Bangkok taxi fare increase effective today

Bangkok taxi fares will increase to a minimum fare of 40 baht today after staying at 35 baht for 30 years.

The increased fare, which applies to Bangkok registered taxis with no more than seven seats, is effective today according to its announcement in the Royal Gazette yesterday.

However, passengers may not notice a rise in fares straight away as taxis can have their metres adjusted at Bang Sue Station between January 16 – February 28, according to the Ministry of Transport.

For taxis stuck in Bangkok’s notorious traffic jams (moving at less than 6km/h), fares will be capped at 3 baht per minute – a rise from the previous traffic jam surcharge of 1.25 baht per minute.

Taxis will charge 6.5 baht/km from the second to 10th kilometre, 7 baht/km from the 11th to 20th, 8 baht/km from the 21st to the 40th and 8.5 baht/km from the 41st to 60th.

Thailand’s Ministry of Transport raised the base taxi fare to 35 baht for the first time in 30 years to help taxi drivers earn a decent wage among high fuel costs and soaring costs of living.

Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang Airport taxis will charge an extra 50 baht as usual.

More than 80,000 taxi drivers in Bangkok and five surrounding provinces will benefit from the rise in base fares, something taxi drivers have been lobbying for a long time.

The new rates are based on a study by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), according to the director-general of the Department of Land Transport Jirut Wisanjit.

However, the increase has not met the rates demanded by the various taxi associations, said Jirut.

Taxi associations wanted the minimum fare to be set at 45 – 50 baht and the taxi surcharge to be 5 baht per minute.

In December, a passenger in a Bangkok cab recorded a video of a taxi metre rising suspiciously quickly.

The passenger said they got in the taxi at Don Mueang Airport and the meter had already risen to 347 baht by the time they were approaching the Din Daeng Expressway.

When the female taxi driver saw the passenger filming the meter, she suddenly turned it off, despite having a while to go until they reached their destination, said the passenger.