I feel sorry for these poor tuk tuk drivers.................No I don't

[steelepulse]

http://phuketgazette.net/opinion/Opinion-Solving-tuktuk-woes/62901

Strangely this guy doesn't mention their strong arm tactics, beating of tourists if they don't agree, the taking over of public parking spots, their rude behaviour, the unflattering words muttered to someone that turns them down etc.

Here's some choice one liners .

>>However, we sometimes feel that the government is not very attuned to what goes on in our field of work.

Be thankful, if they did, you would all be in jail for various crimes committed daily.

>>We really need help from the government in these situations, as it is taking away income from local people.

Ever hear of looking for a new line of work?

>>Currently, there is no one representing us in the government and so they often make rules based on what appeases the general public.

Instead, they should make rules that appease the tuk tuk drivers huh?

[grumpyoldman]

..........and now when I run by the area where the tuk-tuks have retaken over at the base of the driveway lagoon end of Nai Harn beach, it completely smells of piss.

[beechbum]

Comedy gold that article, just about every issue to guy raised could be picked to bits.

[madmitch]

I was waiting for this article to be posted on the news page but obviously the mods either didn't deem it important enough or they anticipated the wave of responses from the TV readers and realised it might block their servers.

Obviously thinking outside of the box, diversification, the effect the change of demographic has had on other small businesses is not in the vocabulary of the average tuk-tuk driver, or even the head of a co-operative.

What's next in the PG? Jetskis: why we should be allowed to expand our business.

[LivinginKata]

He must be very proud of his house that he is satnding in front of in the photo - very poor tuk tuk driver ...

[Lantern]

Stuff them. I'd never rent one in Phuket.

[schlog]

Pull all tuk tuks with the jet skis out into the ocean and sink them together to build up a new artificial reef. The drivers and their henchman will be relocated to Yala or Narathiwat.

[chercheur888]

Yes I agree with him

>>Currently, there is no one representing us in the government and so they often make rules based on what appeases the general public.

Instead, they should make rules that appease the tuk tuk drivers huh?

There should be Tuk Tuk Minister, Governors, police chiefs and generals.

The Tuk Tuk's need protection as they are so important.

[eisfeld]

Ahhh it was all a misunderstanding! The bad reputation of Tuk Tuks doesn't originate from their behaviour, it comes from the non-english speaking, drunk Falangs with 10 kids.

Well, I'm happy that was cleared up.

[NamKangMan]

The transport industry on Phuket is now starting to feel the effects of their own greed.

You reap what you sow, and there will be some very lean years ahead for tuk-tuk drivers on Phuket.

It's one thing to play a big part in changing the demographics of the tourists coming to Phuket, who are now also avoiding tuk-tuks and using coach buses, but it's a completely different thing to indirectly cause death and injury to so many who have no choice but to ride a motorbike here.

I have zero sympathy for them.

Edited January 20, 2016 by NamKangMan

[sebastion]

..........and now when I run by the area where the tuk-tuks have retaken over at the base of the driveway lagoon end of Nai Harn beach, it completely smells of piss.

Kata orbortor car park is one big toilet. It stinks. The tuk tuk drivers piss up against the orbortor wall.

[steelepulse]

Saw a black plate Honda City in the Karon ranks the last few days. Last week I advised someone not to take it for insurance reasons.

[sebastion]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

[steelepulse]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

Agreed. These guys can operate as they do due to the "fees" they pay for the "associations". However, they still do OK, but the bosses they pay to are just killing it............and killing tourism at the same time.

[WitawatWatawit]

This article was not written by that bloke, or even ghost written by a newspaper hack, but rather a professional PR type. That sticks out a mile. That would require some organisation and a lot of money, indicating the mafia owners of the tuk tuks are feeling the pinch as much as the drivers. Yet it's a poor PR effort because you can't play on the sympathy of an audience which has none. The only thing the people of Phuket and other tuk tuk/baht bus infected places want is an honest and decent service. That is the only approach they can take to win sympathy.

[NamKangMan]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

"nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing" - and this is why we are seeing Phuket "regressing" at a rapid rate now.

These guys, and the greedy Thai landlords, are flushing the Phuket tourism industry down the S bend.

[beechbum]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

There's quiet a few "Not very powerful people" that own just 1 or 2.

Edited January 21, 2016 by beechbum

[sebastion]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

There's quiet a few "Not very powerful people" that own just 1 or 2.

Not true. There are no independent tuk tuk owners. The plate licences are out of reach for the minions and controlled by those in powerful positions for decades.

The plates are leased to groups sometimes with or without the crappy Daihatsu attached. The bosses of the groups takes his cut and pays the big man upstairs. It's a patriarchal system like everything else in Thailand.

This is why there has never been change in the industry.

If they were dealing with independant operators the mess would have been cleaned up long ago due to them not being powerful or influential.

[beechbum]

It's very hard to feel sorry for them but you have to understand that some very powerful people own all the tuk tuk plates. The tuk tuk drivers have to pay most of the money they make upstairs. In the region of 2500 to 3000 baht a day. Times that by the number of tuk tuks and it's a very lucrative monopoly that nobody will give up for the sake of the island progressing.

There's quiet a few "Not very powerful people" that own just 1 or 2.

Not true. There are no independent tuk tuk owners. The plate licences are out of reach for the minions and controlled by those in powerful positions for decades.

The plates are leased to groups sometimes with or without the crappy Daihatsu attached. The bosses of the groups takes his cut and pays the big man upstairs. It's a patriarchal system like everything else in Thailand.

This is why there has never been change in the industry.

If they were dealing with independant operators the mess would have been cleaned up long ago due to them not being powerful or influential.

You are wrong, there are independent owners, they don't drive them though.

Edited January 21, 2016 by beechbum

[alfalfa19]

I have actually encountered 2 honest tuk tuk drivers. They were both in Bangkok. I encountered them only after several of the normal scumbag/scamster tuk tuk drivers summoned them after they saw I was not falling for their BS.

[gandalf12]

Ahhhhh these are poor hard done to thugs and robbers. You have to feel no compassion for them, really you do.

[jingjai9]

I live in Udon and one thing I notice. Motorcycles have tags, cars have tags, but Tuk Tuks do not have tags or license plates? Is it the same all over Thailand? If motorcycles pay this tax every year, why not Tuk Tuks? It is a business.

[Guest]

Ahhh it was all a misunderstanding! The bad reputation of Tuk Tuks doesn't originate from their behaviour, it comes from the non-english speaking, drunk Falangs with 10 kids.

Well, I'm happy that was cleared up.

I believe you mean "Foreigner" ... not Farang.

They are talking about the influx of Chinese discount tourists.

You know .. the ones who walk in restaurants with their own food, smoke while eating it, spit on the floor .. and leave the staff to clean it all up. The ones who think that 10 people can travel 5 kilometers in a vehicle for 50 Baht, and more often than not .. travel in their own tour bus.

THOSE "quality tourists" who really do not leave much money for the Thais who work in "Tourist-centric" industries

Now, I am no fan of Tuk Tuks .. becuase I live in the Kingdom and can do math. How they figure a ride in their luxury tuk tuk is worth MORE than a ride in an air conditioned and much safer taxi ... is beyond me.

But I live in BKK, so we have the luxury of not even flagging them down ... we leave that to locals who get a better price, and tourists who ruined it for the rest of us by paying 500 baht to go 3 blocks on Sukhumvit in the CBD.

The only time to take a tuk tuk (in BKK) is out of desperation.

As to the insanity of 600 Baht cab rides, and god knows what it would cost in a tuk tuk fares in Phuket ... well .. in short .. it sucks and is one of the reasons I do not visit the island more often. Not because i do not have 600 baht, but because I just do not like being made a fool of. And the Phuket taxi rates are simply an insult to any one's intelligence.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Guest

[NamKangMan]

Ahhh it was all a misunderstanding! The bad reputation of Tuk Tuks doesn't originate from their behaviour, it comes from the non-english speaking, drunk Falangs with 10 kids.

Well, I'm happy that was cleared up.

I believe you mean "Foreigner" ... not Farang.

They are talking about the influx of Chinese discount tourists.

You know .. the ones who walk in restaurants with their own food, smoke while eating it, spit on the floor .. and leave the staff to clean it all up. The ones who think that 10 people can travel 5 kilometers in a vehicle for 50 Baht, and more often than not .. travel in their own tour bus.

THOSE "quality tourists" who really do not leave much money for the Thais who work in "Tourist-centric" industries

Now, I am no fan of Tuk Tuks .. becuase I live in the Kingdom and can do math. How they figure a ride in their luxury tuk tuk is worth MORE than a ride in an air conditioned and much safer taxi ... is beyond me.

But I live in BKK, so we have the luxury of not even flagging them down ... we leave that to locals who get a better price, and tourists who ruined it for the rest of us by paying 500 baht to go 3 blocks on Sukhumvit in the CBD.

The only time to take a tuk tuk (in BKK) is out of desperation.

As to the insanity of 600 Baht cab rides, and god knows what it would cost in a tuk tuk fares in Phuket ... well .. in short .. it sucks and is one of the reasons I do not visit the island more often. Not because i do not have 600 baht, but because I just do not like being made a fool of. And the Phuket taxi rates are simply an insult to any one's intelligence.

"The ones who think that 10 people can travel 5 kilometers in a vehicle for 50 Baht" - 10 people can travel 5 kilometers in Pattaya for 100 baht.

"more often than not .. travel in their own tour bus" - just the same as tourists hire bikes / cars to get around the transport rip off here.

"How they figure a ride in their luxury tuk tuk is worth MORE than a ride in an air conditioned and much safer taxi ... is beyond me." - and that 10 minute ride in their tuk-tuk earns them more than the daily minimum wage in Thailand. Basically, a day's wages for 10 minutes of easy work.

"it sucks and is one of the reasons I do not visit the island more often" - it's also one of the main reasons Phuket has a rapidly declining western tourist market. You are not alone.

"Not because i do not have 600 baht, but because I just do not like being made a fool of." - and / or getting beaten up.

"And the Phuket taxi rates are simply an insult to any one's intelligence." - what taxis???? There are no readily available metered taxis on Phulket, yet, Phuket is being marketed as "A World Class Tourist Destination."

With transport, an essential service, being controlled by criminals here, can you now see why the only tourists Phuket now attracts are "Chinese discount tourists" and who can blame them for "traveling in their own tour bus?"

[NamKangMan]

I live in Udon and one thing I notice. Motorcycles have tags, cars have tags, but Tuk Tuks do not have tags or license plates? Is it the same all over Thailand? If motorcycles pay this tax every year, why not Tuk Tuks? It is a business.

Criminals don't pay tax.

[geisha]

Just look at where the Phuket tucs are parked. You'll see a pile of beer bottles and cans ! Just look at who's driving them too.

[fishbrando]

If Uber/Lyft ever opens in Phuket, it is going to be a bloodbath.

[NamKangMan]

If Uber/Lyft ever opens in Phuket, it is going to be a bloodbath.

Tried and failed.

[Rimmer]

Flame in Japanese script removed

[AlQaholic]

I never go to Phuket, and the only reason for not going there are the tuk tuks. I they disappear I may consider visiting again.