Arrivals taxi grab

[FireMedic]

Last night, I came in from Manila. I saw the huge crowd starting to Q at the doors leading out. So I decided to go upstairs and jump the turnstyle thing and grab an incoming taxi. There were quite a few of the taxi mafia guys that had "no meter or meter not working". They were parked and actively looking for fares, so I just walked another 10 meters and I found one that took me home to Central Cheang. I would guess the upstairs jump saved about 30-40 mins of wait time. Eitherway, I was somewhat surprised that they were allowed to park there and approach people on the sidewalk.....nonetheless, I will do this from now on.

[impulse]

I had the same dread last week as I exited and saw the long line at the new style automated taxi kiosks. The line was horrendous, but moving very fast.

I timed it. 8 minutes to get a legal taxi.

Would have taken me longer to go upstairs.

[bubba]

The queue is frequently much longer than 8 minutes at the downstairs taxi stand. The trip up the escalators to departures taxis requires the same amount of time as going down the escalators to the taxi stand, and there is never a wait at departures. Once you get there, you can select the taxi you want, and not the old broken down one selected for you at the taxi stand.

Personally, I have never been denied the meter at departures, although I have had a few who didn't want to go where I wanted to go. Simple enough, just ask the next one, and there are plenty to choose from.

And these taxis are legal as well. They have just dropped off a passenger and are very happy to have a fare back into town rather than deadhead it.

[impulse]

The queue is frequently much longer than 8 minutes at the downstairs taxi stand. The trip up the escalators to departures taxis requires the same amount of time as going down the escalators to the taxi stand, and there is never a wait at departures. Once you get there, you can select the taxi you want, and not the old broken down one selected for you at the taxi stand.

Personally, I have never been denied the meter at departures, although I have had a few who didn't want to go where I wanted to go. Simple enough, just ask the next one, and there are plenty to choose from.

And these taxis are legal as well. They have just dropped off a passenger and are very happy to have a fare back into town rather than deadhead it.

The taxis may be legal. Picking up passengers in the departure area is not legal. Enforcement may be slack or sporadic, but it's illegal.

And every time you take an illegal taxi, you're taking business away from the honest guys who play by the rules. Which encourages more to not play by the rules.

Then we get all the guys on here who bitch about taxis that don't play by the rules. See how that works?

[bubba]

The queue is frequently much longer than 8 minutes at the downstairs taxi stand. The trip up the escalators to departures taxis requires the same amount of time as going down the escalators to the taxi stand, and there is never a wait at departures. Once you get there, you can select the taxi you want, and not the old broken down one selected for you at the taxi stand.

Personally, I have never been denied the meter at departures, although I have had a few who didn't want to go where I wanted to go. Simple enough, just ask the next one, and there are plenty to choose from.

And these taxis are legal as well. They have just dropped off a passenger and are very happy to have a fare back into town rather than deadhead it.

The taxis may be legal. Picking up passengers in the departure area is not legal. Enforcement may be slack or sporadic, but it's illegal.

And every time you take an illegal taxi, you're taking business away from the honest guys who play by the rules. Which encourages more to not play by the rules.

Then we get all the guys on here who bitch about taxis that don't play by the rules. See how that works?

Never had a problem with taxis taken from departures. I have had problems taking them from the official taxi rank, such as taxis in poor condition or arguing about using the meter. When I don't drive myself, I have been using the departures taxis for around ten years now. Never had a problem, and I can select the driver and car that I want. I have gotten into taxis with airport security right there directing traffic and not a word was spoken. While it is not illegal for me, perhaps it is illegal for taxis dropping passengers at departures to then collect passengers, but this is Thailand.

As for taxis not playing by the rules, one of the most frustrating of those is a taxi that refuses to take you to your requested destination, such as the airport. I would presume that one reason for refusing that ride is the fact that they may have to deadhead back into town and it is not worth it. I like to think that by taking taxis from departure we are giving a driver a fare back into town and therefore encouraging taxis to do airport runs. Sort of funny that I have also thought that maybe this is a small contribution to the environment since at least the taxi I am in is not wasting fuel with an empty car and a deadhead back to the city.

[bubba]

Just to follow up, I am not so sure that collecting passengers from departures really is unlawful. From a story back in June, discussing the the crackdown on the official taxi queue mafia:

BANGKOK: Taxi queues at Suvarnabhumi airport will be computerised within a month to end the influence of the 'mafia' controlling cab operations there, chief of the 11th Military Circle Maj Gen Nirundorn Samutsakorn said on Wednesday.

Cabs will also be able to pick up passengers at the departure level on the fourth floor, but not park there.

The reforms are part of the effort by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to better organise public transport.

Normally, these taxis will drop passengers at the departure hall on the fourth floor of the airport and are not allowed to pick up customers. Under the new system, these cabs would be allowed to pick up passengers immediately after a drop off, but could not park and wait for a fare. Maj Gen Niturndorn said there would be no more mafia chasing taxis away on the fourth floor. Cab drivers would have to depend on luck, whether they can pick up passengers or not, after dropping off outbound travellers. If no passenger flagged them down, they would have to depart.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/735567-taxi-mafia-clean-out-at-suvarnabhumi-airport/

So it would appear that the departures taxis are "playing by the rules" and so are we if we elect to use them.

[FireMedic]

Well I would say there were more than several of them parked with taxi pimp asking where I wanted to go. Very polite, helpful, and spoke good English......until I said meter. Then they all forgot their English and their body language changed. So I politely declined and moved on. They were parked on the outside of the red/white gate barriers with the security guard right there.....I was surprised (but not really) that they let them park there and approach people like that.