Phuket taxi meeting: 20% fare cut, but doesn’t address gouging

[Thaiger]

The Phuket Office of the Public Relations Department has tried to paint a win for a meeting regarding overcharging taxis in the Phuket Sandbox, though the resolutions seem unrelated to the problem. During the meeting, taxi drivers agreed to a 20% discount for all fares until the end of the Covid-19 pandemic but did not address the problem of complaints from passengers about price gouging and taxi rates have skyrocketed. The Deputy-Director of the Department of Land Transport travelled to Phuket from Bangkok yesterday in order to conduct this meeting at Phuket Vocational College, which was attended by the titans […]

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[christopher]

These overpriced high taxi fare is deterring me to visit Phuket.   I rather visit Bangkok and places in Thailand where grab is a available and I don’t have to stress about being rip off every time I need to get from point A to Point B. They ruining their own business and Phuket sandbox reopening 

[Jackson]

I haven’t spent much time in Phuket, but is there any reason why they can’t just turn on the meter? 

[KhunSikiew]

It's not common these days.. but dishonest taxi drivers will gouge in BKK as well if they can..

The restrictions on travel are causing them to get more bold about it perhaps?  Don't Phuket Sandbox

rules require you to PRE- pay for your entire  hotel stay of 2 weeks ?  I just saw this yesterday...

and that really sucks.. I hate prebooking in Thailand.. because you tend to get stuck in the worst

room/location possible, and they will confiscate your money as well. So I stopped booking ahead

by default, even if I know the place beforehand.  They tend not to care as much when they already

have your money !

[Martin]

56 minutes ago, Jackson said:

I haven’t spent much time in Phuket, but is there any reason why they can’t just turn on the meter? 

Exactly! Most countries regulate licensed taxis and it's an offence not to have your meter on. 

A few bigwigs rolling up for a meeting to give an impression they're sorting the problem is farcical. 

Have a standard baht per kilometre rate or a standard baht per minute rate, keep the meter on and in full view. Posters up at key locations so everyone knows the rates. Problem solved, reputation of Phuket undamaged. Or is that beyond the mindset?

You'd want the sandbox to succeed to help those affected by covid but when you see such naked greed, you can't help but think it deserves to fail. 

[Soidog]

21 minutes ago, Martin said:

Exactly! Most countries regulate licensed taxis and it's an offence not to have your meter on. 

A few bigwigs rolling up for a meeting to give an impression they're sorting the problem is farcical. 

Have a standard baht per kilometre rate or a standard baht per minute rate, keep the meter on and in full view. Posters up at key locations so everyone knows the rates. Problem solved, reputation of Phuket undamaged. Or is that beyond the mindset?

You'd want the sandbox to succeed to help those affected by covid but when you see such naked greed, you can't help but think it deserves to fail. 

I posted a very similar comment regarding this. You would think they were trying to solve Middle Eastern problems. As you rightly say. Metres taxis. Prices visible to all. Spots checks on meters. Heavy fines for people who break the law. But as I also said, the reason this doesn’t happen is the same reason most problems don’t get resolved in Thailand. CORRUPTION. Set as many laws as you want and employ as many police as you like. If you operate in a culture of corruption, it’s all a waste of time. Last thing I checked, It was also against the law  in Thailand to kill someone. However, people get away with it. 

[PapayaBokBok]

Just another "face saving" useless measure. Those who have lived here long enough can easily see this.

So does this 20% apply all over thailand?   And Ive witnessed rigged meters in my limited use of taxis in LOS

Its the same distance from airport to main area, so should be a flat fee to a drop off point near major tourist area or can be haggled for a specific drop off, and dont most hotels have a van service as well?

Get that smart bus up and running again and have it do the route--use it as an dedicated airport shuttle

Reminds me of new bus stations across LOS that seemingly are out of town to make you use a taxi-tuk tuk

[kmc]

rigged meters exist everywhere.  when i lived on guam a 16k trip was 75 dollars.  I walked the last 200 meters. (would have got out sooner but it was uphill on dangerous road)

[David-in-Florida]

My wife and I had problems in Bangkok when stayed in a condo on Sukumvit Soi 39 in late 2019. We were there for 2 months. Grab was several times too busy to pick us up. 
We hailed a taxi but when asked them to use the meter, the driver refused to take us. This happened 3 times in a row. 
We ended up waiting for a Grab car even if required a long wait.

[Koen]

It's much better to agree on the price before you step into a taxi.

The prices though (maximum 800 Baht to the beach in Kata, 640 Baht to Patong), will that be made visible to the arriving tourist? And what you do when they all start gouging? Take a bus ? A Shuttle ? I mean, the tourists were in the sOh , wait a moment, not allowed.  

[Malc-Thai]

4 hours ago, David-in-Florida said:

My wife and I had problems in Bangkok when stayed in a condo on Sukumvit Soi 39 in late 2019. We were there for 2 months. Grab was several times too busy to pick us up. 
We hailed a taxi but when asked them to use the meter, the driver refused to take us. This happened 3 times in a row. 
We ended up waiting for a Grab car even if required a long wait.

Have had same problem many times in bkk but we stick at it until a river agrees to use the meter. If everyone refused to use a cab that didn't use its meter then they would slowly get the idea! 

[TobyAndrews]

11 hours ago, Jackson said:

I haven’t spent much time in Phuket, but is there any reason why they can’t just turn on the meter? 

Well yes, it is due to the adverse psychological affect this action inflicts on the Phuket taxi driver. First will be the uncontrollable shaking the taxi driver will suffer, next will be the weeping and wailing the taxi driver will display. This really is a pitiful sight, and all due to them having to turn on the meter.