also. Let us help fix all the broken parts. We live here and could be of so much help.

You have the proper visa to do that work? The proper authorizations? If not you are not an "undercover foreign operative" simply breaking the law and a SNITCH.

[Local Drunk]

Well, I reckon that about 50% of the time the chap manipulating the controls bears no relationship to the mugshot on the dashboard, apart from the fact that they both come from Buriram of course!

I live in taxis... Your spot on about that.

[longtom]

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Include Pratunam/Platinum Dept store area in the list.

Again? Once is not enough?

The eight spots in Bangkok including the aforementioned three are Yaowarat Road, Future Park Rangsit mall, Mochit terminals, Platinum shopping complex, Patunam and the temple of the Emerald Buddha.

[shaurene]

Many times I have stayed in the Ambassador Hotel in Soi 11 and want a taxi to Swampy airport but none of them would turn the metre on. Ass holes.

[Local Drunk]

Never had a problem with taxis not using meter in Bangkok . Except one time , in the silom area late at night. Then I had to walk to a nearby soi and the taxis were back using meter again.

So this is onlly a problem in the tourist areas.

It tends to be that way, but they also tend to do the same things to Thais. Many Thais also face this problem.

One of my Thai engineering students offered a great solution for this problem. He said "Always open the back door to talk to the driver. If a driver refuses to take you, then close the door ever so gently so it's still partially ajar. That way the driver has get out to close it." Another student got the better of him... "Leave the F****** door wide open!"

[JAG]

'From September 30, police will toughen the rule on driving without a proper license to operate public vehicles.'

Erm.....why the delay?

So that thoae without the required permits have a few days to nip down to Ko San Road and pick one up of course!

[DrLom]

SUKHUMVIT SOI 4, 5, 11 ARE FULL OF THIEVING TAXI drivers that wait aĺl day to find a sucker tourist!

You're into dark skinned farangs then?

[Carrerakiss]

'From September 30, police will toughen the rule on driving without a proper license to operate public vehicles.'

Erm.....why the delay?

You have to ask for the year...

They won't actually do anything on 30th Sept. It just happens to be a date that is close enough to seem like action is or will be taken, and far enough away that everybody will have forgotten the commitment when the day comes around.

[Carrerakiss]

Never had a problem with taxis not using meter in Bangkok . Except one time , in the silom area late at night. Then I had to walk to a nearby soi and the taxis were back using meter again.

So this is onlly a problem in the tourist areas.

It tends to be that way, but they also tend to do the same things to Thais. Many Thais also face this problem.

One of my Thai engineering students offered a great solution for this problem. He said "Always open the back door to talk to the driver. If a driver refuses to take you, then close the door ever so gently so it's still partially ajar. That way the driver has get out to close it." Another student got the better of him... "Leave the F****** door wide open!"

Beware of the machete in the back then. Personally I prefer to avoid confrontational experiments with unknown Thais

[scorecard]

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Ahhh dear my mates, no-one has any idea about taxi business.

These (rented) cars are used 24 hours by

- lessee WHO HAS A LICENSE AND TAXI PERMIT ALWAYS cause these have to attach to the rental contract,

AND

- his son, nephew, brother, father, grandson, grandpa, neighbor, brother in law, friend, .... who-ever etc.

When police has caught a driver without permission, this doesn't mean at all the car is without permission also, just they caught the son, nephew, brother .....

As said, 99% of the vehicles are not owned by the drivers.

'Officially' they are owned by 'taxi cooperatives'.

In reality they are not cooperatives at all. The vehicles are owned by Thai families and / or Thai companies (very often owning several thousand vehicles).

In many instances the 'owners' are not much more than mafia, gouging the renters for every baht possible, and making no attempt whatever to ensure drivers (renters) have appropriate licenses, insurance, etc.

For decades nobody attempted to try to control / punish the owners, because they were all very well connected and were untouchable.

It seems to still continue - punish the renters but no mention of controlling the vehicles owners.

[Killian30]

Also the Thais are complaining around these areas cause the taxis don't want to take them as they can made more money of the tourist that is lost.

[IAMSOBAD]

Soi 11 is worst than any place in BKK. I volunteer to be one of the UNDERCOVER FOREIGN OPERATIVES as I am sure every member of TVF would also. Let us help fix all the broken parts. We live here and could be of so much help.

You have the proper visa to do that work? The proper authorizations? If not you are not an "undercover foreign operative" simply breaking the law and a SNITCH.

Dude....do you know sarcasm?

And if I was an udercover working for the cops...don't you think they would do it right?

Lame

[landslide]

Include Pratunam/Platinum Dept store area in the list.

I believe they did.

[sscsamui]

The Taxi's on Koh Samui Never use the meters... When is someone coming to Samui to put a Stop to the Taxi Mafia????

[GeorgeO]

Soi 11 is worst than any place in BKK. I volunteer to be one of the UNDERCOVER FOREIGN OPERATIVES as I am sure every member of TVF would also. Let us help fix all the broken parts. We live here and could be of so much help.

I would wager that the worst place of all is Silom, and yet it gets no mention here...!

[SMSinBangkok]

This news just makes my day.

I like to rattle off the 4 digit taxi number in Thai now while I grab my phone and pretend I'm dialing in a complaint. In the last month or so I've had 2 or 3 see me do this and say "OK, OK". I turn my head up a bit and smile, saying..., "sai guun bai...., mai dai" (too late..., cannot).

Made a couple of them squirm.

Hehehehehhe, made my day. I took a photo of your post on my mobile, so I will remember what to say to my next taxi driver. Thanks!

Best regards

Martin

[atyclb]

How about electrifying(cattle prod) all the taxi driver seats and put the on switch in the back seat accessible to the passenger.

[Malthus101]

Who would want to be a taxi driver in Bangkok though? Stuck in traffic jams all day, it must be excruciating for them.

I wouldn't pick up a passenger if they wanted to take me right back into an area where I'd just spent 2 hours trying to get out of, all for like 40 baht! No &lt;deleted&gt; way.

[SMSinBangkok]

Never had a problem with taxis not using meter in Bangkok . Except one time , in the silom area late at night. Then I had to walk to a nearby soi and the taxis were back using meter again.

So this is onlly a problem in the tourist areas.

It tends to be that way, but they also tend to do the same things to Thais. Many Thais also face this problem.

One of my Thai engineering students offered a great solution for this problem. He said "Always open the back door to talk to the driver. If a driver refuses to take you, then close the door ever so gently so it's still partially ajar. That way the driver has get out to close it." Another student got the better of him... "Leave the F****** door wide open!"

I did this two months ago. I was with a thai girlfriend (read prostitute). We were on Sukhumvit between soi 4 and soi 7. I left the back door wide open after he refused to put on the meter. Hehehe, he could not do anything right there, but he drove slowly beside up up Sukhumvit for about 50 meters and showed me the finger amd his fist through his open front window.

Had a good laugh, though my "girl" looked worried...

[RichardThailand]

Try uber.com Impossible for them to not use the meter as your journey is tracked with GPS and charged automatically to a credit card. The last time I used uber in BKK my driver arrived in a black suit, luxury Camry, he was polite never complained and my journey was cheaper than a taxi.

If you never yet tried uber then you have seriously missed out. Best thing to happen in Thailand ever !

Edited August 26, 2014 by RichardThailand

[Ashto]

Tonight about 10.45pm I sat in a cafe on Soi Sri Bamphen in Sathorn and watched two Thai guys, one a friend of mine, get turned down by three taxis and accepted by the fourth. I couldn't hear their requests but their body language remained courteous throughout. It looked like it was a pretty routine experience to them.

So far this visit to Bangkok of two weeks I've been accepted by the first taxi each time and none have required to be asked to use the meter. Has the crack down had an effect? No idea.

Obviously these are anecdotes not surveys and have made me cautious about drawing general conclusions from them or other anecdotes.

[sjaak327]

Try uber.com Impossible for them to not use the meter as your journey is tracked with GPS and charged automatically to a credit card. The last time I used uber in BKK my driver arrived in a black suit, luxury Camry, he was polite never complained and my journey was cheaper than a taxi.

If you never yet tried uber then you have seriously missed out. Best thing to happen in Thailand ever !

Never tried it, but I have looked at their website, and it seems the prices they do quote are quite a bit higher than the prices you would normally pay on the meter. Got quoted 133-163 baht between Silom and Corner Suk-RamaIV, which normally would be around 60-70 baht.

[pisico]

I don't go often in the Khao San Road area nowadays, but I was there a few weeks ago because one of my cousin was visiting Bangkok with his girlfriend and had chosen to stay there a couple of days.

From there, we once wanted to go to the Hua Lamphong Railway Station. We had to stop more than a dozen of cabs before finding one that accepts to turn the meter on. The regular cost is around 60 baht, but it seems that more than 90% of the taxi drivers ask to be paid a fixed amount of 200 baht for this fare, trying to take advantage of tourists and other foreigners.

I'm a Westerner but I speak decent enough Thai to give correct directions to the taxi drivers. I haven't had this kind of problem for a long time elsewhere in Bangkok and was quite surprised by the amplitude of this phenomenon around KSR!

Bus 53 on Thanon Phra Athit will take you to the train terminal. Nice interesting ride too. Near the flower market there is a change of buses. It is just a matter of getting out of the bus and get in the other parked in front waiting to take off. No extra charge

[Gringogazzer]

Soi 11 is worst than any place in BKK. I volunteer to be one of the UNDERCOVER FOREIGN OPERATIVES as I am sure every member of TVF would also. Let us help fix all the broken parts. We live here and could be of so much help.

You would trust the police not to sell on your identity to a mob of disgruntled Thai taxi drivers stung by a farang of all people?

Taxi drivers have never worried me, the police however, I go all out to avoid.

Khao San Rd is the worst place for non use of the metre and often 4/5 times the fee asked. ฿200 for a ฿50 ride to Phaya Thai.

Sometimes I ask them just to laugh then walk a couple of roads down.

[Killian30]

14 years taking taxis in BKK only once did he not put the meter. sure around soi4, soi11 or late at night you'll have a cluster but I remember going out in London and mini cabs doing exactly the same.

The people crying out for "regulations" will be the same moaning they have to wait hours for a cab or pay x times more if all rules where followed.

"14 years taking taxis in BKK only once did he not put the meter."

Where are you getting these Taxis from? Cause in the central areas and around Tourist areas, shopping centers this is a big problem, not only for Farang but for Thais also.

[Geordie59]

This will be unpopular but......if they allowed them to increase the price a bit they would be more likely to use the meters.

To say they are already too expensive for many Thai people......that applies in many countries and is the reason they have busses.