Thai taxi drivers explain why they reject you

[Old Man River]

Hey, I'd gladly pay more if it meant the service was reliable.

Even if the State raises all fares, there will still be taxi drivers who 'cherry pick' destinations and/or try to finagle a higher fee.

The customers, who support taxis by their patronage, are the last people the taxi driver should complain about. He should be complaining about his true problems: government and mafia.

Taxi drivers, like others, are learning that with the current government working tirelessly to achieve reconciliation, if you complain publicly against others (not the government) you have a better chance of getting your way. They took care of Uber's competition quickly.

[casualbiker]

Sorry lads and lasses.You took the job you should be aware of the problems.

Let's be fair a number of these taxi's are better described as fecal matter on wheels, drivers who don't have a clue as where they are going and a number of them are no more than cheap pimps for the sex trade.

However to be fair it is a minority of these taxi drivers those categories..,

Most of them "took the job" years and decades ago, when fares were a reasonable reflection of the costs and remuneration expectations.

They've seen costs go up. Costs of fuel. Costs of the cars. Cost of feeding their family. Cost of real estate to live in. Costs of sending their kids to decent schools.

When was their last significant fare increase?

2012 and now December 2014 (edit. Seems like not December probably January 2015. Report in newspaper today) Edited December 2, 2014 by casualbiker

[2fishin2]

I do not blame drivers who do not want to take you an , hour away and then have to come back empty probably to the area they know,

there have been times we drove that hour , the meter was 350 baht and the driver had to make his way back to the downtown area ,

Coming back is often a problem beause Taxi drivers on the outskirts of town do not want to go all the way back into the city they do not really know......

Give them a little more baht in town and traffic and a lot more say 10km from where you were picked up......

What part of its their <deleted> job dont you get? Do you think a taxi driver cares about you? Hell no they dont just the money they can make off you. The problem is that the government has their fingers in business. Hell they cant run their own country! And now the government and military are putting themselves more and more into daily life. If the thai people would take personal responsibility for business none of this would happen. But they are lazy and want someone else to do it for them while they sit back and reap the benefits of someone elses work. Its the story of corruption that is written about everyday. Its endemic in the culture. It will never go away until....

[gyrosman]

Every service industry in Thailand wishes to shake down tourist, grow up. Want better salary, you should of stayed in school and got an educaution like us tourist which can afford to travel. I've been in 48 countries and rarely seen Thai tourist because they don't have the money. Why can some people from the other 140 countries can afford to travel? Think about it!

[CarlTyson]

When I go to Bangkok, I stay at Suk Soi 20. It is impossible to get a taxi on Soi 20.

Tourists that refuse to be scammed, must trudge all the way up the Soi in the hot sun to Sukhumvit, to get a taxi.

The Soi has many taxies parked in front of hotels but they refuse to take a regular fare.

Fact is, they all pay the police for these prime tourist scam spots. This is a fact.

Every taxi parked outside every tourist hotel is paying the police.

They are not in the taxi business. They are professional tourist scammers that pose as taxi drivers, in cahoots with corrupt Thai police.

The police are directly benefitting from criminals targeting tourists. NICE.

Edited December 2, 2014 by CarlTyson

[sambum]

I don't think this give anyone a reason to be not polite.

Shaking the head and refusing with bad manner is a habit of many taxi drivers. Especially if it's raining and you have been looking for a taxi for the last hour or so.

In 12 years living in Bangkok, very few times I've encountered drivers who politely refused because was too much traffic or they had to bring the car back. Much respect to those few guys.

All the others... well, it looks like they are typically baby screaming "you are bad too! ..I'm gonna tell mom! "

Agree with the point re change of shift, if it's that time of day I fully understand a driver not wanting to head off in a different direction to his depot- and anyway I always plan when in Bkk (not too often luckily) to arrange my schedule to stay away from the shift change times. Solves my problem and reduces the stress levels.

How do you know, and how is average person expected to know the "shift change times"?

[sambum]

Agree with the point re change of shift, if it's that time of day I fully understand a driver not wanting to head off in a different direction to his depot

This would be ridiculously simple to solve; Same as they do in Singapore. The taxi driver puts a sign in his window that says "Changing Shift: Bedok" or wherever his depot is located. This way he can find a fare that is going his direction, and other potential passengers realize why he cannot take them where they want to go.

Might be a good idea !

That's fine if you know the areas of Bangkok, but I would imagine that a substantial number of people (and not just tourists) don't

[Artisi]

I don't think this give anyone a reason to be not polite.

Shaking the head and refusing with bad manner is a habit of many taxi drivers. Especially if it's raining and you have been looking for a taxi for the last hour or so.

In 12 years living in Bangkok, very few times I've encountered drivers who politely refused because was too much traffic or they had to bring the car back. Much respect to those few guys.

All the others... well, it looks like they are typically baby screaming "you are bad too! ..I'm gonna tell mom! "

Agree with the point re change of shift, if it's that time of day I fully understand a driver not wanting to head off in a different direction to his depot- and anyway I always plan when in Bkk (not too often luckily) to arrange my schedule to stay away from the shift change times. Solves my problem and reduces the stress levels.

How do you know, and how is average person expected to know the "shift change times"?

Ever heard of Google?

[sambum]

I don't think this give anyone a reason to be not polite.

Shaking the head and refusing with bad manner is a habit of many taxi drivers. Especially if it's raining and you have been looking for a taxi for the last hour or so.

In 12 years living in Bangkok, very few times I've encountered drivers who politely refused because was too much traffic or they had to bring the car back. Much respect to those few guys.

All the others... well, it looks like they are typically baby screaming "you are bad too! ..I'm gonna tell mom! "

Agree with the point re change of shift, if it's that time of day I fully understand a driver not wanting to head off in a different direction to his depot- and anyway I always plan when in Bkk (not too often luckily) to arrange my schedule to stay away from the shift change times. Solves my problem and reduces the stress levels.

How do you know, and how is average person expected to know the "shift change times"?

Ever heard of Google?

Good point - I'll try that now!

[Gonsalviz]

A taxi in BKK is the cheapest thing in Thailand. I can ride from Bang Bon to Suwannahphum for the measly sum of 500 baht.

In the states, that is what shows on the meter when you close the door.

[BKKdreaming]

Can we bitch about the bus drivers now !

for 8 baht I expect better service

and the Taxi drivers do not want to take Thais the other side of town in traffic either, its not like they are picking on the less than 1% of Falang customers

[zziffle]

"We don't reject passengers, we just reject your destination," the taxi admin wrote"

Classic twisted Thai logic.

"We earn THB100 from you, but do you know what we have to pay for it?"

Your Local Mafia Extortionist?

"Do you think it is worth our time?”

It had better be you lazy <deleted>. Or, get a real job.

"The status claims taxi drivers should be able to file complaints against bad customers."

More Classic twisted Thai logic.

The Thai really have a knack for endearing others with their Foot in The Mouth approach.

And they love to always blame the customer. Absolutely BIZARRE.

Minds of children...

The fact that this mindless, racist, sneering string of insults garnered 17 'likes' is a prime illustration of exactly what is wrong with ThaiVisa or, more precisely, a sizable portion of its regular posters.

[casualbiker]

"We don't reject passengers, we just reject your destination," the taxi admin wrote"

Classic twisted Thai logic.

"We earn THB100 from you, but do you know what we have to pay for it?"

Your Local Mafia Extortionist?

"Do you think it is worth our time?”

It had better be you lazy . Or, get a real job.

"The status claims taxi drivers should be able to file complaints against bad customers."

More Classic twisted Thai logic.

The Thai really have a knack for endearing others with their Foot in The Mouth approach.

And they love to always blame the customer. Absolutely BIZARRE.

Minds of children...

The fact that this mindless, racist, sneering string of insults garnered 17 'likes' is a prime illustration of exactly what is wrong with ThaiVisa or, more precisely, a sizable portion of its regular posters.

Or it's an impression got from living here for a number of years and having seen it first hand.. it really depends where you live I suppose. No major problems where I live BUT I have encountered a similar response in Bkk and Pattaya!

[natway09]

I will admit over the last 20 years I have been a bit of a taxi basher, some of it with good reason.

Not so much the meter guys but the ones parked outsde hotels, condos, mafia style set prices, who will not use their meter.

but I also think it is well overdue for a significant flag fall increase of at least 40%.

The tollway owners who are the rich upper class get their fare increases. eg

Tollway exit Muang thong Thani 25 to 35 now 45 in 4 years,= 80% increase & they stopped the taxis from getting 13% .

Lets call a spade a spade

[maidee]

and claiming that UBER or GRABTAXI is illegal

because that are willing drivers ...

why 1 out of so many cars is a taxi just driving around wanting a big fish and not just doing their job ?

they can always apply for a job in a factory for 3 small taxi fares per day

[casualbiker]

and claiming that UBER or GRABTAXI is illegal

because that are willing drivers ...

why 1 out of so many cars is a taxi just driving around wanting a big fish and not just doing their job ?

they can always apply for a job in a factory for 3 small taxi fares per day

Grabtaxi isn't illegal as they use.... registered taxis ...UBER don't, they don't even use registered limousines (green plate) cars.

[kennw]

You take your job good or bad, Taxis are a service business, what would happen if a waitress decided it was too far from the kitchen to bring your meal, The law says they have to accept the fare. Feel sorry for those who live in areas that are not popular. Wheel lock those taxis who wait in no parking areas and only accept no-meter tourists. Soi 4/6

[theslime]

The taxi wouldn,t take me to my destination, I solved this by asking another taxi to take me. In 26 years i haven,t walked to my destination after being refused, just ask another Taxi. too easy. My good looks might have something to do with it though, sorry for the rest of you who haven,t been as fortunate in life.

[BKKdreaming]

Grab Taxi is a joke too, maybe they come . maybe they don't and all of them tried to get a fixed price ......

was I just unlucky or going too far from Central BKK ?

[mercman24]

i have just read that UBER is valued at $40 billion wow, so much for "POOR" taxi drivers,

[casualbiker]

i have just read that UBER is valued at $40 billion wow, so much for "POOR" taxi drivers,

The taxi drivers are POOR. The UBER is not!

[mercman24]

ha ha what a stupid reply, if it wasn't a lucrative job how come there are so many of them ?

[casualbiker]

ha ha what a stupid reply, if it wasn't a lucrative job how come there are so many of them ?

Because it's easy and requires little skill.. a lot of taxi drivers rent their vehicles from the taxi associations. No doubt a long term taxi driver with brains will own their own vehicle and have a decent return but then that's the same in any job.. no?

[mercman24]

yes i live here,now tell me some news ?

[Tomtomtom69]

Let me see if I have this right. I fly into BKK and get a taxi. The driver is upset because my destination involves too much traffic. Like "I" am supposed to know BKK intimately enough to know the city's traffic flow? That makes me the bad guy?

Thais can take this face saving BS and put it where the sun don't shine! Along with the Chinese, Laotions, whomever else uses this "face saving" mentality to rule their lives. What a load of rubbish. I'm worn out about this whole concept.

Thais don't about you or anybody else but themselves. Self centered and selfish the lot of them. And don;t chime in about "I know a lot of Thais that are not this way." There are always exceptions, but the majority are this way.

If you cannot do your job as simple as driving a taxi is, then go do something else. Stop whining! And shut the f%$k up when I'm in your taxi. Your job is to drive and pay attention, not make stupid smalltalk.

I have no sympathy for these lame drivers. Buck up and do your job.

OK I don't want to sidetrack this discussion off topic, but the Chinese certainly do NOT rule their lives based on "saving face" in the way Thais do. Laotians, Cambodians and to some extent Burmese, do. Basically the Theravada Buddhist nations.

Case in point: the Chinese get physically angry (very often!) when they are upset about something, and don't care what others think. At the end of the day, if you're having an argument with a Chinese person you could still end up having a beer together. However, no way will you ever be able to get back on good terms with a Thai who you've quarreled with.

But I do have sympathy with your points, just not the way you have lumped other nations in with the Thais. I agree that Thais can be self-centered and almost always think they're right, can't take criticism and always want to save face, but not the Chinese and Vietnamese for example. Their cultures are quite different - face saving exists in those cultures but it is applied in different ways.

Just look at what happened on that Thai Air Asia flight from Bangkok-Don Muang to Nanjing last Thursday. A Chinese couple got into a hissy fit about not being seated together, finally they snapped, one of them threw hot water onto a flight attendant and threatened to kill herself, the male passenger threatened to blow up the plane (unlikely, as it was probably just an empty threat) before the flight had to turn around and go back to Don Muang where the passengers were arrested. Strangely though they were allowed to fly out again the next day.

The Thai flight attendants lost face, started crying etc. but the Chinese passengers involved didn't care.

There are worlds of difference in attitude between Thailand and China.

[Tomtomtom69]

Simple, just don't do the job.

There are arsh#les in every profession. You take good with the bad. If the metre says so much; more than happy to pay.

If service is exemplary I will tip?

I am not a walking ATM.

Tipping is not part of the culture in Thailand. It's acceptable to tip a little at a middle or upper class restaurant but even at the most extravagant places, the average tip I've seen from Thais was 20 Baht. Taxi drivers are not supposed to be tipped. If you want to hire someone for the day and tip him for good service, then that's all good and well, but as you say, tipping an ordinary driver just to do the job he was supposed to do in the first place makes that driver go "hey wait a minute, I think I'll stop picking up Thais and other cheap customers, now it's only going to be westerners!" and that makes it harder for the rest of us to pay the right price.

I know it sucks for the drivers that their fares have increased jack all over the years. They are deserving of a large fare increase, which still wouldn't be much for us or any other middle class Thai to absorb. But until that happens, they'll just have to suck it up and all we customers pay is what it says on the meter. Minor rounding up has always been the accepted practice here (for example, you pay 150 Baht for a 147 Baht fare) but that's about it.

[Tomtomtom69]

You have to admit, the taxi driver speaks the truth. Just saw a post where a farang was complaining about a 100 baht fare. Really.

i think it is because almost EVERY taxi in foreign countries must take you where you want to go. they can not say no. and they dont complain. many other cities in the world also have traffic too. (so foreigners expect this from any taxi because they used to it from their travelling around the world).

to tell the truth,, i live in Pratunam a VERY busy traffic area during the afternoon.

i often have to ask about 4 or 5 taxis before i finally get accepted. and usually I am going to sukhumvit or paragon or something.

i dont really understand why they say no (because EVERYWHERE in the area is busy around my home... if they go straight forward, left, right or u-turn... its ALL traffic).. so why say no to sukhumvit (less than 3 km) or paragon,, (just 2km). because no matter where they go, they will have traffic in my zone of bangkok.

its like a waiter in a restaurant not serving certain customers because he thinks they wont give him a good tip !!

the ONLY time I agree with Taxi Drivers is when they must finish their shift and return their car and they dont have time to take me. This is ok and fine.

but I disagree with taxi drivers that dont do their job. BUT: this is thailand... I see staff in department stores sleeping and picking their nose and squeezing their spots and chatting on the phone and ignoring customers! 5555

.. and when I ask for the location of a product in a department store or supermarket, the staff just point in the direction and they are lazy to walk with me to show me where is the product. so I understand that thai people are not the same as most other developed countries of the world. so with this knowledge of Thai staff, i can understand the taxi drivers. they just want an easy day. they dont want to do the hard part of their job. (so,, yes I understand).

i wonder how it will be when ASEAN community opens and hundreds of thousands of HARD WORKING Burma and Filipino people come to work here? i imagine that many employers will hire them,, and many thai people might lose their jobs.

what is your opinion ?

" i wonder how it will be when ASEAN community opens and hundreds of thousands of HARD WORKING Burma and Filipino people come to work here? i imagine that many employers will hire them,, and many thai people might lose their jobs."

It would be pointless to try to explain that to them. Sorry, going a bit off topic, but a similar situation is ongoing in the UK, and it is all due to the number of legal and illegal immigrants coming into the country. Who can blame an employer for taking on "foreigners/farangs" to do a job that a local either doesn't want or wants twice the wages for? And who can blame an employee for being upset for being replaced by a foreign worker who is doing his job for half the wages? Result - thousands of illegal immigrants working for peanuts, and thousands of legal immigrants being given millions of pounds in benefits because they can't get a job! To get back on topic, yes, I think that many Thai people will lose their jobs, I think that many Thai people have lost their jobs already. They are being/have been replaced by Burmese who are here illegally, and paying out millions of baht to corrupt officials who we hopefully are beginning to see being prosecuted for their part in a scam that once again will hopefully end when "ASEAN community opens". Then we will see the Thais on the streets with banners saying "Thai jobs for Thai people!"

Well it's not as bad as it sounds. First of all, AEC won't change much anyway, there won't suddenly be a ton of job vacancies for ASEAN nationals come Dec 31, 2015. Only job mobility in a few professional jobs, that's it. So as far as unskilled labour is concerned, there won't be any changes.

[Tomtomtom69]

I don't get it why some individuals (probably Americans?) think it's their duty to tip taxi drivers because they feel sorry for their low wages. Like the guy who gives twice the meter fare to every taxi he gets into.

Good for him, if he's that rich, but at the end of the day he's doing us a disservice because then the taxi drivers he has encountered expects the same from every other foreigner they encounter in future. That just sets the stage for more scams and possible extortion.

That's not how it's supposed to work. Taxi fares here are too cheap, but it's not up to the individual to make the decision to make up the shortfall - either the taxi unions (if they exist) should be able to bargain for higher fares or the government or whoever the regulator is should push for higher fares.

However, tipping taxi drivers is NOT the culture here in Thailand. Maybe in America, but almost nowhere else. Hell even in Australia nobody tips taxi drivers; at most minor rounding up is performed.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Tomtomtom69

[via2046]

Yes its based on the cab company driving radius

[Tomtomtom69]

Thai taxi fare is already more expensive than at least a dozen countries that I can name of.

A dozen countries?!

Like where? India maybe, but that's about it.

Thai taxi fares are too cheap, certainly not too expensive.