Tricks of the trade: Why tourists might pay 2,540 baht for a taxi ride in Bangkok!

[captainhornblower]

6 minutes ago, irwinfc said:

several days ago, a couple of local travelers in the philippines hailed a cab from the airport. the passengers sensed something was wrong because the cabbie had a co-driver. the meter was on, so they thought little of it. as they neared their destination, what should be a $10 (tops) fare, the "operators" told the passengers to fork out about $70. they told the cabbies they didn't have enough money so they had to stop at an ATM near their destination. with their wits about them, they told the men the best place to pull over to withdraw the money to pay them. little did the scammers know that the passengers led them near a police outpost. when they saw the passengers walking back with a police officer, the scammers zoomed off like the vermin they are.

 

awareness is key!

 

All very well unless your luggage is in the cab.. probably worth more then the 70 Dollar overcharge

[Mousehound]

Tara Hotel is near Khao San (Banglamphu) so I think 350 - 400 is about right. 

[jacksam]

I will put another spin on this post. I have only been here 4 yr but travel a LOT.  The number of DUMB travellers never cise to amaze me. Note often young backpackers. Which is surprising as we have a friend called GOOGLE. 

Check out every  detail from ....taxi from airport to wherever....etc etc

The world is full of dumb people

[Chicog]

I had one they flagged outside my hotel. Loaded all the bags in, got in, asked him to turn on the meter.

He said "Bt500". I said "F--- Off and get the bags out".

He did and drove off, the next one was quite accomodating, and I gave him a nice tip for his trouble.

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, bangkapi said:

Transcription of the number is incorrect in the OP headline...

Should be 2540, not 2450.

 

Tricks of the trade: Why tourists might pay 2,540 baht for a taxi ride in Bangkok!

[Bantex]

30 minutes ago, NicoBKK said:

definitely right!

on top of 50+Tollway

 

22 minutes ago, bark said:

if stuck in traffic; I have paid 450 baht before.

I've travelled from Swampy to Sukhumvit regularly and including the 50 baht airport surcharge and toll charges of 75 baht I've never paid more than 400 including a tip regardless of the volume of traffic.

I once had a taxi driver deviate from the usual route and when questioned he stated he was avoiding heavy traffic. He bypassed a lot of static traffic and got me to my destination 20 minutes ahead of other passengers on the same flight.

During every taxi ride in or to Bangkok the taxi driver has always tried to suss out if I'm a tourist or live in Thailand and my knowledge of speaking Thai, I guess this is the ripoff test.

[Tweeder]

I've got to admit mixed feelings about this. Taxi driver was naughty, but I'm often finding extremly obnoxious Chinese tourist and don't feel much pitty for them. 

 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

Two things:

One - I always use the departure level at Swampy. One time a driver tried the no meter game and I walked away, and then he relented and said he would use the meter. And he did - and he also drove a ridiculous route and ended up with an inflated fare on the meter anyway. Moral - if they don't want to use the meter the first time, just keep walking away.

Two - you are charged on the meter for the time the taxi is stopped in traffic. Fair enough. But several times I've been in a taxi which clocks up maybe 30 minutes stoppage time when we've stopped for just a couple of minutes.

[Autonuaq]

when I take out my phone, I ask who he (or she) wants to have to confirm the price on the meter. The people of 1684 or the people 1555.

Solves the problem instantly.

 

 

by the way there is a new one on the market too. They say the fare on the meter is per person. ;-)

[Lupatria]

But the cops are celebrating in photo sessions every time they catch a Nigerian scammer. What's the difference between them and local thugs and cheaters?

If the sporty tourism Lady would have to apologize to everyone's family who became a victim of murder, unexplained balcony "accidents", speed boat and mini Van "accidents", ATM, and Taxi scams, etc. etc. she would hardly have a minute to visit the loo. 

[wirat69]

I met a woman who had travelled by Taxi into town... told her the meter recorded the distance in Kms, then used the chart on the back of the seat to calculate the fare!!!

She knew nothing was amiss until she claimed expenses.... an alert Office clerk advised the fare should have been about 220 baht.....

[laislica]

1 hour ago, GAZZPA said:

Behind bars!! Really? A bit harsh in my view. Yes a slap on the wrist and a final warning if he does it again he loses his license,,, and a full apology to the tourists.

 

Don't think he belongs behind bars just yet.

 

Assign this taxi driver to the tourists for the rest of their stay.

He cannot earn more money and has been paid up front.....

He must take the tourists where they want to go whenever they want.....

Make the punishment fit the crime.

[SOTIRIOS]

...that's the way it is with almost everything here...

 

...unless you know better....

 

...but then you could still get chopped up with a machete....as did one guy when he objected to getting ripped off....

 

...really cannot understand why foreign embassies turn a blind eye....

 

 

...almost every day we hear about some Thai !@#$%^& who go overseas and cry bloody murder.....

 

...at the slightest of sleights........even fabricating scenarios to get their way....

 

 

...meanwhile....

 

...too easy to abuse and cheat foreigners here....and 'they' all know it by now....

 

....hear 'them' laugh among themselves as you approach even.....

 

 

 

 

 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, atyclb said:

uber is still alive and well. prices are fair, service is quite good.  also when uber drivers refuse and or try to refuse fares they must take uber will deactivate their account, plain and simple. its also quite unlikely an uber driver will allow another person to drive unless they are high reliability since if they screw up the account will be suspended.

 

uber is adding needed pressure to make regular taxi drivers respect the rules and use the meter and not refuse fares they stop for.

 

Uber will be okay until the drivers learn to game their system.  Which is already happening, according to some recent threads.  Then Uber will up the system and the drivers will up their workaround.

 

Enjoy it while you can.  Me, I'll take the public taxis at 1/2 or less of the Uber flat rate from Swampy.

[Colabamumbai]

I always ask the driver in Thai about how much he thinks the fare will be. Since I have an idea myself as to about how much it should cost. Recently took a rogue taxi, just a guy with his car in the car park at Don Muang to Ban Bueng Chonburi.

I knew that most drivers would charge me 1,500, from experience, he said 1,400.

I noticed he paid 145 Baht to get out of the parking garage and all the tolls. I paid for a soft drink for him when we stopped along the way.  Saved me the 50 Baht mafia fee and maybe a driver who would not take me where I wanted to go.

[Redline]

4 hours ago, BKKBrit said:

I had one recently - my own fault for doing my usual find-a-cab on the 4th floor because I had too much baggage. So in the basement I pressed the button and a ticket was dispensed with the lane number. I had one of those big Toyota Innova vans or whatever they're called. Really pleasant ride to my condo in Sukhumvit..fare was correct at around Bht280 on the meter and he was a nice guy, yakking about the cool customers he meets..so I gave him Bht350. He said 'oh no....because this is a big cab you must pay Bht600.' I said 'ok..moment.'. Removed my baggage and trundled it into the lobby and ignored his shouting and ranting about 'kee-nok farangs'. 

 

My last arrival last weekend...when I was in the baggage hall - again with a lot of baggage, I called for a Grab Limo who picked me up on the 4th floor. So much easier. 

 

So, how much for the Grab limo?

[BernieOnTour]

2 hours ago, sahibji said:

any and everything to make that extra Baht.  the land transport authority should make it mandatory to indicate possible taxi fares to major centres in city. i know it is impossible to list out all the destinations but any visitor with some sense should be able to make a comparative analysis.

 

the efforts of the hotel staff need a special mention to  keep matters clean.

 

Did not use a BKK taxi since 2 years, so things might have changed.

At that time, a lot of taxis had a card hanging at the back of the driver's seat stating prices per km and to different cities. ... However, good luck in getting those rates ;-)

[Vermor]

I think that the meter usually can give a receipt...so always ask for a receipt...

[chainarong]

5 hours ago, mercman24 said:

500/600 baht even that is way over, its about 300 baht tops for downtown BANGKOK

Yeah I paid once 250 , then again on another trip I was asked for 400 that blew out at one stage to seven thousand , he got 400 just to shut him up ,  frankly my experience with BKK taxi drivers , I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

[Winkburn]

5 hours ago, bangkapi said:

Transcription of the number is incorrect in the OP headline...

Should be 2540, not 2450.

 

Get a life

2 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

 

 

 

[sabaii69]

3 hours ago, sandgroper2 said:

Thanks for that most important piece of information.

 

It is important in Lon don.

[apalink_thailand]

5 hours ago, BKKBrit said:

My last arrival last weekend...when I was in the baggage hall - again with a lot of baggage, I called for a Grab Limo who picked me up on the 4th floor. So much easier. 

 

 

Interesting and thanks for the tip. I assumed Grab Taxi would be banned by the taxi mafia there, so I never bothered.

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, apalink_thailand said:

Interesting and thanks for the tip. I assumed Grab Taxi would be banned by the taxi mafia there, so I never bothered.

 

It is banned, by the rules.  But it's generally tolerated.

 

The reason the 4th floor works at all is because few people do it.  If it got popular, the queues up there would be worse than the official queues downstairs- with no referee.  And they'd probably quit tolerating it.

 

Speaking of the official queue, since they got the machines dialed in, I haven't waited more than 2 minutes for a taxi.  Usually, the 10-50 meter walk to the taxi's numbered location takes longer than the queue.

[Basil B]

6 hours ago, daveAustin said:

 

Don't give him the chance. Get him behind bars where he belongs.

 

But if they start putting every driver behind bars who rips off customers there will not be enough drivers left to cater for Bangkok's tourist industry...

 

 

[Xircal]

5 hours ago, BKKBrit said:

I had one recently - my own fault for doing my usual find-a-cab on the 4th floor because I had too much baggage. So in the basement I pressed the button and a ticket was dispensed with the lane number. I had one of those big Toyota Innova vans or whatever they're called. Really pleasant ride to my condo in Sukhumvit..fare was correct at around Bht280 on the meter and he was a nice guy, yakking about the cool customers he meets..so I gave him Bht350. He said 'oh no....because this is a big cab you must pay Bht600.' I said 'ok..moment.'. Removed my baggage and trundled it into the lobby and ignored his shouting and ranting about 'kee-nok farangs'. 

 

My last arrival last weekend...when I was in the baggage hall - again with a lot of baggage, I called for a Grab Limo who picked me up on the 4th floor. So much easier. 

 

 

I'm always suspicious of 'nice guys' who are also taxi drivers. Chatting away and being pleasant puts the customer at ease and then when the ripoff takes place the customer usually pays up without question just because the driver was 'nice'.

[impulse]

4 minutes ago, Basil B said:

 

But if they start putting every driver behind bars who rips off customers there will not be enough drivers left to cater for Bangkok's tourist industry...

 

Sure there would.  And if you weeded out the bad ones, the good guys would have a bigger slice of the business.   And then maybe they could make a decent living for their families instead of scraping by, with most of their take going to pay for the car and graft.

[Xircal]

3 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

Make the punishment fit the crime. Wash taxi's for 6 months. Jail is to easy. Rehab the lad. 

 

Don't know about that. Having seen reports of life in Thai prisons I would call it an 'easy' experience.

[sn1per]

You could suspend the drivers taxi license for a month, but then again, I've been in plenty of taxi's where the picture of the driver on the dashboard ID doesn't match the driver... 

[Xircal]

3 hours ago, GAZZPA said:

Behind bars!! Really? A bit harsh in my view. Yes a slap on the wrist and a final warning if he does it again he loses his license,,, and a full apology to the tourists.

 

 

But how d'you know he hasn't done it before already? The time he got caught may have been the 10th time he has perpetrated the same misdemeanor.

[Basil B]

2 minutes ago, sn1per said:

You could suspend the drivers taxi license for a month, but then again, I've been in plenty of taxi's where the picture of the driver on the dashboard ID doesn't match the driver... 

 

Suspending their licences is not going to stop them working...

 

Take the taxi off the road for a month, I suspect many drivers share a taxi so they are going to be more careful to who they share a taxi with...