Bangkok taxis oppose attempt to legalise on-demand private car service

[Winniedapu]

I'll feel more sympathetic to this cause once BKK taxi drivers stop..

Fleecing foreign tourists, assaulting women, attacking people with fists and weapons, refusing fares where people want to go, removing seatbelts, tampering with meters, not using meters, playing horrible loud music, rudely screaming at passengers demanding high flat rate fares and tips, pretending they don't have change, and driving like crazed beasts or animales on drugs

Couple of days ago I get into a taxi, try to use a seat belt, he says no no no, police no problem I am mafia

I said ok. Stop let us out

Next one we got agreed to take us from sukhumvit to victory monument and I explained the route to

Take via eckamie and Rama9 and dindeang rd

After a few min we encountered some traffic and he didn't want to go anymore unless he could drive backwards and make a Uturn to get to the toll way (would have taken probably even longer)

I told him to continue on the agreed route and he moved into the left lane to make a Uturn anyway

We ended up almost fighting because I told him if he doesn't want to drive a taxi in bkk traffic he should find another job that's less complicated and he didn't like it... And starting using abusive language

These current drivers are a blight on the handful of good ones..... But doubt it will change in our lifetimes

Sorry to play a 'national characteristics' card, but I don't believe it will stop until the things which characterise Thais change, and that won't be any time soon.

Harsh I know, but that's been my experience,. Thais are rude, indolent and feckless. If there isn't a quick buck in it, them most don't want to know, and it doesn't seem to matter if you're in BKK or Chaing Mai or Isaan - probably the deep south as well for all I know..

Sorry but that's how they've taught me to think about them. They're in the 3rd world and that's either because they're smart, industrious and honest, or it isn't.

Winnie

Edited June 15, 2016 by Winniedapu

[scorecard]

I'll feel more sympathetic to this cause once BKK taxi drivers stop..

Fleecing foreign tourists, assaulting women, attacking people with fists and weapons, refusing fares where people want to go, removing seatbelts, tampering with meters, not using meters, playing horrible loud music, rudely screaming at passengers demanding high flat rate fares and tips, pretending they don't have change, and driving like crazed beasts or animales on drugs

Couple of days ago I get into a taxi, try to use a seat belt, he says no no no, police no problem I am mafia

I said ok. Stop let us out

Next one we got agreed to take us from sukhumvit to victory monument and I explained the route to

Take via eckamie and Rama9 and dindeang rd

After a few min we encountered some traffic and he didn't want to go anymore unless he could drive backwards and make a Uturn to get to the toll way (would have taken probably even longer)

I told him to continue on the agreed route and he moved into the left lane to make a Uturn anyway

We ended up almost fighting because I told him if he doesn't want to drive a taxi in bkk traffic he should find another job that's less complicated and he didn't like it... And starting using abusive language

These current drivers are a blight on the handful of good ones..... But doubt it will change in our lifetimes

Sorry to play a 'national characteristics' card, but I don't believe it will stop until the things which characterise Thais change, and that won't be any time soon.

Harsh I know, but that's been my experience,. Thais are rude, indolent and feckless. If there isn't a quick buck in it, them most don't want to know, and it doesn't seem to matter if you're in BKK or Chaing Mai or Isaan - probably the deep south as well for all I know..

Sorry but that's how they've taught me to think about them. They're in the 3rd world and that's either because they're smart, industrious and honest, or it isn't.

Winnie

"If there isn't a quick buck in it, "

I've had the experience of getting in a cab at swampy airport on return to Bkk from Singapore with my Thai son, he was about 25 years old. His face is very Thai.

Driver agreed to use meter then 1 kilometer away from the terminal wanted 1,000Baht to go to Petchaburi Road. I refused and said, in Thai, use the meter or go back to the terminal, he totally refused and continues to demand 1,000Baht.

My son intervened and said 'stop trying to cheat my father'.

Driver responded with 'you are Thai you should be helping me to cheat the farang'.

When we got about 1 km from home I started to call the tourist police and son explained in Thai what I was doing.

Driver suddenly changed his mind and said he would use the meter.

[Winniedapu]

I'll feel more sympathetic to this cause once BKK taxi drivers stop..

Fleecing foreign tourists, assaulting women, attacking people with fists and weapons, refusing fares where people want to go, removing seatbelts, tampering with meters, not using meters, playing horrible loud music, rudely screaming at passengers demanding high flat rate fares and tips, pretending they don't have change, and driving like crazed beasts or animales on drugs

Couple of days ago I get into a taxi, try to use a seat belt, he says no no no, police no problem I am mafia

I said ok. Stop let us out

Next one we got agreed to take us from sukhumvit to victory monument and I explained the route to

Take via eckamie and Rama9 and dindeang rd

After a few min we encountered some traffic and he didn't want to go anymore unless he could drive backwards and make a Uturn to get to the toll way (would have taken probably even longer)

I told him to continue on the agreed route and he moved into the left lane to make a Uturn anyway

We ended up almost fighting because I told him if he doesn't want to drive a taxi in bkk traffic he should find another job that's less complicated and he didn't like it... And starting using abusive language

These current drivers are a blight on the handful of good ones..... But doubt it will change in our lifetimes

Sorry to play a 'national characteristics' card, but I don't believe it will stop until the things which characterise Thais change, and that won't be any time soon.

Harsh I know, but that's been my experience,. Thais are rude, indolent and feckless. If there isn't a quick buck in it, them most don't want to know, and it doesn't seem to matter if you're in BKK or Chaing Mai or Isaan - probably the deep south as well for all I know..

Sorry but that's how they've taught me to think about them. They're in the 3rd world and that's either because they're smart, industrious and honest, or it isn't.

Winnie

"If there isn't a quick buck in it, "

I've had the experience of getting in a cab at swampy airport on return to Bkk from Singapore with my Thai son, he was about 25 years old. His face is very Thai.

Driver agreed to use meter then 1 kilometer away from the terminal wanted 1,000Baht to go to Petchaburi Road. I refused and said, in Thai, use the meter or go back to the terminal, he totally refused and continues to demand 1,000Baht.

My son intervened and said 'stop trying to cheat my father'.

Driver responded with 'you are Thai you should be helping me to cheat the farang'.

When we got about 1 km from home I started to call the tourist police and son explained in Thai what I was doing.

Driver suddenly changed his mind and said he would use the meter.

"Driver responded with 'you are Thai you should be helping me to cheat the farang'."

And there it is...

I had a similar experience some years ago. Looking back, I think that was the first time some of the touristy stars fell from my eyes.

LOTR - Land of Thieves and Rascals. Mqny, many people think that with good reason, they can't be all wrong.

W

Edited June 15, 2016 by Winniedapu

[Tomtomtom69]

well its seems like the 150,000 other taxi drivers are more of a competition than the few thousand Uber drivers there are, but there are only a couple hundred driving at any given time. Uber drivers don't wait in Taxi cue, Uber drivers don't pick up passengers waiting at the side of the street.

If they want to have an edge, taxi drivers should join Grab Taxi so they can compete with Uber if they are so afraid of competition.

Agreed - but then on any journey they agree to using Grab will have a record of the driver & passenger... i.e. some level of accountability.

Of course, many are ok with this, these same drivers get on with their jobs without issue.

It is the 'others' who want to fleece, over charge, not use their meter etc who don't want to use Grab... these entitled group also believe they should be operating without competition.

IF Bangkok's taxi services were reliable and trouble free I'd be far happy using them and not having to rely on the alternatives (UBER and GrabCar).

Yup the sooner these taxis realize that they need to change, the sooner they will start making more money and even have repeat customers.

I have business associates who always use the same taxi driver when they come to Thailand, because they had a good experience with him. Taxi driver makes more money by charging fix rate, win win for both.

Not only that I think Bangkok has too many Taxis too, they need to start regulating how many Taxis there are on the street. The problem is internal not external factors such as Uber. Government and Taxi association created the problems themselves by having too many cars and their points system does not work to deter bad drivers.

True, prior to 1992 the government had a fixed quota of around 13,000 cabs that were allowed to operate. Suddenly the got rid of the quota and numbers have since mushroomed to at least 106,000 (in Bangkok alone).

Other provinces also have cabs nowadays but they operate in rather strange ways compared to Bangkok - they don't roam the streets for fares and often don't use meters.

Perhaps the government might want to cull some of the taxis off of Bangkok roads by re-instating a quota. Not sure what that number should be certainly 13,000 would be far too low but perhaps 50,000 or so? Bangkok is a huge city after all. By contrast, Kunming in China, a city of some 8 million people has an extreme cab shortage - for years there were just 6,900 cabs though I think they have now increased their quota to around 10,000, which is still well below demand. Finding a cab there is tough work - whereas they're a dime a dozen in Bangkok.

Upcountry cities should however also have a similar taxi service. Mae Sot I think has just 8 taxis when it could probably do with 50-100. Chiang Rai has 50, when it should have perhaps 500 all roaming the streets for fares. Don't know how many Chonburi has, but they could do with 5,000-10,000 given how many tourists there are in Pattaya. Ditto for Phuket, Samui, Hua Hin and other touristy cities, which should all have at least a few hundred or more cabs each. Urban public transport in upcountry Thai cities can be pretty dreadful - taxis could help in addressing this issue.

[Tomtomtom69]

Couple of days ago I get into a taxi, try to use a seat belt, he says no no no, police no problem I am mafia

I said ok. Stop let us out

Next one we got agreed to take us from sukhumvit to victory monument and I explained the route to

Take via eckamie and Rama9 and dindeang rd

After a few min we encountered some traffic and he didn't want to go anymore unless he could drive backwards and make a Uturn to get to the toll way (would have taken probably even longer)

I told him to continue on the agreed route and he moved into the left lane to make a Uturn anyway

We ended up almost fighting because I told him if he doesn't want to drive a taxi in bkk traffic he should find another job that's less complicated and he didn't like it... And starting using abusive language

These current drivers are a blight on the handful of good ones..... But doubt it will change in our lifetimes

Sorry to play a 'national characteristics' card, but I don't believe it will stop until the things which characterise Thais change, and that won't be any time soon.

Harsh I know, but that's been my experience,. Thais are rude, indolent and feckless. If there isn't a quick buck in it, them most don't want to know, and it doesn't seem to matter if you're in BKK or Chaing Mai or Isaan - probably the deep south as well for all I know..

Sorry but that's how they've taught me to think about them. They're in the 3rd world and that's either because they're smart, industrious and honest, or it isn't.

Winnie

"If there isn't a quick buck in it, "

I've had the experience of getting in a cab at swampy airport on return to Bkk from Singapore with my Thai son, he was about 25 years old. His face is very Thai.

Driver agreed to use meter then 1 kilometer away from the terminal wanted 1,000Baht to go to Petchaburi Road. I refused and said, in Thai, use the meter or go back to the terminal, he totally refused and continues to demand 1,000Baht.

My son intervened and said 'stop trying to cheat my father'.

Driver responded with 'you are Thai you should be helping me to cheat the farang'.

When we got about 1 km from home I started to call the tourist police and son explained in Thai what I was doing.

Driver suddenly changed his mind and said he would use the meter.

"Driver responded with 'you are Thai you should be helping me to cheat the farang'."

And there it is...

I had a similar experience some years ago. Looking back, I think that was the first time some of the touristy stars fell from my eyes.

LOTR - Land of Thieves and Rascals. Mqny, many people think that with good reason, they can't be all wrong.

W

scorecard, you shouldn't have even gotten into the cab when the driver refused to use the meter. Taxis at the airport are a dime a dozen. One wants to rip you off? You get the next one. You don't just get inside the cab and then negotiate the fare halfway to your destination when the driver should be using the meter - you do it when you first approach the driver and tell him where you want to go. He will offer a price. You say no, "meter". He refuses, so you tell him to get lost (actually you don't even have to - walking away is enough) then talk to the next guy behind him. Easy peasy.

[arunsakda]

I'll feel more sympathetic to this cause once BKK taxi drivers stop..

Fleecing foreign tourists, assaulting women, attacking people with fists and weapons, refusing fares where people want to go, removing seatbelts, tampering with meters, not using meters, playing horrible loud music, rudely screaming at passengers demanding high flat rate fares and tips, pretending they don't have change, and driving like crazed beasts or animales on drugs

Offering various forms of prostitutes immediately to any foreign man entering vehicle assuming that all Farang "want lady".

Touting clip-joints, horrible/overpriced lodgings, commission gift shops, and long discredited Gem buying scams. Engaging in pointless inane small talk "where you come from?".

Also hogging parking in front of hotels to greet the soon to be fleeced Tourists with Alligator smiles. Whilst using Mafia tactics to intimidate and threaten honest drivers who are seen as to infiltrate "their territory".

Did I miss anything? Must be more.

[bamukloy]

there must be some reason why taxi drivers turn down fares. either they journey is not economically viable to heavy traffic conditions or trip is too short to enable the taxi driver to make suitable amount of money ( in this case minimum fare ought to be considered by the authorities ).this problem is rampant in countries with poor enforcement practices and will need concerted effort by all parties in the equation. the problem, however, is serious and needs urgent attention.

There is a multitude of reasons, all of which have been talked about on this site.

I'd say the two main ones are

- they avoid roads where they know there will be a long traffic jam.

- going to a location where they think they will loose money or get stuck in traffic on the return.

The funny thing is, even when talking to a Thai passenger they dont offer any explanation or reason, just a shake the head will suffice.

[JonnyF]

^ TomTom is right, and even when inside the cab you can refuse. I had one guy try to negotiate a fixed price at the airport instead of turning on the meter (before we started moving). I asked him once to put on the meter and then as he continued to negotiate a price I didn't reply, just grabbed my bag and opened the door to get out of the cab and he immediately agreed to use the meter. I assume it does actually cause the driver trouble if a customer returns to the desk to inform them that the taxi they provided refused to use the meter.

Same if I flag one down on the street and state a destination and they start quoting a price, I just close the door without replying and look for another one. No need to slam it or waste your breath complaining, just close it normally and walk away. I wouldn't waste my time with a Bangkok taxi driver any more than I would try and debate with a soi dog.

Bangkok taxis are at the point that they're only to be used in emergency situations IMO. Even if they accept the destination and use the meter they usually don't have seatbelts, drive poorly/dangerously, have crackly Thai radio blasting out (which they refuse to turn down), smell like a moldy jock strap and I end up sticking to the seats because the driver doesn't want to waste his money on a bit of air con. Any event that I know of in advance I take the car, otherwise I get out feeling like I need a paracetamol and a shower.

[dhream]

You are lucky to have Taxis to complain about. The entire Chiang mai fleet never leave the airport car park. Its a criminal disgrace. I hope uber drive them to extinction. Good riddance.

[kannot]

Well of course they object. They cannot stand the competition. Yet, no one ever seems to think all this through. Why would a couple thousand Uber taxis be competition to 120000 Thai taxis? Could it be because the taxi using public is not happy with the service they are receiving from the Thai taxis?

It has not occured to the Thai taxis that if they cleaned up their act the public would be much happier, and perhaps less likely to call Uber?

Easier to complain and file a petition than actually try and solve the problem.

always bleat " not fair" rather than change.....Thainess

[kingalfred]

If this corrupt city bans uber cars after already banning ubermoto , then I'm done with the city. All this in a background of the taximeter lack of improvement in a huge area of scamming and poor service!

[kingalfred]

Just so anyone from outside Thailand ate reading and are crazy enough to come . Fifty percent of Bangkok Taxis are crazy cheats

Edited June 18, 2016 by kingalfred

[impulse]

Use Uber or grab cab then the others will either start taking fares on the meter or starve there choice.

Maybe not mutually exclusive. With tomatoes and other necessities tripling recently, they may use the meters AND starve.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/925128-cost-of-tomatoes-almost-trebled

As much as I hate the behavior, the reality is that driving a taxi in BKK is a tough life. They only get paid for the time they have passengers, and not for the time they're waiting in line or cruising looking for passengers. And there's way too many taxis so the fares may be few and far between during much of the day. Taxi fares haven't kept up with inflation, and the car owners -not the drivers- extract most of the proceeds from a day out in the soul crushing Bangkok traffic.

I'd like to see them implement a multi-tiered pricing where ragged out old taxis keep the same fare- or maybe a little increase to be able to buy tomatoes, and newer, nicer taxis can charge a higher price for a better service and to pay for newer cars, and mini-van taxis can charge a different price for hauling more passengers and luggage.

And Uber drivers have to pay the same licensing fees and taxes and be registered as livery vehicles and insured- just to keep the playing field level.

Edited June 19, 2016 by impulse

[jim cortesos]

Never had a problem with 130000 Bangkok taxi's..Some funny drivers that were interesting.This guy played Elton's J's 'Croc' Rock' over 4 times on a 20 min. ride.. It just replayed itself over and over some sort of cd for D J's..To this day I hate that song.lol. My taxi's pal air-con went down 3/4 way through the trip...

He said.'.Farang sook' laughing... It got hot real fast. He rolled down the window..You never see a car with the windows down in BKK..Unless ..Oh I get I am smoking yet I was boiling ..sweat dropping off my nose..So funny..Mai pen Rai!