Taxi Problems in Bangkok

petty boy,
its very simple, they have regulations they need to follow, if dont make them, then they will rob you.
What i do, is just get in cab, take a picture of the ID on the left side front dashboard, then i tell them were to go. No negotiation. 90 % comply, the few that argue, half of those come back, argue for thge photo, and end up taking me
hope that helps

arch55 wrote:

petty boy,
its very simple, they have regulations they need to follow, if dont make them, then they will rob you.
What i do, is just get in cab, take a picture of the ID on the left side front dashboard, then i tell them were to go. No negotiation. 90 % comply, the few that argue, half of those come back, argue for thge photo, and end up taking me
hope that helps

Cheers mate...

This sounds the only thing to do ,,, i am heading bk to oz 2moro not sure whn ill be back here next time but when i do i definitely will take this approach 

Thanks for the good advice

Eoin

your welcome, safe trip

Cheers
Archie

Tuk Tuks will most definately try and take more money than it should be - That's why they are called the Tuk Tuk mafia. However not all seem this perverse and if they know you well enough ( or have seen you around)they will be most helpful.

With taxis however is another story all together, It depends of a variety of things that might or might not take you. Things like, traffic, the time of the day, if they own or not the taxi, how long its till the change of turn, how far etc.

Just think for a minute that the 95% of the cars in Bangkok are taxis. That is a huge number, and most of them are mostly stuck in traffic all day long so they have little to no temper.

Renting for them a taxi cost 1000thb per day, so if they want to have some profit they would try an extortion the clueless farang in turn.


Not all of them are like this however, if you happen to find a couple of them that give you a good service and they speak some english ask them for their business card. They are normally the ones who own the taxi.

If you call them in need, you will find they are most helpfull and will - if they are not available - ask on a favour to another taxi driver friend that have in the area to take you wherever.

However, if you want to find the quickest way to get onto a cab, stop him and pass your phone with some thai - friend of yours-  person in the other line of the phone for instructions to where to go. It helps most of the time.

As for the photo of the ID, only if things turn sower its a method that will most certainly help since they will loose the taxi license if they get ( i think it is ) 3 complains or so.

I never had serious problems with taxi drivers, except sometimes they simply refuse to go to your destination (mainly during peak hours) then you simply get another taxi...
I must say that a few words in thai may help, they tend to cheat the tourists or new expas rather then somebody who knows how it works in Bkk.

As a matter of fact "taxi thai" is the first language you need to learn if you want to survive.

Good Luck

Had more than 1.000 taxi rides here in BKK, but never ever major problems. but Some people act in a way that actually means they are begging to be ripped-off (such as: enter a Taxi and ask "How much" or "Thaorai").

If a taxi doesn't accept your business, this may have to do with the shifts (very difficult around 4 pm, when shifts change), or indeed that the traffic is too much (in case he needs to go back to his "home base" for shift change at a completely different part of this huge city).

Overall, Bangkok Cabbies are a pleasure to deal with, compared to other cities in Asia (Kuala Lumpur, Manila, let alone Samui or Phuket).

sadly, many take amphetamines, particularly at night, as many do 24 hr-shofts to survive. this is the biggest threat one can experience in BKK. But 50% of the Minivan-drivers all over the country do the same.....

prettyboy,

Try bringing a map with you written in english and thai. Or before you go to another place, ask somebody to write in Thai language the place where you are going. Their taxi drivers are more better than ours in Manila. Sometimes they look like rude. But the truth is, they cannot express much what they want to tell you. Thai is their main language, only few can converse in English.

During rush hours, you will encounter some drivers refusing you because of the traffic. Have some adventure, looking at the heavy traffic ahead I tried riding the motorcycle going to Pratunam and charged me 50baht.

I suggest that you learn some basic thai words so they would assume that you know something about Thailand.

cheers guys for the helpul tips i will think of them next time for sure on my trip there.....

See you then Saigon.

Hi Prettyboy

I am Vietnamese and have just moved to live in Thailand from February. In Vietnam, customers are the one who choose taxi/taxi drivers. But here, Taxi drivers can refuse customers in such a polite way. Even I can speak Thai fluently, but it is too difficult for me to understand the taxi service here.

Before entering taxi, we have to talk with them whether they can go to. It is ridiculous that we are willing to pay but they refuse to earn money.

Just ask if they want to go xxx, if not take the taxi just behind, should be plenty of taxies here!

Reasons why taxi drivers refuse trips:

1.
They are used to stay at the tourist areas, where they wait for a falang asking "how much to xxx" = rip-off, but you asked for it. If you ask "xxx?", then he knows its by meter and might refuse.

Always go by METER, if he doesn't start, you just say METER and point

2.
Meter starts at 35 bath, each km is 5 bath for short trips, each waiting minute 1,5 bath.
If you sit in at Asoke, and ask him to go to Pratunam, why on Earth should he drive those few km taking 30 minutes+ due to traffic, when he can get easier short rides.
He can drive more km per hour + more rides getting the starting fee 35 bath by refusing driving into areas with heavy traffic.

And when its raining, good luck to all of us...

Prettyboy,

A) TukTuks are tourist experiences, not taxis, and part of the experience is the bargaining - they never expect you to accept the first price unless you are a "muppet". You should never, ever expect to pay the same price for a tuktuk as for a taxi and no tuktuk driver refusing to charge you taxi rates is an idiot. If you want a tuktuk, expect to pay a little more, smile, be nice, and treat it as fun and you will get fun (for example I will make a bet and say if they take longer than a certain time I will only pay a certain amount, more if they take less time - they not only laugh with you all the way, but they don't try to stop at any of their "sponsors" either.)

B) Taxi drivers refuse passengers Thai and Farang alike, for legitimate reasons, as outlined above, jumping to the conclusion that they are racist will not help you in any way - it will just make you even more bitter and rude. Driving a taxi in Bangkok is not an easy job, especially if you don't own your own taxi - try a little compassion and consider their side of things. If you get in the car and immediately take the photo of their ID, you show you already think they are a cheat with no honour, so why should they treat you with any more respect than you are treating them?

In fact, treating everyone as decent human beings, not assuming they you are going to be ripped off will get you a long way in Thailand. You often have to be firm about you want, in Thailand, but you never have to be rude - perhaps if you rid your vocabulary of words like "muppet" and "tosspot" and approach all people assuming the best, you will have less problems in general, and you won't join the ranks of the many Australians who make Australians like myself embarrassed to admit our nationality.

Oh, and 50baht over flagfall (85baht total) from the international airport to Bangkok, is outrageously low - it costs 65baht from Suan Plu, Sathorn to Sukhmvit 18 - do some proper research on costs before you start ranting at drivers that they are ripping you off.

I was in Vietnam a few months ago and there is no way the Thai cabs are worst than Vietnam. I was ripped off by Vietnamese cabs 5 out of 7 times. They even passed me a fake bill. Their meters are rigged and they always take the longest way. If you go to the lonely planet website you will see the number one rip off in Vietnam that everybody talks about are the cab drivers. They are complete thieves.
I was ripped off once by tuk tuk drivers in BKK and that was the last time I used them. So far I never had a problem with thai cabs. I do not recommend taking tuk tuks.