Taxi drivers fined for rejecting passengers at Bangkok's MBK Center (again)

[webfact]

Taxi drivers fined for rejecting passengers at MBK Center (again)
By Coconuts Bangkok


Photo: JS100.

MBK Center, also known as the second worst place to hail a cab behind Central World, was targeted by transportation agents and the military yesterday looking for the taxi drivers who say “no.”

Officers were separated into two teams, one observing taxi drivers who reject people in front of the mall while a second team waited at a checkpoint to fine the offenders THB1,000.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/03/18/taxi-drivers-fined-rejecting-passengers-mbk-center-again


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2015-03-18

[aothai]

Great, just great.

[trainman34014]

Great they are keeping up the pressure on these idiots. More of the same please.

[hanno]

I am a big fan of Thailand but my biggest gripe has to be (some) of the taxi drivers.

Keep it up guys!!!

[sjjmmi]

[JOC]

When the army is doing the polices job surprise surprise: Things get done!!

Well done to the boys in green!!

[rasmus5150]

For some reason this news just made me feel a whole lot better. Keep it up BIG (Boys in Green).

[seajae]

lets see them take their licences from them for a second offence, that will really p*ss them off big time and make them even more willing to accept all fares

Edited March 18, 2015 by seajae

[Fiddlesticks]

Obviously this kind of a sting operation is too complex for the Thai police to dream up or carry out. I was thinking that they might as well replace the entire police force with members of the army but then who would be available to drive in front of the hi-so or tourist caravans and allow them to blast down the highways and through the red lights?

[siam2007]

great they do something and it actually gets some public attention (which means that a dishonest Cabbier will think twice doing the same thing next time), but I have to say this is just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg will never ever melt......

but even near MBK you can actually get a proper Cab if you just walk a few Meters away from it and hail down a moving Cab.

The Taxi-line at Paragon is actually good too as you get some assistance by Paragon staff and if a destination is inconvenient to a driver (for example if his shift ends soon and he is asked to go to the opposite direction of town during rush-hour), then the Staff at the Taxi desk will ask the net driver to go there. Seen this many times and there was never a problem

[Soutpeel]

lets see them take their licences from them for a second offence, that will really p*ss them off big time and make them even more willing to accept all fares

just select a few at random, put them up against a wall and shoot them.. ...that will get the message across

[uptheos]

Yeah but think of the downside, the taxi drivers won't be handing back all the millions that they find in the back seat in future!

[hanno]

lets see them take their licences from them for a second offence, that will really p*ss them off big time and make them even more willing to accept all fares

just select a few at random, put them up against a wall and shoot them.. ...that will get the message across

Honestly, I have had a few bad experiences but on the whole there have been very few issues on my rather frequent visits to Thailand.

[neverdie]

Those pesky passengers are to blame for this, expecting to be dropped here and there, what do they think this is?

[sjjmmi]

lets see them take their licences from them for a second offence, that will really p*ss them off big time and make them even more willing to accept all fares

just select a few at random, put them up against a wall and shoot them.. ...that will get the message across

Why not hang them from the Taxi sign

[CiaranO]

Was at mbk yesterday. Witnessed our taxi driver refuse 4 Indians. We got in no problem. He told us then the reason was that where they wanted to go had huge traffic delays and they refused to pay the tolls.

[tingtongfarang]

Would seem a 1000bht fine is not enough, how about 5000 and taxi confiscated if they refuse to pay.

[siam2007]

Yeah but think of the downside, the taxi drivers won't be handing back all the millions that they find in the back seat in future!

those waiting outside MBK or in front of expensive Hotels don't do that anyway - they rather HOPE to cash in some "extra tips" from careless passengers who leave some valuables behind..... new i-phone for sale anyone ?

[Rod Wallop]

I was rejected this morning for an easy ride at 6.15am. An arrogant NO was the response. If you don't wanna take me, then don't ferken stop numb nuts.

[crazygreg44]

the taxis waiting in line at the ground floor BEHIND the MBK ( their back entrance & exit) all use meters when asked. They are not allowed to pull over and stop, on the road in FRONT of MBK. There are barriers.

The police used to fine them for stopping in front of the barriers. So even if the military is handing out fines to taxis for not agreeing to a fare, does this mean they allow them to pull over in a restricted zone ?

The only legal zone for taxis to pull over at MBK is the back exit on the ground floor !

[Basil B]

" was targeted by transportation agents and the military yesterday looking for the taxi drivers who say “no.”"

Does Thailand need a police force??? seems things work better without them...

[Stan42]

"Me need to fill gas"

"Me need to deliver taxi"

"Traffic too much"

[petedk]

I travel by taxi 2 - 4 times each day and I guess about 40% refuse to take me to my destination.

I used to open the rear door and leave it open if they refused to take me. Nowadays they tend to open the front side window. I slowly open the front door, clear my throat and tell them rather slowly and clearly where I want to go. If thye refuse I try and ask why and take as long as possible before I close the door.

The cars behind become very impatient, but what the heck. I have to wait for the next taxi.

Soemtimes I am amazed as to why they say no. Often the road they are on will lead to my destination and they may well pass that area without picking up a fare.

Edited March 18, 2015 by petedk

[p_brownstone]

great they do something and it actually gets some public attention (which means that a dishonest Cabbier will think twice doing the same thing next time), but I have to say this is just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg will never ever melt......

but even near MBK you can actually get a proper Cab if you just walk a few Meters away from it and hail down a moving Cab.

The Taxi-line at Paragon is actually good too as you get some assistance by Paragon staff and if a destination is inconvenient to a driver (for example if his shift ends soon and he is asked to go to the opposite direction of town during rush-hour), then the Staff at the Taxi desk will ask the net driver to go there. Seen this many times and there was never a problem

I must vehemently disagree here; the Taxi Staff at Paragon really tick me off.

Many times I have been in the queue and seen the person / people at the front of the queue tell the Security chappie where they want to go, he then asks the next Taxi in the lane, if the Taxi says "No" because the proposed destination is not convenient, the Guard simply waves the Taxi away, empty, and waits for the next one to ask if he will take that particular passenger to that particular destination.

A truly dumb arrangement : if the proposed destination for the first person in line is not convenient for the Taxi driver anyone with sense would enquire from other passengers in line to match up passenger with Taxi rather than send an empty Taxi away and prolong the queue.

Patrick

[LuckyLew]

great they do something and it actually gets some public attention (which means that a dishonest Cabbier will think twice doing the same thing next time), but I have to say this is just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg will never ever melt......

but even near MBK you can actually get a proper Cab if you just walk a few Meters away from it and hail down a moving Cab.

The Taxi-line at Paragon is actually good too as you get some assistance by Paragon staff and if a destination is inconvenient to a driver (for example if his shift ends soon and he is asked to go to the opposite direction of town during rush-hour), then the Staff at the Taxi desk will ask the net driver to go there. Seen this many times and there was never a problem

The point is that you should not have to walk a few meters away from MBK or walk over to another mall. You should be able to exit the mall or the BTS there and get in a taxi and be taken to your destination with the taxi using the meter

[robblok]

great they do something and it actually gets some public attention (which means that a dishonest Cabbier will think twice doing the same thing next time), but I have to say this is just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg will never ever melt......

but even near MBK you can actually get a proper Cab if you just walk a few Meters away from it and hail down a moving Cab.

The Taxi-line at Paragon is actually good too as you get some assistance by Paragon staff and if a destination is inconvenient to a driver (for example if his shift ends soon and he is asked to go to the opposite direction of town during rush-hour), then the Staff at the Taxi desk will ask the net driver to go there. Seen this many times and there was never a problem

I must vehemently disagree here; the Taxi Staff at Paragon really tick me off.

Many times I have been in the queue and seen the person / people at the front of the queue tell the Security chappie where they want to go, he then asks the next Taxi in the lane, if the Taxi says "No" because the proposed destination is not convenient, the Guard simply waves the Taxi away, empty, and waits for the next one to ask if he will take that particular passenger to that particular destination.

A truly dumb arrangement : if the proposed destination for the first person in line is not convenient for the Taxi driver anyone with sense would enquire from other passengers in line to match up passenger with Taxi rather than send an empty Taxi away and prolong the queue.

Patrick

You fail to see why this is good.. this way the taxi refusing passenger will loose his place in the que and will have to go empty. They learn from that.

[WhizBang]

Great news.

[Griffo63]

Let's give the taxi drivers a break. Taxi charges are dirt cheap and in most locations you can pick up a taxi at the 3rd or 4th attempt anyway. If the driver doesn't want the business or wants to work without a meter you can choose to use him or not. In most cases the difference between the meter price and the drivers demands is 50 - 100 baht. In UK term £1-£2. It's peanuts. Get over it !!!

[SABloke]

Let's give the taxi drivers a break. Taxi charges are dirt cheap and in most locations you can pick up a taxi at the 3rd or 4th attempt anyway. If the driver doesn't want the business or wants to work without a meter you can choose to use him or not. In most cases the difference between the meter price and the drivers demands is 50 - 100 baht. In UK term £1-£2. It's peanuts. Get over it !!!

Oh God...the ''fare converted to irrelevant foreign currency argument'' again.

And NO...let's NOT give the lazy bastards a break. There are plenty of decent taxi drivers around. Suspend the bad ones and those deserving of it will earn more money.

[tingtongfarang]

Let's give the taxi drivers a break. Taxi charges are dirt cheap and in most locations you can pick up a taxi at the 3rd or 4th attempt anyway. If the driver doesn't want the business or wants to work without a meter you can choose to use him or not. In most cases the difference between the meter price and the drivers demands is 50 - 100 baht. In UK term £1-£2. It's peanuts. Get over it !!!

Take a look around, we are not in the UK.