Bangkok taxi fares could increase later this year

[Travel2003]

Living in Bangkok (on Sukhhumvit) I rarely have any issue with taxis.

It is only in one or two tourist areas that I have had any issue and having learn't where not to try getting a cab I simply make allowances.

I should also note that I absolutely refuse to ever use Motorbike taxis so I am using Cabs exclusively when the BTS isn't suitable for my journey.

People who have problems seem to be :-

Those living out of the way

People who can't at least tell the driver their destination in Thai

Those who try getting cabs in the wrong areas at the wrong time of night/day

Crap logic.

I don't live particularly out of the way. But unlike you, I don't live on top of the BTS or MRT. My Thai is certainly good enough to tell the drivers where I want to go, and to giver directions. Taxis should cover all destinations when in service, that's the whole point.

Friday night the first 3 refused - only reason being they didn't want to go there, preferring to pick up shorter fairs hovering around the center. This is actually worse than before the crackdown.

Baerboxer

Spot on!

[Cook my sock]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

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[speedtripler]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

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Because their service is so good... They deserve tips lol

[Cook my sock]

I really can't find much to complain about with Bangkok cabbies. Sure, late at night after a trip down cowboy or 3am after staggering out of tapas room, it's not easy to find a cab that'll put on the meter etc. It goes with your life choices/attitude in Bangkok. The ratio of being refused on any normal day in town is about the same as London.

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[hawker9000]

I really can't find much to complain about with Bangkok cabbies. Sure, late at night after a trip down cowboy or 3am after staggering out of tapas room, it's not easy to find a cab that'll put on the meter etc. It goes with your life choices/attitude in Bangkok. The ratio of being refused on any normal day in town is about the same as London.

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Well I can. 'Don't know much about cowboy at 3am or London, but I do know about Suk in broad daylight. The drivers suck, and they don't deserve a tip much less a raise. Mostly just a matter of attitude. Whether they have a chip on their shoulder towards foreigners, don't like driving in some areas, or whatever is their problem. The exceptions, who DO use the meter without haggling over it, and DO provide a quiet, comfortable, predictable ride, DO get a tip and my smiling thanks. Unfortunately, that's not most of the time. The lowest common denominator has gotten worse, not better, so their rate should get worse, not better. I have no control over that of course, but what I CAN do is help spread the word so travelers know the score, and that I do. And I think some Thais are just beginning to finally awaken to the fact that the word does get out.

[Cook my sock]

Seriously, maybe it's something you are wearing. I dunno why they treat you so bad.

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[hawker9000]

Seriously, maybe it's something you are wearing. I dunno why they treat you so bad.

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[coulson]

There are other non printed surveys outside Thailand that may dissapoint airport taxi's and TAT in general, but mai bpen rai......taxi price up, condo price up, beer...go dai.....up. The unfortunate twad paying for all of this is the local, the teacher, the dwindling retiree and his missus.

10 years of tourism left in Thailand, predominantly aimed at Chinese sightseeing and Arab medicalcare.

[Cook my sock]

Energy prices will go through the roof over the next ten yrs for sure.

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[h90]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

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Because their service is so good... They deserve tips lol

Now they never have exchange....fare is 60 Baht. Driver has no coin, or 20 Baht bill....If you have only 100 Baht you automatic tip him. Unless you walk somewhere to exchange the money.

[lvr181]

Always carry 20bht bills plus 100bht bills.

[Travel2003]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to Thailand.

First vacation?

Actually, Thai's hardly tip!

And they are proud of that.

Most westerners come from tipping societies.

The drivers want many short trips, so they can restart the meter often.

Long trips, they want cash.

[SoiBiker]

Fair enough if you ask me. The fares are ridiculously low, and they provide a decent service if you disregard the complaints from those who've only ever picked one up from the sex district.

[impulse]

Fair enough if you ask me. The fares are ridiculously low, and they provide a decent service if you disregard the complaints from those who've only ever picked one up from the sex district.

Agree 95%. The fares are so low that they net virtually nothing on some of the rides. I don't blame them for turning down business where they make almost nothing for an agonizing drive through BKK traffic.

Let them make a reasonable amount, and then put the hammer down on the abusers.

That said, the 5% where I disagree are the static taxis sitting in front of the tourist hotels and hotspots. My personal rule is to always flag down a moving taxi, (moving in traffic, not lurking at 1 km/hr) and I rarely have problems.

[Cook my sock]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to Thailand.

First vacation?

Actually, Thai's hardly tip!

And they are proud of that.

Most westerners come from tipping societies.

The drivers want many short trips, so they can restart the meter often.

Long trips, they want cash.

You missed my point completely but reinforced another point. Thais look down on farangs nowadays

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Edited October 22, 2015 by Cook my sock

[FritsSikkink]

If the taxis were professional, had mandatory seatbelts, didn't refuse fares and always used the metre I would give them a higher fare...

The way they are at the moment, I would suggest to reduce their wages rather than increase

The mafia mindset has to be removed first, too often there's a line of taxis doing nothing but none of them will use the metre and insist on triple fare etc

never been in phuket i guess

[hawker9000]

Fair enough if you ask me. The fares are ridiculously low, and they provide a decent service if you disregard the complaints from those who've only ever picked one up from the sex district.

Agree 95%. The fares are so low that they net virtually nothing on some of the rides. I don't blame them for turning down business where they make almost nothing for an agonizing drive through BKK traffic.

Let them make a reasonable amount, and then put the hammer down on the abusers.

That said, the 5% where I disagree are the static taxis sitting in front of the tourist hotels and hotspots. My personal rule is to always flag down a moving taxi, (moving in traffic, not lurking at 1 km/hr) and I rarely have problems.

You hear this repeated a lot, but if it were really as bad as all that, why are there so many toiling at it?

And if you're checking out of a hotel with baggage, should you really have to go hauling it all down Thailand's lovely urban sidewalks just in order to be able to catch a taxi in traffic?

[SoiBiker]

Why would you need to walk down the pavement to flag down a moving taxi? The taxi is moving - you don't need to.

[Travel2003]

A lot of farangs don't tip. That's a big reason they don't pick us up

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to Thailand.

First vacation?

Actually, Thai's hardly tip!

And they are proud of that.

Most westerners come from tipping societies.

The drivers want many short trips, so they can restart the meter often.

Long trips, they want cash.

You missed my point completely but reinforced another point. Thais look down on farangs nowadays

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thais don't like foreigners in general. Just as most people don't really like too many foreigners in their own country.

That aside, Thais do not tip much.

I have no problem if the taxi fares were much higher, as they are ridiculously low.

What i don't like is the drivers saying no to drive to a certain place, or inflate the expected meter tab with a non meter price which is 300% higher.

[hawker9000]

Why would you need to walk down the pavement to flag down a moving taxi? The taxi is moving - you don't need to.

Hmmm. Ok, let's just think about this. Try & follow. I'm checking out of my hotel (Point A), and need a taxi. But wanting to avoid the non-meter willing, inflated-fare, drivers waiting at Point A, I need to get to somewhere AWAY from Point A, per Impulse's comment (to whom I was actually responding...). We'll call that 'somewhere away' Point B. Now, how do I get from Point A to Point B WITH my bags and WITHOUTusing a taxi at Point A?

Right. By walking a ways down the pavement.

...all of which would be totally irrelevant if the greedy, refusing-to-follow-the-rules, exploitive, undeserving-of-any-rate-increase drivers at Point A DID follow the rules...

Edited October 26, 2015 by hawker9000

[SoiBiker]

You don't need to 'get away' from the stationary taxis. Just ignore them and flag down one that's passing instead.

[jerojero]

How convenient. 70% objective with 71% results.

[hawker9000]

You don't need to 'get away' from the stationary taxis. Just ignore them and flag down one that's passing instead.

Lol. Yeah, from the upcoming 5-star Thaivisa topic: "Farang Caught Between Warring Thai Taxi Drivers". And YOU'D be leading the charge against the farang for "deliberately offending" the long-waiting, low-paid, much put-upon, patiently-waiting, queued hotel mafia drivers by trying to flag down a drive-by. (That's assuming you could even get a drive-by to invade hotel mafia territory in the first place.) THEN we'd be treated to a sermon on "thainess".

Best case: you can flag down a taxi (or get hotel staff to do for you), but even though that driver would normally use his meter out & about most of the time, the rules "change" because he's picking you up at a hotel and you're therefore fair game.

[SoiBiker]

You don't need to 'get away' from the stationary taxis. Just ignore them and flag down one that's passing instead.

Lol. Yeah, from the upcoming 5-star Thaivisa topic: "Farang Caught Between Warring Thai Taxi Drivers". And YOU'D be leading the charge against the farang for "deliberately offending" the long-waiting, low-paid, much put-upon, patiently-waiting, queued hotel mafia drivers by trying to flag down a drive-by. (That's assuming you could even get a drive-by to invade hotel mafia territory in the first place.) THEN we'd be treated to a sermon on "thainess".

Best case: you can flag down a taxi (or get hotel staff to do for you), but even though that driver would normally use his meter out & about most of the time, the rules "change" because he's picking you up at a hotel and you're therefore fair game.

If you lack the stones to pick your own taxi, I guess there's not much anyone can say to help you.

[hawker9000]

You don't need to 'get away' from the stationary taxis. Just ignore them and flag down one that's passing instead.

Lol. Yeah, from the upcoming 5-star Thaivisa topic: "Farang Caught Between Warring Thai Taxi Drivers". And YOU'D be leading the charge against the farang for "deliberately offending" the long-waiting, low-paid, much put-upon, patiently-waiting, queued hotel mafia drivers by trying to flag down a drive-by. (That's assuming you could even get a drive-by to invade hotel mafia territory in the first place.) THEN we'd be treated to a sermon on "thainess".

Best case: you can flag down a taxi (or get hotel staff to do for you), but even though that driver would normally use his meter out & about most of the time, the rules "change" because he's picking you up at a hotel and you're therefore fair game.

If you lack the stones to pick your own taxi, I guess there's not much anyone can say to help you.

Ahhhh, having exhausted your resources for intelligent and informed discussion, you've now resorted to your reserve of ad hominem. I'm sure you'll enjoy that.

[Travel2003]

All the new guys always have a smart solution to the problem.

Not tried of course.

Just a "surely must work" suggestion.

Sounds familiar?

A big big big lol, as my daughter says.