Bangkok taxi driver rejects, stabs complaining passenger

[Jonmarleesco]

Wonder if the guy's friends were in a taxi queue after the concert finished and this guy tried to get a taxi before it got to queue and help himself and them queue jump?

If so, I'm not saying he deserved to be stabbed, but I have less sympathy.

Hate queue jumpers.

Pure speculation of course

A queue? In Thailand? Pull the other one.

[Jonmarleesco]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

No one country, large or small monopolies weirdness. You don't get the proper amount of rest, God only knows what might happen. Check out the TV posters. It is a collection of many who just use their lives to pass judgment.

This sounds like yet another post excusing a Thai taxi driver. As a regular taxi user, let me put it this way: the majority of Thai taxi drivers are pleasant and do what they are expected - and licenced - to do. But I, and others, do run across the odd driver who is representative of a too large minority who think they are licenced to do whatever they want, or to not do whatever they don't want, whether dealing with foreign or Thai passengers. Despite the declared view of a number of TV posters, whose experience of the worse side - or any side, for that matter - of the Thai taxi industry is woefully lacking, Thai taxi drivers, in general, are not the salt of the Thai earth.

[DaveinAsia]

Thailand has the worst taxi drivers in the world. I'm sure there are a few honest ones mixed in there, but yeah the vast majority are crooks at best.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Maybe not the worst but they can easily make it to the top 10 for sure.

[arrowsdawdle]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

Cabbie probably thought he was losing his place in line for a hundred yards minimum fare or whatever, thinking the pax was lying to him based on previous dealings with pax, especially Thais. Why any pax would want to get into a taxi where he isn't welcome boggles the mind. There are too many taxis in BKK and it makes the drivers somewhat desperate, especially in high pax traffic areas.

[digibum]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

I'll take a wild stab (pun intended) at this and say:

a) As a percentage of non-stabby taxi rides given every day, this represents a fairly rare occurrence but is blown up in the media because . . . stuff like this sells papers.

You take a populace and via poor education and limited upward mobility you pretty much guarantee that a large percentage of them are destined to either be farmers or taxi cab drivers, a lot of crazies are going to find their way into the system. It's not like there's some sort of rigorous testing process for becoming a taxi driver. There's no mental health check. Pretty much, if you can purchase a driver's licenses and have a face to be photographed, bam!, you can become a taxi driver.

[digibum]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

No one country, large or small monopolies weirdness. You don't get the proper amount of rest, God only knows what might happen. Check out the TV posters. It is a collection of many who just use their lives to pass judgment.

Yes, exactly. Can you imagine the conversations that go on amongst Thais about farangs? "Honey, you see this on the news? Another farang arrested for credit card skimming. What's wrong with these farangs?"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that on a percentage basis, more farang teachers have either:

a) Been caught sleeping with their students

Have been spotted in red light districts

Than Thai taxi drivers have stabbed their passengers.

So, would it be fair if Thais characterized all farang teachers or even all farangs based on the relatively small number of pervs who take up teaching as a way to stay in Thailand?

Yes, there are a lot of a-hole Thai taxi drivers. It's one of the lowest forms of employment in Thailand with zero educational or other requirements. Unless you're going to eliminate a good number of the taxis on the road via some sort of system where drivers have to meet some sort of customer satisfaction standard, you're going to have some nut jobs in the mix.

Personally, this is why I think Uber and similar services make so much more sense. Someone, somewhere knows who picked you up and if you're some Thai woman taking a taxi late at night you don't have to worry (as much) about some anonymous taxi driver taking you down some deserted area and having his way with you. The current system forces the victim to remember the driver's taxi number or his name from his taxi license rather than the taxi company having a detailed record of who is getting in their vehicles and who is driving them.

[connda]

I take 40 or so taxis a month. Almost always they are fine, often interesting or (and even better) simply quiet and competent. However, every so often you get some nut who scares the crap out of you. Lots of fine drivers but lots of idiots.

About the same for Tuk Tuk drivers. I know and use the locals. But some I've met have immediately turned me off, at which point I just walk and stay aware of what's behind me.

[selftaopath]

Should tell soibiker about this according to him its only foreigners that complain. Seems Thais also think that its a taxi drivers job to bring them to their destination if they have a in service sign on. Its even a law that they have too.

According to him its not so bad with taxi drivers.

While i agree in general there is a large group of taxi drivers that is bad certainly not a majority

There's another story making the rounds about a Thai guy catching a driver with a rigged meter. He records the whole incident and actually says "If you do this to foreigners, they won't come to our country."

Honestly... I don't believe Thais care much about Thailand. They - my observations - ALWAYS think a/b themselves FIRST and foremost. It's always for me me me now now now... Hell the leaders really don't show a love for their country as their actions impede growth of any kind. The average Thai will not/ can not prosper. That is how the system here functions. It's not intended to assist the "little people." Lost cause.

[eldragon]

Should tell soibiker about this according to him its only foreigners that complain. Seems Thais also think that its a taxi drivers job to bring them to their destination if they have a in service sign on. Its even a law that they have too.

According to him its not so bad with taxi drivers.

While i agree in general there is a large group of taxi drivers that is bad certainly not a majority

There's another story making the rounds about a Thai guy catching a driver with a rigged meter. He records the whole incident and actually says "If you do this to foreigners, they won't come to our country."

Honestly... I don't believe Thais care much about Thailand. They - my observations - ALWAYS think a/b themselves FIRST and foremost. It's always for me me me now now now... Hell the leaders really don't show a love for their country as their actions impede growth of any kind. The average Thai will not/ can not prosper. That is how the system here functions. It's not intended to assist the "little people." Lost cause.

Uh, yeah, can't disagree there. But we're talking about taxis here. And it seems they also don't like getting ripped off.

[GAZZPA]

It's a dangerous combination of that stupid, outdated "loss of face" issue and a general attitude that violence is an acceptable response. Add in the lack of real police law enforcement and the fact that you can pay to get yourself out of trouble and you get all too frequent situations like this.

The fact is that Thai people just struggle to handle confrontation and there are too many of them that respond with violence.

In this case the passenger insulted his position as a taxi driver, he complaint was likely very valid but the loss of face was too much for the idiot, scumbag taxi driver.

I am sure there will be many posters who state the obvious "this happens everywhere, not just here" and of course Thailand does not have exclusivity on mindless violence. But it is a country that has an outdated "loss of face" nonsense that is so deep it is pretty unique and has no place in the modern word.

I hope they catch him and I hope he gets the appropriate sentence... Note to all, sit in the back of taxis at all times...

[GAZZPA]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

No one country, large or small monopolies weirdness. You don't get the proper amount of rest, God only knows what might happen. Check out the TV posters. It is a collection of many who just use their lives to pass judgment.

Yes, exactly. Can you imagine the conversations that go on amongst Thais about farangs? "Honey, you see this on the news? Another farang arrested for credit card skimming. What's wrong with these farangs?"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that on a percentage basis, more farang teachers have either:

a) Been caught sleeping with their students

Have been spotted in red light districts

Than Thai taxi drivers have stabbed their passengers.

So, would it be fair if Thais characterized all farang teachers or even all farangs based on the relatively small number of pervs who take up teaching as a way to stay in Thailand?

Yes, there are a lot of a-hole Thai taxi drivers. It's one of the lowest forms of employment in Thailand with zero educational or other requirements. Unless you're going to eliminate a good number of the taxis on the road via some sort of system where drivers have to meet some sort of customer satisfaction standard, you're going to have some nut jobs in the mix.

Personally, this is why I think Uber and similar services make so much more sense. Someone, somewhere knows who picked you up and if you're some Thai woman taking a taxi late at night you don't have to worry (as much) about some anonymous taxi driver taking you down some deserted area and having his way with you. The current system forces the victim to remember the driver's taxi number or his name from his taxi license rather than the taxi company having a detailed record of who is getting in their vehicles and who is driving them.

Why are there so many people who play down completely unacceptable behaviour and understandable anger shown towards violent people?

What is the purpose of your post? To use poor. hypothetical examples to "put things into perspective"?

There is a problem with taxi drivers here, no doubt about it. Not just in their display of violence but also their overall service to the community. They pick and chose whatever fare they want and after 3, 4 or 5 rejections passengers get a little impatient, so when they finally do get into a taxi if there is a load of nonsense thrown at them they complain, is it surprising? And what happens next? Well hopefully just an angry driver who wants you out but in this case the guy was stabbed!

The guy needs catching and the taxi service needs rebooting with enforcement of the taxi license holder rules. But most importantly they should vet all taxi license holders for criminal records, if history of violence or sexual assault then no license.

[richard_smith237]

should be the taxi drivers right to refuse a call which goes into areas where the driver is not comfortable, doesnt know well, which are famous for having massive congestion, or if the passenger has an attitude, smells bad, looks weird or misbehaves... just like in any other service industry, where the provider has a right to refuse service based on a judgment call... why should cabs be different ? I dont get it, forcing taxi drivers to provide service smells like fascism ! Taxi drivers might be at the bottom of the foodchain, but they are human beings too, and passengers are LITERALLY getting in the space all day, and passengers do many many things which are extremely annoying as a driver without knowing, I have that from my resident uber drivers with which I nearly always have a conversation about their experiences as an Uber driver... so, this guy might had a bad attitude which we KNOW young Thai men are a lot of times... especially in this situation where they have been partying, its crowded and perhaps (speculating) one friend walked up the road to catch a taxi to bring it down to where the driver didnt want to go because there were too many drunk vomitting thai's on motorcykels which was why he didnt want to go there in the first place... the guy in the picture features the small beird matching my assumption he could be bangkok-born semi-hi-so douchebag who couldnt handle getting rejected by a (in his eyes) low-life taxi driver from eesan !

Some of the points you make are quite valid, however there are a number of flaws in your discussion.

I wouldn't like to be a taxi driver and imagine many passengers can be quite awful.

I think it would be acceptable to turning away passengers because they are rude or too drunk etc... But there must be some 'line in the sand'... too many times passengers are turned away because the traffic is too busy in the destination area. This I believe is wrong, a law is in place to stop this, if we are to accept that turning away passengers at the whim of a driver is acceptable we open ourselves up to area's and destinations where no one can get a taxi to or from and the system fails.

The comments above while understandable are flawed because the Taxi's are not a wholly private enterprise. Taxi's in Bangkok are a service, the vendor applies / bids for a license, in doing so they are offering the 'promise' of service subsidising public transport.

This is not the same as owning a hotel and turning away undesirable customers...

In the interests of balance I'm sure there are many cases where a taxi may turn away a passenger and it would seem acceptable to us (TV readers). If fact for the most part the taxi in experience in Bangkok is positive. However, there are many cases where we have had negative experiences from the 10% of drivers who really shouldn't be behind the wheel offering a service.

[nemrut]

All of them carry a weapon and a percentage are on drugs, drunk, stupid, bitter, racist or are criminals posing as taxi drivers.

That pretty much describes the plethora of bottom of the barrel, low-life farang Thailand attracts and pretty much elsewhere in SE Asia.

[nemrut]

They really do harbor an amazing amount of anger and level of emotional instability, don't they.

Almost tethering on the verge of egotistical insanity.

Sounds like youre projecting your own character flaws and that of so many other Thai bashers on TV.

[nemrut]

Lots of fine drivers but lots of idiots...............

and some beasts as well.....................

Depends in Bangkok pretty much on WHERE you take a taxi. Sharks have their hunting areas and so have a..holes .

Fact is, there are criminals, professional scammers, posing as taxi drivers that pay the police a monthly rate to own the prime hunting turf in front of every tourist hotel and attraction.

Every taxi driver parked in front of every hotel is a scammer and they are paying off the police.

Honest taxi drivers are faced with intimidation and violence if they attempt to take a passenger in these areas.

They will even stop an honest taxi that picks up a tourists in their turf and force the passenger to taking a scam taxi.

They are out of control and are paying off the police.

Last night a thai acquaintances took a taxi from Soi 11th.

The Driver has robbed her and beaten her face to bulb.

I try to persuade her to go still to the police and make a report.

But she does not want to go out.

She says that has no sense anyway.

She can not remember the taxi number.

The number of unreported cases of predatory taxi drivers is very high in Bangkok.

For a woman traveling alone, the taxi driving is extremely dangerous at night in Bangkok.

Are you making this up?

Anecdotally, I've had far more problems with crazy, belligerent taxi drivers in US/UK than Bangkok.

[nemrut]

Thai taxi drivers, in general, are not the salt of the Thai earth.

..and neither are farang who often are belligerent and quick to anger, creating unnecessary drama and making situations worse.

[nemrut]

It's a dangerous combination of that stupid, outdated "loss of face" issue and a general attitude that violence is an acceptable response. Add in the lack of real police law enforcement and the fact that you can pay to get yourself out of trouble and you get all too frequent situations like this.

The fact is that Thai people just struggle to handle confrontation and there are too many of them that respond with violence.

In this case the passenger insulted his position as a taxi driver, he complaint was likely very valid but the loss of face was too much for the idiot, scumbag taxi driver.

I am sure there will be many posters who state the obvious "this happens everywhere, not just here" and of course Thailand does not have exclusivity on mindless violence. But it is a country that has an outdated "loss of face" nonsense that is so deep it is pretty unique and has no place in the modern word.

I hope they catch him and I hope he gets the appropriate sentence... Note to all, sit in the back of taxis at all times...

You seem to have little understanding of 'loss of face' so perhaps you can share what you think it means.

[GAZZPA]

It's a dangerous combination of that stupid, outdated "loss of face" issue and a general attitude that violence is an acceptable response. Add in the lack of real police law enforcement and the fact that you can pay to get yourself out of trouble and you get all too frequent situations like this.

The fact is that Thai people just struggle to handle confrontation and there are too many of them that respond with violence.

In this case the passenger insulted his position as a taxi driver, he complaint was likely very valid but the loss of face was too much for the idiot, scumbag taxi driver.

I am sure there will be many posters who state the obvious "this happens everywhere, not just here" and of course Thailand does not have exclusivity on mindless violence. But it is a country that has an outdated "loss of face" nonsense that is so deep it is pretty unique and has no place in the modern word.

I hope they catch him and I hope he gets the appropriate sentence... Note to all, sit in the back of taxis at all times...

You seem to have little understanding of 'loss of face' so perhaps you can share what you think it means.

Loss of face is when someone loses there standing, be it over their job, their word, marital affairs just about anything where a contradiction / insult occurs against that individual,, why what do you think it means?

[nemrut]

It's a dangerous combination of that stupid, outdated "loss of face" issue and a general attitude that violence is an acceptable response. Add in the lack of real police law enforcement and the fact that you can pay to get yourself out of trouble and you get all too frequent situations like this.

The fact is that Thai people just struggle to handle confrontation and there are too many of them that respond with violence.

In this case the passenger insulted his position as a taxi driver, he complaint was likely very valid but the loss of face was too much for the idiot, scumbag taxi driver.

I am sure there will be many posters who state the obvious "this happens everywhere, not just here" and of course Thailand does not have exclusivity on mindless violence. But it is a country that has an outdated "loss of face" nonsense that is so deep it is pretty unique and has no place in the modern word.

I hope they catch him and I hope he gets the appropriate sentence... Note to all, sit in the back of taxis at all times...

You seem to have little understanding of 'loss of face' so perhaps you can share what you think it means.

Loss of face is when someone loses there standing, be it over their job, their word, marital affairs just about anything where a contradiction / insult occurs against that individual,, why what do you think it means?

That's the typical western, individualistic interpretation. It's less about the individual and more about the social implications for the group or community. One's social standing impacts the group/community they associate with.

Farang often talk about loss of face in a derisive manner while wrongly blaming it for the source of common character flaws.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Thailand has the worst taxi drivers in the world. I'm sure there are a few honest ones mixed in there, but yeah the vast majority are crooks at best.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What a bunch of crap.

[digibum]

Why do taxi drivers act like this? I mean i am sure there are cab drivers like this in other countries who are just weird.

No one country, large or small monopolies weirdness. You don't get the proper amount of rest, God only knows what might happen. Check out the TV posters. It is a collection of many who just use their lives to pass judgment.

Yes, exactly. Can you imagine the conversations that go on amongst Thais about farangs? "Honey, you see this on the news? Another farang arrested for credit card skimming. What's wrong with these farangs?"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that on a percentage basis, more farang teachers have either:

a) Been caught sleeping with their students

Have been spotted in red light districts

Than Thai taxi drivers have stabbed their passengers.

So, would it be fair if Thais characterized all farang teachers or even all farangs based on the relatively small number of pervs who take up teaching as a way to stay in Thailand?

Yes, there are a lot of a-hole Thai taxi drivers. It's one of the lowest forms of employment in Thailand with zero educational or other requirements. Unless you're going to eliminate a good number of the taxis on the road via some sort of system where drivers have to meet some sort of customer satisfaction standard, you're going to have some nut jobs in the mix.

Personally, this is why I think Uber and similar services make so much more sense. Someone, somewhere knows who picked you up and if you're some Thai woman taking a taxi late at night you don't have to worry (as much) about some anonymous taxi driver taking you down some deserted area and having his way with you. The current system forces the victim to remember the driver's taxi number or his name from his taxi license rather than the taxi company having a detailed record of who is getting in their vehicles and who is driving them.

Why are there so many people who play down completely unacceptable behaviour and understandable anger shown towards violent people?

What is the purpose of your post? To use poor. hypothetical examples to "put things into perspective"?

There is a problem with taxi drivers here, no doubt about it. Not just in their display of violence but also their overall service to the community. They pick and chose whatever fare they want and after 3, 4 or 5 rejections passengers get a little impatient, so when they finally do get into a taxi if there is a load of nonsense thrown at them they complain, is it surprising? And what happens next? Well hopefully just an angry driver who wants you out but in this case the guy was stabbed!

The guy needs catching and the taxi service needs rebooting with enforcement of the taxi license holder rules. But most importantly they should vet all taxi license holders for criminal records, if history of violence or sexual assault then no license.

My point being that one crazy guy does not constitute all taxi drivers. People are speaking like a stabbing is a high-probability outcome in taking a taxi in Thailand when, in reality, if you looked at how many taxi rides are rendered without incident compared to the relatively few bad outcomes, a lot of the rhetoric is uncalled for.

The other part of my point is that most taxi drivers in Thailand don't start off with the dream of one day becoming a taxi driver. It's more or less the only thing available. I'm not apologizing for that. I'm simply explaining it.

Take any population of people and force them into a relatively few number of career options and you're going to get a noticeable uptick in mentally unstable people in a certain profession. That's not an apology, that's just plain common sense and an understanding of statistics.

That said, can it be better? Yes. And that's the point I tried to make. Service like Uber tend to attract people who actually want to be in the business and are not forced into it so the quality of the people tends to be higher.

The government could also do more to screen out people who can obtain a taxi license. But they won't. Because they have no other jobs for these people. They're just going to keep pumping them into the system so they don't have to provide mental health services and-or so they can claim Thailand has 0% unemployment.

[digibum]

I think it would be acceptable to turning away passengers because they are rude or too drunk etc... But there must be some 'line in the sand'... too many times passengers are turned away because the traffic is too busy in the destination area. This I believe is wrong, a law is in place to stop this, if we are to accept that turning away passengers at the whim of a driver is acceptable we open ourselves up to area's and destinations where no one can get a taxi to or from and the system fails.

The comments above while understandable are flawed because the Taxi's are not a wholly private enterprise. Taxi's in Bangkok are a service, the vendor applies / bids for a license, in doing so they are offering the 'promise' of service subsidising public transport.

Do you really think the average taxi driver cares if the system fails? He's a product of a failed system.

Taxi drivers are not doctors who take an oath to service the community because it is the morally right thing to do.

Yes, taxis are licensed. But the license scheme is corrupt. And the government agency that administers licenses is corrupt. And the transportation authority is corrupt. And the entire government is corrupt.

But this lowly taxi driver who is only driving the taxi because his other career choice was breaking his back in a rice paddy is supposed to buck the trend and think about his impact on society if he doesn't want to take a fare cross town in rush hour Bangkok traffic?

I'm not saying it's right. But in the grand scheme of things, taxi drivers not picking up fares they don't want to is so, so, so far down on the list of things that need to be fixed.

I'd start with better education, more career opportunities, and the chance at upward mobility in Thai society . . . but that's just me.

[srchino]

Or just outsource the taxi business altogether to Uber and Lyft, who have already figured it out quite nicely.

The Thai government has certainly had an ample opportunity to produce a functional taxi trade, and after years of garbage for both passengers and taxi drivers, it hasn't materialized yet. Never will.

[spidermike007]

Thailand has the worst taxi drivers in the world. I'm sure there are a few honest ones mixed in there, but yeah the vast majority are crooks at best.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not really. Have you ever been to Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta or Manila? I've found those places make Bangkok look pretty good by comparison. Apart from a few tourist areas, Bangkok drivers will generally take you where you want to go without any drama.

My experiences have been that the worst in the world are on Samui. Horrifically bad drivers, combined with no traffic safety on the island, make for a bad mix. Some passengers never leave the taxi alive. Also ridiculously expensive. No enforcement of meters, and if you argue enough, they pull out their machetes. A really stupid and crazy bunch of man children. Most are fairly surly. Most are tiny mafia types.