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

[kingalfred]

1000 baht fine? No deterrent

[kingalfred]

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 !!!

get over the fact Bangkok isnt London in the Uk!

[BuckBee]

^ main issue is not the cost but fact you being given poor service & scammed.

I happily tip good drivers who make no fuss & get on with job, the rest can get stuffed & drive round empty for all I care.

generally don't have much problem with them on streets & had more hassle from airport taxi rank inc a hooky meter that was on 60 baht before we even out the airport, driver learnt his lesson on that one as he didn't get paid & my condo security done good job of getting rid of him :-)

[Srikcir]

Maybe somehow the RTP can switch roles with the Thai military, think what good changes could happen for Thailand. The RTP would be too incompetent to pull off military coups and the military would bring civil law enforcement to all time highs.

[AZBill]

I always found waving them down with a Bt 1000 works pretty well.

[yellowboat]

The worst experience getting a taxi is at Hualumphong station. Each fare needs to be negotiated. Never known a taxi driver to use the meter.

[somchaismith]

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

[yellowboat]

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 .

[englishoak]

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

[SantiSuk]

Famous excuse for fascism - "at least he made the trains run on time".

History repeats itself?

[kingalfred]

Its not the military who are "directly" taking action! Thats the same as saying EVERY act of enforcement regarding criminal or civil law is by the army! Comments are just an excuse to "have a dig"'at the government. Some prefer the same non-action lawless streets before last May

Edited March 19, 2015 by kingalfred

[steven100]

good work .... just need to do the same along Sukhumvit any time ...

These taxi drivers need a good kick up the ass ... !! scum..

[geriatrickid]

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

Well done to the boys in green!!

It is not the police force responsibility. Enforcement of the taxi system comes under the department of transport. That is why the transport agents were there. The police have nothing to do with taxis fares or administration.

[geriatrickid]

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.

Edited March 19, 2015 by geriatrickid

[hanno]

1000 baht fine? No deterrent

Why not? That is probably more than a day's earnings.

[Thian]

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.

Also i really hate the white minibus vans, they cause huge traffic jams because they just stop on the middle of the roads and wait for passengers.

I hope the General can fix those problems as well!

[Thian]

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I always found waving them down with a Bt 1000 works pretty well.

But then make sure you also have some 100 Bahtbills with you because the taxidrivers don't have change from 1000. And if you try to change it at a shop at the airport they won't do it. You even can't buy a bottle of water there and pay with 1000.

[almavro]

The grabtaxi Android/IOS app has put an end to these woes completely. I use taxis regularly -- sometimes three or four times a day -- and haven't flagged one down or stood in a queue for the past two months. Grabtaxi drivers are *happy* to take you where you want to go, or they wouldn't respond to the call. All automated, but it does help to speak Thai if you are not at a major landmark or hotel. The turn-down specialists are actually driving (get it?) business to grabtaxi and other alternatives.

Having had more than a few encounters of the unpleasant kind over my unreasonable requests to go from the Hyatt Erawan to Suriwong road (for example), it is wonderful to be able to say, "never again."

[Squeegee]

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.

Also i really hate the white minibus vans, they cause huge traffic jams because they just stop on the middle of the roads and wait for passengers.

I hope the General can fix those problems as well!

I think the general should fix mosquitoes, and someone having to go downstairs to get water. And he should fix getting up in the morning and make it into staying in bed instead.

[Johnnie99]

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I always found waving them down with a Bt 1000 works pretty well.

But then make sure you also have some 100 Bahtbills with you because the taxidrivers don't have change from 1000. And if you try to change it at a shop at the airport they won't do it. You even can't buy a bottle of water there and pay with 1000.

I have always found that telling them "No change? No fare. Go get change" works every single time.

[Johnnie99]

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.

Try actually living here and then you will truly see the problems.

Visitors rarely understand the problems.

[Jim walker]

And now the taxi drivers in Thailand will hate the public even more so some more refusals coming outside my condo, can feel it coming.

[realenglish1]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA This is how I feel about the Taxi Drivers Getting nailed 1000 baht

Good on you

Now is payback for all the times you refused to pick me up

[gk10002000]

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

Well done to the boys in green!!

Yeah, but the police really should be controlling civil matters. But we all know they bow to the real authority, the military, and that is even when there is no Martial law

[realenglish1]

This is Fair. First time just a fine Second time suspension for a week. Third offense full suspension. However their should be a board for the full suspension which can reverse the suspension if they see fit . However the Taxi driver is required to fill out lengthy paper work as to why he should not be suspended . Part of it should not entail how it will be a hardship on his family but more along the line on how he can improve his service to the PUBLIC

[English 1]

About time!

[wprime]

Can they start fining the taxis who are selective about taking passengers when they're blocking the 4th lane in front of RCA at 2 in the morning? Also fine all the taxis in the 2nd and 3rd lanes too, just for obstructing traffic flow.

[lucky11]

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

............and how about laying the red carpet out from the mall entrance to the taxi door and having someone with a smart uniform on open the door for you and wai/bow before you depart.

[Minnehaha]

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?

In the past the police budget (expenditures) for a year was printed in an article in Bangkok Post. It was astounding the amount as a % of total that they spent on motorcades. I wish I could back this up with a citation... or ... a link to the article but I dont have time to search for it.

[shaurene]

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.