Please check the sub-heading of the Regional news forum

[wump]

Well, that didn't take long. When the service started some two years ago hopes where high that you could finally get a Pattaya taxi to use their meter (albeit with a little surcharge).

Tried to book one the other day, installed the app and the estimated price was 200 Baht for 1.7 kms within central Pattaya. I might as well charter a Baht bus then. Well done, mafia!

[Guderian]

I tried using GrabTaxi when it first started up. I wanted to go form Thepprasit to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya (BHP). The app found my house with no problem, but could it find BPH? Not a chance!

[1BADDAT]

Well, that didn't take long. When the service started some two years ago hopes where high that you could finally get a Pattaya taxi to use their meter (albeit with a little surcharge).

Tried to book one the other day, installed the app and the estimated price was 200 Baht for 1.7 kms within central Pattaya. I might as well charter a Baht bus then. Well done, mafia!

Its not a metered service. A metered service is based on actual time and distance. And I am calling BS on your 1.7 kms 200 baht claim. See attached:

Does the baht bus come to your door and wait for you?

Do you get to sit comfortably (and safely) in the back seat of an air conditioned cab on a baht bus?

Can you schedule a pickup with a baht bus?

[1BADDAT]

I tried using GrabTaxi when it first started up. I wanted to go form Thepprasit to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya (BHP). The app found my house with no problem, but could it find BPH? Not a chance!

Well apparently they fixed it since then or maybe you were going to the hospital to get your eyes checked? See above.

[RabC]

Well, that didn't take long. When the service started some two years ago hopes where high that you could finally get a Pattaya taxi to use their meter (albeit with a little surcharge).

Tried to book one the other day, installed the app and the estimated price was 200 Baht for 1.7 kms within central Pattaya. I might as well charter a Baht bus then. Well done, mafia!

Its not a metered service. A metered service is based on actual time and distance. And I am calling BS on your 1.7 kms 200 baht claim. See attached:

Does the baht bus come to your door and wait for you?

Do you get to sit comfortably (and safely) in the back seat of an air conditioned cab on a baht bus?

Can you schedule a pickup with a baht bus?

It certainly started as a metered service, as I used it numerous times, however the use of the meter didn't last long and that's when I stopped using them.

[1BADDAT]

Well, that didn't take long. When the service started some two years ago hopes where high that you could finally get a Pattaya taxi to use their meter (albeit with a little surcharge).

Tried to book one the other day, installed the app and the estimated price was 200 Baht for 1.7 kms within central Pattaya. I might as well charter a Baht bus then. Well done, mafia!

Its not a metered service. A metered service is based on actual time and distance. And I am calling BS on your 1.7 kms 200 baht claim. See attached:

Does the baht bus come to your door and wait for you?

Do you get to sit comfortably (and safely) in the back seat of an air conditioned cab on a baht bus?

Can you schedule a pickup with a baht bus?

It certainly started as a metered service, as I used it numerous times, however the use of the meter didn't last long and that's when I stopped using them.

I may be wrong, but in the 2 years I have used it, it was never metered. I actually prefer knowing the exact amount before I get in the taxi, and have no complaints about the cost.

[tolsti]

I use them nearly every day as I move between work positions. Super service and its 210 from Wongamat to Pratumnak and 190 vice versa. Drivers are always polite, clean vehicles and once you have used the same driver a few times, quite chatty. Sure beats the baht bus in work clothes!

[jcowle]

I have used them on many occasions, and found them to be perfect, collect from the door to destination, clean car and pleasant driver every time.

[bow]

You must have taken a regular taxi meter in Bangkok many times. Is this Pattaya taxi company cheaper or more expensive than an ordinary Bangkok "TAXI METER" ?

"You will never get Bangkok taxi prices in Pattaya. Just pay and be happy."

No, I will not.

[wump]

"And I am calling BS on your 1.7 kms 200 baht claim. "

And who are you to question my map skills?! Feel free to input my route into the app yourself and then tell me the price. Geez.

Edited March 16, 2016 by wump

[raro]

wasn't there recently some big wrist slapping by the Pattaya Cityhall to adhere to the taxi meter?

[TheCruncher]

"And I am calling BS on your 1.7 kms 200 baht claim. "

And who are you to question my map skills?! Feel free to input my route into the app yourself and then tell me the price. Geez.

Where is the price quotation Wumpy?

[wump]

I never post with my phone so there is no screenshot from the app. I thought you would just believe me but since someone called my writing bullsh|t I think this is really this person's job to prove me otherwise.

[Woody1]

I've found GrabTaxi to be a fantastic service.

Very reliable, safe, and priced competitively.

I have never known them to use a meter (ever), and the price has always been quoted when booking online.

One thing that I have noticed though is in the early days you just made a booking and the taxi would arrive, but more recently there has been a, "tip" option added to the booking app, and from personal experience I find that unless you input a tip amount, the taxis don't really seem interested in picking you up.

[RabC]

I've found GrabTaxi to be a fantastic service.

Very reliable, safe, and priced competitively.

I have never known them to use a meter (ever), and the price has always been quoted when booking online.

One thing that I have noticed though is in the early days you just made a booking and the taxi would arrive, but more recently there has been a, "tip" option added to the booking app, and from personal experience I find that unless you input a tip amount, the taxis don't really seem interested in picking you up.

So not only do they not use meters they wont come unless you pay them more than the suggested fare. I don't see the difference between them and the standard Taxi mafia then.

[Basil B]

wasn't there recently some big wrist slapping by the Pattaya Cityhall to adhere to the taxi meter?

[Jingthing]

wasn't there recently some big wrist slapping by the Pattaya Cityhall to adhere to the taxi meter?

Nobody believed it.

[wpcoe]

GrabTaxi, when it launched in Pattaya, did use the meter. The price was metered fare + B50, plus a surcharge (B100?) if it were over a certain distance (8KM?)

Then they went flat fare, then they raised it, perhaps a couple times. In recent months, I've found that the fare quoted on a given route can vary from day to day. From my Jomtien condo to Bangkok Hospital-Pattaya sometimes would should B250, and other times B300. They also introduced (but I'm not sure if they still have) High Season and Low Season rates.

Twice I've had a driver deviate from a direct route from BHP to my condo (via Sukhumvit) to go via Beach Road, almost doubling the trip time. The reason? So he could sign in on a taxi queue clipboard hanging on a pole in front of Royal Garden shopping mall.