Imagine you are a first-time visitor to Bangkok. You disembark at dawn at the vast, illuminated Suvarnabhumi airport, exhausted from a long-haul flight. Then, together with your spouse and children, you drowsily push your trolleys packed with luggage toward a taxi stand that has no queue of waiting passengers as dozens of airport taxi drivers eagerly await their turn, praying they get a customer who will net them the highest fare.
With four passengers and seven pieces of luggage, you decide to press for a ticket at a machine that says "for large taxis". A ticket comes out with details about the cab and the driver plus some rather ambiguous remarks in English: "A 50-baht fare is added for airport taxi drivers... Tolls and expressway fees are at your own expense."
You proceed to the designated and grumpy driver, for whom you are his first customer for the past three hours. The bags are loaded and everyone piles in. The seven seater is ready to leave, but the driver breaks the silence: "I am not going to use the meter because each passenger is supposed to bring only one piece of luggage. How do you want to pay me?"
Though you know full well the claim is rubbish, you do not want to upset the driver, in fear of having your entire family kicked out of the car in the middle of nowhere in the dark. You counter the driver's claim with an offer to pay extra on top of the metered fare. The driver then agrees to take your weary family to your destination.
Nopporn Wong-Anan is deputy editor, Bangkok Post.
Obviously the driver’s claim of one bag per passenger is garbage. He is simply guilty of attempting not to use the meter during the journey. But some of their logic is valid.
Their vehicles, mostly Toyota Innova vans, have higher costs of operation and maintenance because of their bigger engines, drivers claim.
Thanks to their larger cabins, the hatchbacks offer more space to take more passengers and carry their luggage than regular cabs that can take a maximum of four passengers and three pieces of large luggage at the most.
A family of four with seven suitcases would have to fit in two regular cabs, and pay twice the fare, had they not ridden in the seven-seater taxi.
So why aren't taxi regulators more sympathetic to big cabs, allowing them higher fares and surcharges?
The DLT merely sets one fare system for all taxis while the airport surcharge of 50 baht applies to all sizes of taxis.
A cab hailing app like Grab seems to provide a better solution than the regulators. Passengers who want a seven seater to a Bangkok airport must pay a surcharge of 150 baht. It is a win-win result -- drivers get a fair fare and passengers also save.
Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said in August the ministry was mulling a 5% increase for taxi fares this year, after an 8% rise in 2014.
Mr Ormsin said the ministry's approval will be based on passengers' satisfaction with the quality of the taxi services they are receiving. If the number of passenger complaints continues to decline, the ministry would be inclined to grant the fare raise. He added that taxi drivers are still refusing customers who flag them down, and many are overcharging passengers by modifying or turning off their meters. The fare hike must be carefully considered, even if the overall trend shows the number of complaints going down, he added.
The ministry has sought cooperation from taxi drivers to help improve the quality of service, he said.
The DLT has also proposed a hike in both taxi fares and surcharges at Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports, raising the airport surcharge from 50 baht to 60 baht for sedan taxis, and a surcharge of 90 baht for van taxis.
On top of differentiating the airport surcharge between two types of taxis, the regulator may want to consider giving other incentives for the larger cabs, for the benefit of both drivers and passengers.
Once cab drivers get a better return, penalties against abusers and violators must be strictly enforced. Signs to inform foreign tourists and locals about passengers' rights must be visible around the airport premises and be easy to understand.
The DLT and AoT have made great efforts in raising the standards of taxis, both inside and outside of airports, but there is always room for improvement.