Bangkok taxis demand second round of fare increase

[Sviss Geez]

The whole article is just a outright lie these guys make more than 120 bht per day which turnip truck does he think we fell off, eg taxi from pattaya to jomtien cost me 250 bht of course no meter 20 minute trip.

"...which turnip truck does he think we fell of..."

...the turnip truck whose riders think that Pattaya is in Bangkok?

[Sviss Geez]

Give em an inch they want a mile.

Give them the finger get beaten to death.

A very nice bunch of people.

...no worse than people who give the finger.

[jaywalker]

Just 10 minutes ago I took a taxi to my uni. About 1.5 kilometres, traffic not too bad.

Normally 39Baht. Today 53Baht.

I mentioned that the meter was running fast, driver got abusive. Just after I got in he's talking to a friend on his phone, when I mentioned about the meter he abused me for interrupting his call.

This cab has the sticker to say it's passed inspection which is simply not possible, exhaust super loud, shockers completely failed, and the inside of the car is quite dirty.

He has stickers etc. for grab taxi - I called their number many times nobody answers.

I called 1111, eventually got someone speaking English 'sorry all staff gone to breakfast', then he hung up.

Not about taxi's but...

Par for the course on the phone call.

I moved back to Thailand in 2010 after being gone 6 years & needed internet hooked up in Pattaya.

At the time you couldn't drive 30 feet without seeing a banner ad for 3BBB internet on the side of the road with a 4 digit number to call.

The banner flags must've cost 1,000 - 2,000 baht each & were strung out from Jomtien to Naklua. Bloody HUNDREDS of them everywhere.

I called the number about 15 times & nobody EVER answered the phone!

I didn't even get a recording, just endless ringing on the other end.

[JohnThailandJohn]

''... but earning by taxi drivers stayed at 100-120 on average daily...''

This ia another hard pill for me to swallow and I'm calling BS on everything this fool says.

IF he's telling the truth and the poor dears are only taking home 3000 baht per month *cough* BS *cough*, perhaps it's time for a career change. The security guards at my condo make 12 - 15 000 per month, hell, even the Burmese day labourers make more than 100 baht a day

I think this is a typo and they are missing a zero. Should be 1,000 to 1,200 daily average. My understanding is that is the average for a fairly hard working BK Taxi drives on a 12-hour shift.

Edited February 3, 2015 by JohnThailandJohn

[kriswillems]

On previous posts I've asked if you get the same performance out of 1 litre of NGV or LPG as you do out of 1 litre of gasohol? Answer-No.

So all you posters who refer to prices per litre going up or down are not comparing like with like.

NGV is sold per kg. 1 kg NGV has a slightly more energy than 1 liter gasohol (if it's good quality NGV).

LPG is sold per liter, 1 liter LPG has only 70% of the energy of 1 liter gasohol.

Before taxis used LPG. Now they have all switched to NGV. Since there's NGV their costs have gone down dramatically and their profits have gone up.

Taxi driver make a reasonably good income (compared to their qualifications).

There a too many taxis. The airport TAXI queue is a huge parking lot and the drivers have to wait for hours to get a passenger.

There are other taxi queues around the city. Sometimes the drivers have to pay a commission to the owner of the queue or has to pay a fixed amount to be allowed to use the queue.

The government should solve the problem of the queues - maybe make it more difficult to become a taxi driver. Remove all illegal queue around the city.

This would be a good thing for the taxi drivers and their passengers.

Edited February 3, 2015 by kriswillems

[dragonfly94]

Had a taxi the other night who did not want to take us home cos of a few ghosts on the route. In the end he did but told us where they were, here are two that died in the river and they sit on the bridge, here is one that hung herself, this is where that car accident was, I was glad to get home.

[barberpg]

Just go and look down Sukhumvit Soi 4 and 6 and see all the taxi drivers sitting around doing absolutely nothing!

Therefore they don't use any gas at all, and don't earn any money! Why give these guys extra money to sit on their asses all day.

So now they want an increase!

Fair days wages for a fair days work I say.

Get then to get off their butts and actually work.

TAKE the customer where they want to go for starters.

Actually work a 10 hour day, not just laze around.

Stop trying to ripoff farang (and Japanese) customers and do it by the law!

Half the gas they spend is used up driving around aimlessly awaiting some poor unsuspecting sucker who gets ripped off.

The taxi drivers who are smart (and there are a few), do constant driving and pick up lots of taxi customers per day.

Just like the majority of all other taxi drivers worldwide.

TIT

[DGS1244]

I'm sorry but didn't the price of gasohol go down more than the increase in propane? These cars do not use propane unless they are on the highway. City driving uses more gas whereas highway driving uses more propane. So how is this DEMAND justified?

I think people are getting things very wrong, NGV is not Propane but natural gas which is under high pressure, when the car is converted that is all it can use. Most taxis use LPG or Liquified Petroleum Gas, which is low pressure hence the size of the tank in the boot, and can switch to either, so what is their grip?

[ToddinChonburi]

I stood waiting for a taxi that would take me to the US Embassy on the meter. Four passed me up each wanting 150 baht. Tuk Tuk wanted 180.the cab that took me cost 67 baht, I gave him 100. This is there problem and there math is bullshit. They just do not want to use the meter.

[chrisinth]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

''... but earning by taxi drivers stayed at 100-120 on average daily...''

This ia another hard pill for me to swallow and I'm calling BS on everything this fool says.

IF he's telling the truth and the poor dears are only taking home 3000 baht per month *cough* BS *cough*, perhaps it's time for a career change. The security guards at my condo make 12 - 15 000 per month, hell, even the Burmese day labourers make more than 100 baht a day alt=rolleyes.gif>

I think this is a typo and they are missing a zero. Should be 1,000 to 1,200 daily average. My understanding is that is the average for a fairly hard working BK Taxi drives on a 12-hour shift.

Yep, i would agree with that as well.

No taxi driver will work for 100 - 120 baht a day..........................

[bendywire]

You need to download grab taxi app works always

errr no it doesn't. I have never been able to get one through this app. Many signed up for it but are too stupid to use it. But they think another sticker on their car besides the I live farang one makes them a better driver. The fact is that it's an unskilled job and they get a low salary. It is all they should expect. Low pay for a low service.

[RigPig]

''... but earning by taxi drivers stayed at 100-120 on average daily...''

This is probably true, if you see what the meter reads, the rest is off the books !!

So when they do it they are stealing from the cab owner too probably, so they need to charge more to rent the cab out to cover their costs, a vicious circle..

Off topic a bit but does anyone know what happened to the taxi driver that killed the American with the machete?

[JohnThailandJohn]

I'm sorry but didn't the price of gasohol go down more than the increase in propane? These cars do not use propane unless they are on the highway. City driving uses more gas whereas highway driving uses more propane. So how is this DEMAND justified?

I think people are getting things very wrong, NGV is not Propane but natural gas which is under high pressure, when the car is converted that is all it can use. Most taxis use LPG or Liquified Petroleum Gas, which is low pressure hence the size of the tank in the boot, and can switch to either, so what is their grip?

Only about 1/3 use LPG now.

[Jonmarleesco]

So they now want passengers to offset the extra fuel cost - though I doubt they would suggest a fare reduction, were the price gone down - while also pushing for luggage surcharges for boots that have lost half their space to the NGV cylinders.

And that's ignoring the far from resolved issue of driver scams.

[gandalf12]

Just a touch of the attitude "you owe us a living" syndrome. No one owes them a living they owe themselves the task of making a living. This attitude is also prevalent in Malaysia just for the record.

[gandalf12]

How much gas does the average trip take? 2 litres maybe at 50 satang / litre makes Baht 1. Ok I will pay that

[gandalf12]

When I come back to Thailand I always get a taxi at the airport and they have to date always turned the meter on. The fare is around Baht 350 as I live on the outskirts of Bangkok, but every driver I have had, because they played fair is given Baht 400. That is a tip of Baht 50 not bad for just one trip

[Ozziepat]

There needs to be a long term systemic solution. Otherwise the yammering will never cease, and there will daily be new "reasons" and demands to raise fares. Piecemeal response guarantees this behavior will continue.

[kingalfred]

Only in Thailand would there be transport fare increases when fuel prices are plummeting!

[Time Traveller]

And that is why you should never agree to pay extortionists. They'll come back again and demand more and then more and then more again and again.

[Fullstop]

See what happens when you give them an inch?

[fstarbkk]

give them a once off hefty bump up price and then immediately launch a wide scale crackdown on taxi drivers refusing customers, taxi drivers over charging customers, taxi drivers verbally and physically abusing their passengers, taxi drivers sexually assaulting passengers, tax drivers murdering passengers

Nice idea, in principle. But we all know what happens with "crackdowns" in Thailand - They usually fizzle out before the last news crew leaves the press conference.

If strict and consistent enforcement of the rules were a real possibility, then I would happily support an increase. As it is, let the taxi industry clean up their act before we give them another satang!

[trogers]

Reduce the number of taxis on the roads. Less traffic snarls and competition means more trips per day per car.

Disagree? Then let's double the number of taxis on the road and see the results.

[Karlos11]

All you farang keyboard warriors. why dont you put yourself on the taxi drivers shoes for a month then you can tell us first hand how easy it is for the life of a thai taxi driver... In aus, its $4.50 flagfall then to travel 3 kilometers i payed in total of $11.50 and thats with little traffic, that equates to 310 baht .. In thailand to travel the same distance it might only cost you 70 or so baht .. Thats 2 plus dollars aussie . And you's are complaining about taxi drivers asking a mere increase.. Get out of here

[trainman34014]

Best thing to do with these racketeers is stonewall them. If they don't like Taxi driving then maybe they would like to work in a factory canning Tuna or on construction sites. But wait ! that would mean having to actually do some real work instead of sitting on their fat arse's every day whinging about how unfair the World is being to them.

You wouldn't mind so much if these people had been honest pillars of society up to now and never tried to con anyone out of a baht or two but many of them are just crooks trying to extort money from passengers or refusing to take passengers to places they don't feel like going.

[SABloke]

All you farang keyboard warriors. why dont you put yourself on the taxi drivers shoes for a month then you can tell us first hand how easy it is for the life of a thai taxi driver... In aus, its $4.50 flagfall then to travel 3 kilometers i payed in total of $11.50 and thats with little traffic, that equates to 310 baht .. In thailand to travel the same distance it might only cost you 70 or so baht .. Thats 2 plus dollars aussie . And you's are complaining about taxi drivers asking a mere increase.. Get out of here

Another moron comparing apples and oranges: The GDP per capita of Oz is 67 000 USD....Thailand's is 6 000 USD. One would expect to pay 6 -10 times more in Oz Edited February 3, 2015 by SABloke

[Pigdog474]

Just 10 minutes ago I took a taxi to my uni. About 1.5 kilometres, traffic not too bad.

Normally 39Baht. Today 53Baht.

I mentioned that the meter was running fast, driver got abusive. Just after I got in he's talking to a friend on his phone, when I mentioned about the meter he abused me for interrupting his call.

This cab has the sticker to say it's passed inspection which is simply not possible, exhaust super loud, shockers completely failed, and the inside of the car is quite dirty.

He has stickers etc. for grab taxi - I called their number many times nobody answers.

I called 1111, eventually got someone speaking English 'sorry all staff gone to breakfast', then he hung up.

After reading all he negativity on here about taxi drivers and having one bad experience from the airport I was kind of nervous about needing to use this service but having no choice, I hopped into a Bangkok cab to take me through downtown Bangkok and to my complete surprise, the cab was spotless, even though it was rush hour and traffic was extremely slow, he drove with care and it took us nearly an hour to go the 9.9 km. The fare was 137 baht, not that much for an hours work, and since I was given 200 baht to cover my taxi fare. I gave the driver 11289 the full 200 as I felt the service he provided was second to none. My return ride wasn't as smooth but the cab was still spotless.

[iReason]

They should shut the <deleted> up and be more like this guy:

http://bk.asia-city.com/city-living/news/taxi-driver-never-says-no

What a wonderful world it would be...

[NoshowJones]

On previous posts I've asked if you get the same performance out of 1 litre of NGV or LPG as you do out of 1 litre of gasohol? Answer-No.

So all you posters who refer to prices per litre going up or down are not comparing like with like.

I have a Toyota Corona which runs on LPG, and I honestly cannot tell the difference in performance. I drove about 150Ks recently, and forgot to switch to LPG. I wasn't until I noticed the fuel gauge at empty, that I found out.

[h90]

''He said although the fare has been raised by 8 percent the last time, but earning by taxi drivers stayed at 100-120 on average daily while the price of NGV has increased twice, to about 1.50 baht higher.

This prompted taxi drivers to pay around 100-110 baht more per day for NGV gas.''

So he's saying that taxis use about 80 kilos of gas per day (roughly 600 - 700 kms range in city traffic conditions). I seriously doubt there's enough time in a day to travel 600 k's in Bangkok.

and if the make 600km how much would that be on the fare?