How Bangkok Taxis Scam On The Meter

[Little Black Duck]

2) Fitting oversized tyres for meter calibration, then running on smaller rims / tyre profiles at work. Nothing you can do about this apart from reporting the vehicle to wherever.

By the way bigger tyres would make the fare less , smaller one would increase the revs..

LBD- Trevor is right.As you say, bigger wheels and tires would make the fare less. So, if they did this at calibration time as Trevor suggests, the meter would be "adjusted / sped up" to account for this.

Switching to stock size wheels and tires when going to work after being calibrated would gain an advantage. Undersized wheels and tires would compund this, speeding up the meter even further.

Having said that - I don't really make an issue out of the fares in Bangkok. Taxis here are a great service. They are plentiful and cheap. As a rule, I will always give the driver a tip- rounding up to the next multiple of 20 baht so as to give them the fare in paper money and not screwing with coins.

Bino did you fail Maths at school??

A smaller circumfrence wheel will travel around more times than a large over the same distance..

[p_brownstone]

2) Fitting oversized tyres for meter calibration, then running on smaller rims / tyre profiles at work. Nothing you can do about this apart from reporting the vehicle to wherever.

By the way bigger tyres would make the fare less , smaller one would increase the revs..

LBD- Trevor is right.As you say, bigger wheels and tires would make the fare less. So, if they did this at calibration time as Trevor suggests, the meter would be "adjusted / sped up" to account for this.

Switching to stock size wheels and tires when going to work after being calibrated would gain an advantage. Undersized wheels and tires would compund this, speeding up the meter even further.

Having said that - I don't really make an issue out of the fares in Bangkok. Taxis here are a great service. They are plentiful and cheap. As a rule, I will always give the driver a tip- rounding up to the next multiple of 20 baht so as to give them the fare in paper money and not screwing with coins.

Bino did you fail Maths at school??

A smaller circumfrence wheel will travel around more times than a large over the same distance..

Smaller wheels cover less ground per rotation than larger wheels; and, basically, it's the rotation - of the Axel - which governs the Meter.

Patrick

[Little Black Duck]

2) Fitting oversized tyres for meter calibration, then running on smaller rims / tyre profiles at work. Nothing you can do about this apart from reporting the vehicle to wherever.

By the way bigger tyres would make the fare less , smaller one would increase the revs..

LBD- Trevor is right.As you say, bigger wheels and tires would make the fare less. So, if they did this at calibration time as Trevor suggests, the meter would be "adjusted / sped up" to account for this.

Switching to stock size wheels and tires when going to work after being calibrated would gain an advantage. Undersized wheels and tires would compund this, speeding up the meter even further.

Having said that - I don't really make an issue out of the fares in Bangkok. Taxis here are a great service. They are plentiful and cheap. As a rule, I will always give the driver a tip- rounding up to the next multiple of 20 baht so as to give them the fare in paper money and not screwing with coins.

Bino did you fail Maths at school??

A smaller circumfrence wheel will travel around more times than a large over the same distance..

Smaller wheels cover less ground per rotation than larger wheels; and, basically, it's the rotation - of the Axel - which governs the Meter.

Patrick

Exactly Patrick Silly Boy so therefore it will take more revolutions to get from point A to Point B.. Hence Higher Fare...

Has the coin dropped yet..Bye the way have been known to accept apologies..He He He...

[guardian]

I had a ride in an older Taxi the other day. The meter spun up to 75 baht in a few blocks. The same ride is usually 35 baht.

I should have called the cops.

Same thing happened to me once in all the 10 years I lived here in Bangkok and it was an older taxi just like how skippy mentioned.

I paid 21,550 baht from Nana to Don Muang airport last summer.

Are you for real ? That's supposed to be a joke, isn't it ?

[deminister]

You seem to be here for all the wrong reasons. Too much time on hand to make a problem out of 30 or so baht. The petrol prices must have at least doubled, the meter price is still 35 baht. It is is a shame anyhow that those people cannot start with 50 or 70 baht. What do you pay your maebahn? 100 baht a day? It is people like you who make uss all suffer. If people were spending money here, they would not have needed to rethink the 30 day stamps.

[jumnien]

Does anyone know of anyplace on Earth where the taxis are as clean, new and inexpensive as they are in Bangkok?

[guardian]

You seem to be here for all the wrong reasons. Too much time on hand to make a problem out of 30 or so baht. The petrol prices must have at least doubled, the meter price is still 35 baht. It is is a shame anyhow that those people cannot start with 50 or 70 baht. What do you pay your maebahn? 100 baht a day? It is people like you who make uss all suffer. If people were spending money here, they would not have needed to rethink the 30 day stamps.

I don't know who that was directed towards, but I forgot to mention that my experience was almost 6 - 7 years ago well before prices of petrol increased.

[pgs]

One of the best ones I had was from the Northern Bus Terminal to the city in heavy rain. Driver requested we pay 100B more then the meter because he had to drive slowly for our safety (which put the fare up anyway). Yes, I paid - it was a good try and worth the laugh.

Avoiding the freelancers at the bus terminal also saves - one tried for 350B (no meter) for what should be a sub 200B fare. We only use the ones that are supposed to be there.

Generally I have found grabbing the business card of the hotel/whatever helps with translation of address - unless you get a driver that can't read and won't accept directions given by farangs.

[Soju]

You can be smarter though if it is a route you commonly take " offer the driver the known day rate plus 50 baht" and tell him do not use the meter. Cash in his pocket not the owners, everybodys happy. Been There Done That

So then you are helping him to ripoff the owners. Sorry, but that is one of the reason why I typically refuse to ride in a taxi that won't use the meter. I can't in good conscience help the driver rip off his employer any more than I will allow him to rip me off.

The driver is not ripping the owner off. The owner (if not the driver) rents by the shift and is paid on that basis.

Oxymoron said "Cash in his pocket not the owners", which means he is ripping off the owner. What would be the advantage for the driver to not using the meter unless he was ripping off either the passenger or the owner? None as far as I can tell.

If the driver is renting by the shift, then he would not be ripping off the owner, but if, as you say, the owner rents by the shift, but if the driver isn't renting by the shift, then he is indeed ripping off the owner.

[Soju]

Brother in law is a Taxi driver in Bangkok, he pays owner of the Taxi 600baht for a shift=12 hrs, then has to make a wage.

Curious about what kind of money he makes at being a taxi driver. I assume he has to pay for all the gasoline he uses during his shift. What about maintenance...is that all covered by the owner? What is his total gross receipts on a typical day, minus tips? And what are his tips and what are his gasoline and any other expenses? Is the money he makes 100% legitimate or does he ever make some via scamming? Not trying to get into the taxi business, but rather just trying to see how much or little a taxi driver really makes as so much has been said about them not making enough. It would be a great reference point for future "taxi" posts if we had some cold-hard numbers about what exactly is their income and expenses.

[N47HAN]

Lived in glorious bkk for a year or so and moved down to phuket 2 years ago.

christ guys u think bkk taxis are on the fiddle ..

come to phuket some time and have a ride in a phuket tuk tuk

[Gary A]

Most of the drivers are honest and are not looking to "SCAM" you. Their costs have gone way up and the fares have not. Since the fuel has gone up I ALWAYS tip at least 10%. I have been criticized and called stupid because I tip them but it's my money and it's up to me.

I KNOW this is not Kalifornia, but it cost me $50 PLUS a tip to get from Montebello to LAX. Taxis here are a bargain and most of the drivers here speak more English than the Kalifornia taxi drivers.

[alexth]

I can't belive some people are complaining about taxis in Bangkok. These taxis are one of the most affordable and comfortable taxis in the world, but some people still find a way to complain about this too

[The Coder]

Their costs have gone way up and the fares have not. Since the fuel has gone up...

Correct me if I am wrong, but Bangkok taxi's run on natural gas.

[andyashley]

Their costs have gone way up and the fares have not. Since the fuel has gone up...

Correct me if I am wrong, but Bangkok taxi's run on natural gas.

yeap, most taxi's do run on natural gas and not fuel. Btw, out of topic, but has anyone noticed the increase in women taxi drivers of late? Or is it just my eyes..

[popshirt]

most bangkok taxi drivers are saints compared to the lowlife trash that drive taxis on phuket , samui and pattaya.

some of them are helpful above and beyond the call of duty and there should be a fare rise for them.

unusually for me , i would turn a blind eye to low level meter fiddling in bangkok.

I abandoned Pattaya because of the awful baht bus system. I LOVE Bangkok taxis!

[orchis]

In 11.5 yrs I had no complaints about taxis in BKK and I use them almost daily,

ok, I dont like it when they refuse a ride, but then I take the next. Big deal.

[bino]

Bino did you fail Maths at school??

Nope.

Smaller wheels cover less ground per rotation than larger wheels; and, basically, it's the rotation - of the Axel - which governs the Meter.

Patrick

Exactly Patrick Silly Boy so therefore it will take more revolutions to get from point A to Point B.. Hence Higher Fare...

Undersized wheels and tires would compund this, speeding up the meter even further.

Aren't we all saying the same thing here?

Bye the way have been known to accept apologies..He He He...

Ever been known to make them?

Edited December 18, 2006 by bino

[Thai-Spy]

One of the great taxi scams of years gone by would see the driver insert a steel pin through the meter's wiring harness at just the right spot. Then at the destination he'd ground it against something metal. The effect was to make all the meter's LED elements light up and create an instant 888 baht fare. Wouldn't fool an old Bangkok hand for a second, but surely took in more than a few gullible tourists.