What exactly is the Taxi Mafia?

[David99UK]

In Samui they have so called "Taxi Meters" but once inside, the meters aren't on display and are never used.

 

Have not been to Samuii for many years now, I don't recall that the concept of a "Taxi Meter" had even arrived back then......but I suspect the selling point was that it attracts Tourist Punters who think the rules are the same as in BKK .

 

I do recall that the Baht Buses were complete c#nts in the evening (7.30+??).......part of the reason I used to drink till the morning :smirk:

 

Samuii - not as freindly and smiley as it appears in the brochures. and nowhere to run away to easily..........

[waerth]

Silom. Try to get a cab there at night. Virtually impossible. I have been quoted 600 baht to go to Ratchada. And the pricks even refuse to speak Thai. They mutter in something they feel is English.

 

They pay the Bangrak policestation. Fee is 3000 baht per month a cabdriver once told me. Otherwise the police will chase them away. I usually just walk to the Rama IV junction and get a cab from there.

 

Waerth

[magician]

 

Also around Siam Square at night, or worse, trying to get a taxi to take you to one of the major wats.

 

It is a pet peeve of mine. I never patronize drivers who quote prices and decline to use the meter. The moment that I hear "song loi baht," I walk away, leaving the back door open.

 

I have also, in the past, taken photographs of drivers, and photographed the number of their taxis, with the intent of reporting them to TAT. I have never followed through. Somehow, the practice just does not annoy me as much as it did, before. Perhaps I am mellowing.

 

The absurd thing is, I generally tip so hard that drivers get pretty close to what they ask for, anyway.

 

I prefer to be patient, and to work my way down the queue, and to reward the quiet guy who just nods when I tell him where I wish to go. For every conniving driver that I encounter, I meet three solid citizens who are just trying to make a living. Taxi drivers do not exactly rake in big bucks.

 

There is a distinction to be made, though, between those drivers who learn to scam and do it of their own volition, and those who do it because they have to make payoffs to someone else.

 

One of the reasons that Bangkok taxi drivers, and particularly moto-taxi drivers, so strongly favored (and still do) the former Prime Minister, is because he decreed a crackdown on the payoffs that drivers previously had to pay.

 

If you talk to those guys, they do not like kicking upstairs, either.

 

I have to say....it is getting entertaining, reading the Bangkok Post, following the various anticorruption efforts.

 

You have to start somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

[OCgringo]

Every visit I need to visit a factory 30 KM away from Nana area,

 

I always ignore the taxis in front of my hotel since they NEVER want to use the meter ,

I walk to the other side of Sukumvit because thats the direction I will be going anyway ,

Then I ask the driver if they want to take me to the factory (I have a map in Thai) and will they use the meter , if so we are off , if not I go to the next one,

 

Once I get to the factory the meter is around 200 baht and I give him 300 baht because now he is in the middle of nowhere and will probably not get a fare back into town ,

 

Going back from factory to hotel its easier since the factory calls a cab for me and that driver will make some money because he iis dropping me off in the Nana area and will get more fares,

 

Raxis are so cheap in BKK I do not mind paying them a little extra if I want to,

I refuse to take a taxi that will not use the meter, I am never in that much of a hurry.

 

OC

 

taxis are so cheap in BKK ,

[Mekong]

Silom. Try to get a cab there at night. Virtually impossible. I have been quoted 600 baht to go to Ratchada.

 

Waerth

 

I usually grab a cab across the road on the corner of Convent or in Convent itself, never a problem there.

 

[Flashermac]

Yep, the finest Bangkok example of the "taxi mafia" is at that west end of Soi Cowboy around closing time. The SOBs sit waiting in ambush for tourists and charge them 100 baht to go to their hotel -- which is well within the 35 baht minimum fare distance. They can make three or four trips a night this way, picking up some easy money.

 

Since it is about 120 baht to my home from Cowboy, the "mafia" types flat out refuse to take me there. It would use so much time they couldn't make their regular tourist hotel runs. I have to walk down Asoke a block or more and flag down a moving taxi.

 

 

 

[cavanami]

Please remember that the taxi driver only rents the taxi...usually 450 ~ 550 Baht for a 12 rental. They also must put gas in the taxi at their own expense, so it is difficult to make money, even when they rip people off.

 

Not any excuse for them, just the sorry facts of the matter. The price of gas is up...50% or so? but they still have to charge the same 35 Baht rate?

The public bus fare went up (1 ~ 2 Baht or so) but the taxi rate, still the same.

 

Some strange economics here, IMO.

[Flashermac]

The 35 baht taxi fare has been the same since around 1992. However, bus fare has doubled from 3.5 baht to 7 baht. The river boats have gone from 4 baht to 11. No increase for taxis though.

 

Still, I've discussed this with cabbies and they say they do NOT want an increase! The reason is they fear it would stop many Thais from using taxis. What the cabbies generally do say they want is an increase in the fares AFTER the basic 35 baht minimum. That way Thais would still use taxis for short rides, and tourists would be paying more for the longer hauls.

 

What older taxi drivers complain about most is that there are too many taxis now. Look at all of the different colours you see. Each colour is a taxi cooperative or company. They've even run out of colours and had to start putting different coloured stripes on them. There are over 100,000 taxis on Bangkok's streets these days. As a result, there are not enough customers for the average cabbie to make a living.

 

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Please remember that the taxi driver only rents the taxi."

 

Not all, plenty of driver-owned taxis around as well.

 

"The public bus fare went up (1 ~ 2 Baht or so) but the taxi rate, still the same."

 

Don't understand this either. I wonder though if it has anything to do with the fact that it is mostly 'rich(er)' people who use taxis and 'poor' people driving them.

 

Sanuk!

 

[lembeh]

 

 

>I always ignore the taxis in front of my hotel since they NEVER want to use the meter

 

Yeah. Rule of thumb - never, ever ever take a taxi that is parked along the side of the road, or outside a hotel. Always falg a moving one. Taxi drivers seem to make a choice - regular work, or ripping off tourists. The latter group will wait all day outside a hotel to make one "killing" of a naive tourist, and will *never* take aregualr fare.

 

That being said, the vast majority of taxi drivers are hard working people who are only trying to make a living, and they try to do a reasonable job in an honest manner. Unfortunately the few "black sheep" serve to give all a bad name.

-j-