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How many taxis on Samui.


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Had this conversation with my Swedish friend that lived on Samui since 1978 for some years now, today we spotted taxi #1001. 

Yes, the numberplate is the taxi licence number also. 

I have also seen #1 this year, that's a soeng thaew. 

 

So we got over 1000 taxis on an island with 50.000 inhabitants.  ????

 

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1 hour ago, notmyself said:

I do love the taxi topics that come up from time to time. Aside from the 50 Baht excess does anyone even know the meter charge from the airport to my home in Lamai? 174 Baht.

Take the new bus from the airport. 

 

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Looking at the bright side of life: I've just been "home", tried to convert the overpriced Samui taxi fares to my home country currency...????

 

In my home country, depending of taxi company, it's up to 250 baht in start fee, and 65 baht to 100 baht per kilometer, and 16 baht to 41 baht per minute. The maximum prices are set by the government. So an approximately 10 kilometer trip a weekend evening between for example Chaweng and Maenam could be up to 1,400 baht with most expensive company, and around 1,250 baht with the cheapest, both rides in identical Mercedes cars. A Samui "Taxi Meter" cab would typically ask about 600 baht for the same trip, and a night song thaew would also do the drive for a similar price.

 

I'm not arguing about if 600 baht is a fair price, or not, on an island for an about 10 kilometer ride.

 

However, it don't answer the OP-question about the number of taxis on the island, but it's a point in the argument about prices. Western tourists in general convert prices to their home country currency – it's only us expats and long-stayers that are thinking in baht – so they don't object that much over a taxi price. But they feel ripped off when driving without the meter turned on.

 

Would mandatory meter, but free price competition be a solution..?

I.e. the cabs need to advertise the price with big letters on the side of the cars, like for example:

"Start fee 150 baht, 35 baht per kilometer" (or whatever is reasonable maximum)

 

If the number of Samui-taxis is that high, as it seem to be, free competition – however with a government maximum allowed price – could lower the prices, as the most expensive cabs might not have enough customers, if any. That's what happened in my home country, the cabs with the highest fees lowered them, as they didn't have enough customers...:whistling:

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Khun Per.  You must remenber that in Thailand a minimum or normal income is 300 bath  a day, So 1400 bath  for 10 kilometer you talk about is nearly 5 days workpay for a Thai person.  In your country this will  probebly be less than 2 hours workpay. Think of that,

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On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 7:06 AM, Birdman said:

Would have guested 250 yellow taxis and 250 Songthaews.

1.000 yellow taxis? never

 

It's over 500 and has been for quite some time.

 

To answer the OP in another way. Far far more than the market can suffer which is why there is no other choice than to not use the meter. Basic economics.  

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Halve the number of taxis and there would be no noticeable degradation in availability but there would be more places to park for others without getting threatened. Send Big Joke down to find out who is issuing all the operating licences. Good luck.

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6 hours ago, BlackWolf said:

Khun Per.  You must remenber that in Thailand a minimum or normal income is 300 bath  a day, So 1400 bath  for 10 kilometer you talk about is nearly 5 days workpay for a Thai person.  In your country this will  probebly be less than 2 hours workpay. Think of that,

1400 baht is the price in my home country, got nothing to do with a Thai's minimum pay.

 

The home country taxi price is equivalent to approximately four hours work at minimum salary after tax.

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A member spoke about relative cost so I'll add an example. Lamai origin... I want to go to Big C to get some things because I'm making a meal in town. That return trip is going to cost me around 1000 Baht but I can rent a jeep at 600 Baht for the entire day. That, that alone, is enough information. 

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