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

[landslide]

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

I think the Taxi Staff are doing the right thing. Don't reward the cab driver who turns down a fare by finding another fare for them. Send them away empty. Make them waste their time in line for nothing.

[geriatrickid]

Great pull them over. My wife and I where down from Khon Kaen at Pratunam markets, we stayed at the Indra Regent we wanted a taxi to take us to Don MUANG airport and 3 taxis refused. Which annoyed me. If I had seen a copper I would have reported the taxis.

Copper would have done nothing. Contact Department of Land Transport at its Hotline 1584 number.

[kennw]

Great work ! Some months ago got into a taxi at MBK with daughter and her two young kids, when I insisted on using the meter the driver threw us out in pouring rain. I know not all drivers a bad so it's good to see the rotten apples being targeted.

[louse1953]

Easy money.

[SuwadeeS]

The first time, I like some of their actions. They should do it also on some other special places.

[ttthailand]

I just wonder what the police really do as part of their job ? It looks like nothing regarding the law gets done correctly without the military playing the lead rule. The General sure has his hands full cleaning this mess that they call a country up. Everything is broken and it is only a question of how badly broken is it....

[louse1953]

It's a fairly sad state of affairs when the miltary have to take action against taxi drivers.

It does show a certain dysfunctional pettiness .

just a bit.

Seriously what business is it of soldiers to be acting as traffic police or transport officers on taxis of all things ? .. not even security as the excuse lol

Posturing popularity stunt for the Junta and army photo op methinks

Publicity maybe,but nothing else worked in the past and it has come to this sad state of affairs where the Army is the last "honest"resort in town.They are last port of call,without them,chaos would be happening in a lawless land.

[ttthailand]

They should go to Terminal 21 and give those taxis hell for a few days. Last time I waited in taxi line about 90% refused to take anyone. They would drop someone off and when the T21 matradee gave them a address they would just shake their head , matradee gives another address and again he just shakes his head. Now if the military would just position one army guy there as a spy and a few more undercover guys they would get thousands a day.

When the driver shakes his head the undercover guy just gets in and shows ID and has driver go down the street to a location giving fines. Go go go !!!

[h90]

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

The often drive already with a wrong license, increase the fee to 5000 Baht and block the car till it is paid, with an additional 500 Baht per day storage fee.

Than the companies who own the cars, won't give it anymore to driver who reject passengers....

[yellowboat]

2-3 cameras at major taxi stands would be a long term solution. One pointed at the license plate, and the behind the customers. Should there be an attendant, a push button to mark a violation .

Sadly it takes a coup to bring such change.

[piercingpusher]

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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.

I totally agree.. Have the same expierience every day..

[Cheap Backpacker]

Could someone explain why taxis turn down people all the time?

[piercingpusher]

I just wonder what the police really do as part of their job ? It looks like nothing regarding the law gets done correctly without the military playing the lead rule. The General sure has his hands full cleaning this mess that they call a country up. Everything is broken and it is only a question of how badly broken is it....

Bib are busy beeing the opposite of policemen!

[pomchop]

Perhaps the good general might want to send his boys down to the Laem Chabang port which is completely, totally, and openly run by a taxi mafia.

Cruise ships with thousands of passengers arrive there to be met with the taxi mafia that PROUDLY displays big banners with fares to bangkok one way at $140 usd and one way to Pattaya for $50....NO meters, no negotiation, no exceptions.......the gate is a two/three mile walk and so most of the older passengers have no other choice for public transport....the last two times i was there a lot of the passengers got so disgusted with the taxi mafia that they just stayed on the ship spending ZERO money in Thailand.....i even watched as a thai girl and her farang husband and she tried to hire a local motorbike guy to take them to the gate but the guy said they would beat him if he did so he refused.

It would take about five minutes to find out who is MR BIG that controls this port and shut him down , assuming the good general wanted to do so. . As it is this guy rakes in some SERIOUS baht when a 2000 passenger ship pulls into port. Meantime it goes on year after year and while cruise port calls are growing by leaps and bounds across asia Thailand continues to get bad passenger reviews because of the MAFIA.

[lildragon]

I'll give the authorities their due there. Well done dealing with this scum.

[yellowboat]

Perhaps the good general might want to send his boys down to the Laem Chabang port which is completely, totally, and openly run by a taxi mafia.

Cruise ships with thousands of passengers arrive there to be met with the taxi mafia that PROUDLY displays big banners with fares to bangkok one way at $140 usd and one way to Pattaya for $50....NO meters, no negotiation, no exceptions.......the gate is a two/three mile walk and so most of the older passengers have no other choice for public transport....the last two times i was there a lot of the passengers got so disgusted with the taxi mafia that they just stayed on the ship spending ZERO money in Thailand.....i even watched as a thai girl and her farang husband and she tried to hire a local motorbike guy to take them to the gate but the guy said they would beat him if he did so he refused.

It would take about five minutes to find out who is MR BIG that controls this port and shut him down , assuming the good general wanted to do so. . As it is this guy rakes in some SERIOUS baht when a 2000 passenger ship pulls into port. Meantime it goes on year after year and while cruise port calls are growing by leaps and bounds across asia Thailand continues to get bad passenger reviews because of the MAFIA.

The taxi mafia sounds like they might be a little too much for the good general.

[samira000084]

I have been refused many times to many taxi drivers along Sukhumvit area. I wanted at that moment to report them to the military incharge for this matter. I just wonder if this happen again to me and there's no military in the premise, is there any way I could contact them? Maybe a hotline? An immediate correspondence would be good but impossible or perhaps get the taxi plate number along the time and place and report it. Plate number should show the registration of the person who owned it ;-)

Any one who has any idea?

[robblok]

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

Has it occurred to you that the department of transport was dealing with the issue?

The DoT used the military because of the martial law requirements. The military are being used to enforce the rules because the DoT agents can only reference the rules and then ask the martial law enforcers to act.

Hogwash.. it is known your anti Junta despite that they really solve problems instead of trying to get just one man back.

Before the police did some stings (on taxi's) too.. so that is possible (was in the news in the last 2 weeks). Fact is that the junta dares to go after taxi drivers and the PTP not because they would alienate their followers. PTP do everything to get votes.. rice program.. not going after m/c taxi drivers not going after taxi drivers.

Ever since the junta is in power i finally seen some corruption cases going instead of trying to get 25.000 corruption cases put under the general pardon

[kingalfred]

They should go to Terminal 21 and give those taxis hell for a few days. Last time I waited in taxi line about 90% refused to take anyone. They would drop someone off and when the T21 matradee gave them a address they would just shake their head , matradee gives another address and again he just shakes his head. Now if the military would just position one army guy there as a spy and a few more undercover guys they would get thousands a day.

When the driver shakes his head the undercover guy just gets in and shows ID and has driver go down the street to a location giving fines. Go go go !!!

too easy in a town that "doesnt give a toss"!

[robblok]

Recently i was with a tourist friend at mochit and we needed to go to my home by taxi as I was not in the mood of haggling and begging to get a meter turned on I let him do the work. They came up with extra charges, when I answered in Thai that the army told taxi drivers to be honest and that no such charges existed he quickly toned down and ran away (was one of those fixers that stand outside of the taxis). It was great to see how he backed down, scared of the army.

In the end we found a taxi.. who not only used the meter.. he knew the road well and he got a tip 60bt or so, on top of a nice fare. I don't mind tipping but the moment they try it on all mood for such things is gone.

[Larry001]

Good job; good news. Now move up Sukumvit Road and hit the taxis who wait around the corner from Soi 3.

[ChangMaiSausage]

No because they will just drive without one (if vehicle is owned) meaning void insurance if they are involved in an accident.

Just keep the pressure on them they will eventually improve (I wont say learn)

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

[dunque]

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

Quite the opposite - your approach would reward the errant taxi driver behaviour by letting them pick and choose - the approach being taken reinforces the requirement to be prepared to take the first fare to their required destination, the consequence being no fare and wasted time. Omeletttes and eggs I am afraid.

[Dannyboy666]

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

. IS Treatment for a Taxi, Surely you jest...

[Dannyboy666]

Good job; good news. Now move up Sukumvit Road and hit the taxis who wait around the corner from Soi 3.

. Nana, I've had my luggage put on the road for asking for meter, most of them are Great if they use a meter... IF

[kkerry]

Great job from the army!

But what also annoys me is the very long qeueu's at Siam paragon for skytraintickets. And when it's very busy there they even close some of the ticketbooths and half of the machines are not working properly.

Rather than buy a ticket each time, get yourself a Rabbit card and save yourself a lot of hassle.

[callaway]

Patrick do you see the big flaw in your argument? So the rude person who wants to go to a place these dirtbag drivers find inconvenient,they must just stand to the side of the queue? Is this so important people like yourself dont have to wait an extra couple of minutes? The system is in place so it is inconvenient to the drivers that do not accept the fare then have to leave empty. Can you imagine the chaos if the cab driver could choose a fare out of all the people in the queue? Take a moment and think about it and take time to smell the roses.

[sandrabbit]

The wife and I went to Bangkok using the BTS from the airport (we get a taxi to the airport from Rayong, won't use minibuses anymore) and we needed a taxi from Phaya Thai station. We were pleasantly surprised that at ground level there is a manned taxi service (with girls) who log all fares and there was no discussion about the meter it was automatically used and even though the traffic was horrendous the taxi driver was pleasant chatting to us in Thai & English. As somebody posted earlier because it was a good service we tipped the driver so maybe some of them are getting switched on about being rewarded for using the meter. Our return journey was the opposite with having to haggle for price.

Rayong city now has metered taxis and I never have been able to get them to use the meter so it's generally 300 baht to Ban Phe although people on Phuket would probably view this as cheap compared to what they have. If not in a hurry the songthaews are 20 baht ........

[ToddinChonburi]

This is so sad that the military has to do the work for the police. How many did they catch ?

[mick01827]

Yesterday I took a taxi from suvarnabhumi to bang kapi, after taking me to the wrong hotel we arrived at the correct hotel, the meter read 217baht plus the compulsory 50 baht tip, totalled 267baht so I gave him 300, I stood there after a while and asked for my change to which he replied 'service charge', yes it's only 33 baht but I'd already given him the compulsory 50 baht, it's the principle that he thought it was his right just to take it, I actually phoned the complaints line but they just put the phone down. Its little things like this that gives Thailand the bad name.

Edited March 19, 2015 by mick01827