Taxi drivers that refuse fares just don't think they are doing anything wrong, complain angry Thais on Facebook

[Mickmouse1]

Sawasdee krup...soi 50 Sukhumvit ...taxi soi Ladphrao 130 please....ok ok 300 baht. ...no no meter , use meter...no No No meter....250 baht if no accept I go home....ok ok I call police...yes you call police me go home me no work...BUT U STOPPED FOR ME AND NEGOTIATED THE FARE....ME GO HOME U GO POLICE??

[wirat69]

When they won't use meter or quote ridiculous far, try taking a photo of the nameplate on the dashboard... hahahahaha 

[laocowboy2]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

"The buses in Bangkok, when paired with rail and or boat journeys are very adequate but most farang don't take the time to become familiar with the system. The best thing you can do is just learn the 2 or 3 bus lines that go from near your residence to your most frequent destination. Learn to time the traffic as to the best times to get a seat and avoid delays. you save a bundle over a year."

 

What's that got to do with this thread? Nothing, and I object to your lecture on how I should arrange my travel. 

 

"One can pretty well navigate Bangkok with minimal taxi usage." Again, it's not your place to lecture anybody on this subject.

 

Perhaps you might refresh the title of the thread.

 

Perhaps you would condone a doctor who sees a patient then rejects the patient outright because the matter is too complex or won't bring much income, perhaps the doctor only wants to deal with high profit simple cases. Is that OK?

 

"if everyone just walked away from cabbies who refuse to use the meter they would stop the practice pretty quickly." in my experience many farang do walk away from demands from outrageous fares, I certainly do.

 

Thai folks walk away in droves from outrageous demands from drivers, that doesn't stop the drivers from continuing this practice.

 

A twist of the above, if younger passengers (moreso female) alone or with a friend just open the rear door and get in they will often get a loud lecture from the driver for being impolite for not asking first whether the driver will go to their destination and/or not asking for a price. This happens all the time, and especially outside of universities, my students complain about it all the time. The students have asked me, and other foreign professors, If I have problems with taxi drivers. My reply is yes, and many times the students are shocked - they believe it's only Thai people who have these problems.

 

From the comments I have heard the passenger(s) then just get out because they are now frightened of this driver. 

 

There's also the case of tourists / visiting business people who don't know the city at all, they hail a cab, driver states his outrageous fare but passengers often don't know it's outrageous or don't know when meter must be used etc. Some visitors might do a quick calculation to convert to $ or Yen etc, and then think 'that's about the same as Chicago, so OK', etc.

 

Plus in some cases tourists / visiting business people may well think that the amount stated by the driver is in fact a standard fare for the locations involved, so they get in the cab. Not OK at all. 

 

There's also lots of very genuine drivers who provide good service and have no intent whatever to cheat anybody.

And this story should be all the justification needed to allow Uber etc to operate.

[CLW]

Just returned from a holiday in Vietnam where they have an excellent taxi service in my opinion. Using the Vinasun and Mai Linh Group taxis is such a pleasure compared to the trouble in Bangkok. Still most of the locals recommend me to use GrabTaxi because it is even cheaper. By the way, almost all Motorcycle taxi service in Vietnam is now operated by Grab Bike...

[Zack61]

I had an enjoyable ride in a taxi in Bangkok a few months ago. After walking away from 5 taxis who refused to use the meter I finally submitted and accepted the offered fare. 

But there is a god. A few blocks up the road the taxi was pulled over and fined twice as much as my fare for not using his meter. Khama is a bitch. 

A case of the plod doing there job although I'm not sure where the money ended up. 

[observer90210]

To the lame excuse list, one could add "no meter" against the indecent proportion of cabbie crooks who refuse the meter to farangs!

 

But as nobody seems to care on such scams, UBER, the BTS, MRT have a bright future...i

 

It's about time the Bangkok cabbie crooks/TukTuk mafias, learn a lesson through subsequent loss of revenue, and should plainly be boycotted by commuters.....if everybody boycotts, the Bangkok cabbies will learn the lesson .....with some types, no point in trying to reason them as you would with nornal people...they need to learn the hard way....the pity is that as usual, it will be the honest cabbie chaps in cabs who will also get the check...

Edited June 30, 2017 by observer90210

[diddygq]

I was extremely pissed off last week.  I arrived at Morchit bus station, stood in the queue for the meter taxi.  The queue wasn't too long so after about 5-10 minutes I got into a taxi, told him where I was going which is only about 3 kilometers.  He pulled off and after about 10 seconds I noticed he didn't have his meter on and I said it twice but he refused to put it on. He then tried to tell me the fare was 200 baht right at the same time we were on a street with no taxis around.  I speak enough Thai and told him this is wrong and that it usually is about 50-60 baht from Morchit.  So he said 60 baht and when I arrived he said there is an additional 50 baht surcharge which is complete bullshit.  I was tired so I just threw the extra 50 baht at him but this is why I use GrabTaxi or Uber.  

[Bill Miller]

9 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Counted 16 refusing a woman outside the Indra hotel the other week, we were waiting for a bus and she had not got a ride when we left. Loads of taxi's clogging up the roads driving around with no passengers!

Point. If they won't obey the law, and they are not supposed to refuse a fare when "on duty", then they should not be clogging the streets driving around looking for "the right one".

[fruitman]

The riverboats could be a new option if they just improved their act. 

 

Or Maybe BKK should have real watertaxi's, not longtailboats but silent ones which go electric.

[Muggi1968]

I understand they need to earn money for their famely and I sometimes have to hail 3 cabs before the driver say yes...
Not a problem for me, If I was VIP I would have a police escord....

P.s
I do not like driving with taxies because they always try to cheat....
And you can do nothing

 

 

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, CLW said:

Just returned from a holiday in Vietnam where they have an excellent taxi service in my opinion. Using the Vinasun and Mai Linh Group taxis is such a pleasure compared to the trouble in Bangkok. Still most of the locals recommend me to use GrabTaxi because it is even cheaper. By the way, almost all Motorcycle taxi service in Vietnam is now operated by Grab Bike...

 

True, Vinasun and Mai Linh owners are serious about customer service, report one their drivers and there's a good chance he will never drive again. No games ever.

 

[Redline]

12 hours ago, tonray said:

I think refusing fares should be a right of any taxi driver because with traffic patterns, one fare into an area might result in 2 hours of lost work fares to follow. BUT.....refusing to use the meter should immediately be grounds for revocation of license and fines. But you know the foreigners in Thailand are to blame...if everyone just walked away from cabbies who refuse to use the meter they would stop the practice pretty quickly. Thais don't pay off the meter and we should not either.

 

But having said all that, One can pretty well navigate Bangkok with minimal taxi usage. I used to only use taxis or motos when I was heading to school in the morning and then only a few kilometers after the bulk of the journey made by rail or boat. Outside of the tourist haunts I have NEVER faced a driver who refused to use the meter. When looking for apartments or condos I almost always place a priority on proximity to BTS/MRT/Boat station/pier. If it is not within 800 meters of the building I pass. I can only remember having to use a taxi once outside of getting to work and that was at 4 AM before rail was operating to get to the Visa Run Van service for an early morning run. 

 

The buses in Bangkok, when paired with rail and or boat journeys are very adequate but most farang don't take the time to become familiar with the system. The best thing you can do is just learn the 2 or 3 bus lines that go from near your residence to your most frequent destination. Learn to time the traffic as to the best times to get a seat and avoid delays. you save a bundle over a year.

What do you suggest for Thai people because they are the ones that complain, grew up here and live here?  They just don't know how you are saying?  Paying off meter is not the point, and taxis should not be on the road, if they just want to go where they want to.

[hawker9000]

Many Thais simply don't think they're doing anything "wrong" in skirting the law when it's in their interests to do so, period.   Shame, guilt and social responsibility ICW law-breaking just doesn't enter into the equation here.  It's more a matter of the luck or fate involved in being caught & punished (or not). 

[fruitman]

What happened to the national prosecuter who was going to sue the thai police chief?? He tried to get a taxi but the driver called the police to arrest the guy since he didn't accept to be refused. That was an amazing thailand only story.

[Happyman58]

Think this is the question that needs to be asked  Why are these clowns driving Taxis? Is that not there job to drive people to places or do they think its not there job? Maybe they should be selling candy on a corner?