Purpose of taxi rank at Swampy?

[UKJASE]

What is the purpose of the taxi stands outside at the airport. i assumed they were to get the best price for customers, and to ensure a smooth start to their visit

my wife and i arrived the other night, and went to the stand. i queued up (it wasnt busy) and one of the ladies asked where i was going. I said hua hin, and she said the price was 2600B

this seemed excessive to me, and i told her we normally paid around 1500 - 1800 baht. she turned up her nose and said it couldnt be done. i then approached another woman at the next stand along, and she quoted me the same price of "2600 baht"

i said it was too much, and asked her if i could ask the drivers directly for a price. she turned up her nose in a similar fashion to her colleague, and i approached the line of taxi drivers that were waiting for a fare, and asked if they would take me to hua hin. they asked "how much you pay"

i said we would pay 1800 baht, and two quickly stood forward in the line, whilst one was a bit quicker to open his mouth than the other, and he said he would do it

he took me the 5 meters back to the lady at the taxi stand, so he could get his ticket, or sign onto a form, or whatever it is they do. the turned-up-nose-lady said to him "you are not taking him to hua hin for 1500 baht are you!?" and he said "no, 1800 baht"

to that she said "fair enough, 1800 baht is ok" or words to similar effect, and signed his paper, and we headed to the taxi

this got me thinking as to what is the purpose of the taxi stand. it is obvious from my experience that it is not to get the best price for the visitor. so must it be to get the best price for the taxi driver? if this is the case, why do they want to get the customer of the airport to pay over the odds? do they get some sort of kick back from the fare at a later date?

anyway, taxi driver was cool, and dropped us in hua hin happy with his 1800 baht fare

[rak sa_ngop]

If you are talking about the Public Taxi stands, I believe their purpose is to record the registration numbers of the taxis they assign to you. So that when you get robbed or raped they can track down the offending culprit.

I didn't think they normally negotiate prices, but then I have never caught one to take me outside Bangkok. I just pay the meter fee plus expressway fees plus 50 baht for the airport service.

[krisb]

Its to keep the fake scamming taxi drivers away.

I agree the price being set not by the driver is not cool, unfair even, and no one elses business.

Talking of taxi lineups, worst would be at Don Muang. Just awful, maybe we just get there at the wrong times but compared to Suvvi its bad.

[mikebell]

The girls are up to no good; they forced an extra large taxi on to us (4 adults + luggage) at a premium price yet we managed easily on our outbound journey with a normal sized cab.

[RT85]

i totally agree...

this was after the martial law thing happened.. and then the news said they would be enforcing controls at the airport to better provide to tourists etc..

i live here in bkk and my wife is thai... on our trip back.. the counter girl sent us to this taxi guy who simply REFUSED to go by meter..

despite speaking thai to him.. he kept insisting his price was fair.... he quoted just over a 100 baht more than it normally cost us by meter...

i was tired.. and could not really be bothered.. so i just say... kor dai kor dai..

where was the enforcement? i still hear of horror stories at the airports today... this is quite disappointing really.

Edited September 6, 2014 by RT85