When the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) announced its plan to organise public transport, I welcomed the initiative. The headaches over taxi rides around Bangkok is something that needs to be addressed, considering that it’s one of our main public transport options. Of course there are professional and well-behaved cabbies, but it’s not wrong to say that there is still plenty of room for improvement, as complaints from passengers are heard on a daily basis.
Here I’ll relate some of my own experiences and offer some tips on hailing cabs. Most of all, I hope that the NCPO initiatives compel taxi drivers in Bangkok to become more polite and service-minded. For a while, at least.
I am a regular taxi user, particularly when going to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Before the completion of the Airport Rail Link, taxis were my main choice of transport. My place is only a 15-minute drive to the airport, so most cabbies have no problem taking me there. But on the return leg, it’s a different story.
Taxi services at the airport are big business. To provide enough cabs for a huge amount of passengers, the airport authority recruits a number of taxis to stand by. And because there are so many taxis in the queue, drivers can wait for three to four hours for their turn.
Waiting for a long time makes them expect a big fare to make it worthwhile. So when I get in and tell them where my destination is — a short ride away — most taxi drivers are upset. Some complain all the way, some vent their anger by driving dangerously, while others are simply rude. If they could kick me out, they would do it, promptly. Not all taxi drivers do this, but most of them do. At the airport, many drivers expect to take foreign passengers who may be planning onward trips. Heavy tips from such tourists makes short-distance local passengers like me not worth the fare. Some drivers think I am a foreign tourist and rush to help me carry my bag, but once I talk to them in Thai, they treat me as if I were invisible.
I believe it’s not my fault to have a home close to the airport. And I have no plan to move in order to please taxi drivers. So my solution in the past was to drive my car to the airport and park it there for a few days and pay the high parking fees.
Or sometimes I asked someone to drive me. Of course, the Airport Rail Link has come to my rescue and now I use it to and from the airport.
Another place that I often find myself having taxi problems is Mor Chit Bus Terminal in Bangkok. There, you always see a number of taxis. The drivers always linger around the place, politely asking people where they are going.
If you dress like someone who’s just arrived from the provinces or act like you’re lost, they will swoop in and be eager to help. All the drivers will help carry your belongings and promise to deliver you to your destination safely. But they won’t charge you according to the meter, saying your destination is far beyond their taxi service.The way to discourage them is to act cool — tell the driver your destination and act like you know the place like the back of your hand.
Do not wait for taxis at Mor Chit on a Monday morning as all drivers know that the terminal will be flooded with tourists and people from provinces returning to work in Bangkok. So, the passenger queues are incredibly long with a handful of cabs trickling in. Other taxis wait outside the terminal, looking for passengers in a hurry to drive a hard bargain.
All taxis in Bangkok have meters, but this is difficult to find in other provinces. I am glad to see a few metered taxis in tourist spots like Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket. Though, I have been warned to avoid them as most of them prefer charging a fee rather than going by the meter.
Not all taxis in Thailand are bad. There are professionals who drive you home safely, care for passengers’ welfare and remind them about their belongings.
But they hardly show up when we really need them.
Peerawat Jariyasombat is a travel writer for Life section of the Bangkok Post.