We’ve all had bad taxi experiences, and it’s easy to compile a list of complaints: they’re noisy, warm and smelly; they’re driven by incompetents (it’s sad when you have a cabbie roll down his window to ask another cabbie where the Grand Palace is) and crooks who use rigged meters or follow very “special” itineraries. Like Stuart Emmrich wrote in the New York Times, “A good rule of thumb for visiting Bangkok might be this: if you can’t get there by boat or by train, don’t go.” Nonetheless, taxis in Bangkok are cheap and plentiful, the opposite of most capitals. And as easy as it is to bitch and moan about cabbies, the fact is their incompetence has a lot to do with how long they’ve been ignored and neglected.
Rules of the Road
The clearest sign that cabbies have got a bum deal is the fact that the recent increase in fares is the first of its kind in over a decade. “It’s like working at a job for 15 years with no pay raise, who would have the tolerance and patience to stick to something like that?” says Hudsadin Eamsherangkul, Deputy Managing Director of Howa International Co., Ltd, the company that runs and finances the all-green taxis. “Think about buses. Bus fares have gone from B2 to B8 whereas taxi fares have been stationed at B35 for over 10 years, during which living expenses have gone up enormously. How do you expect these men to survive?”
Despite all the hype over the recent fare increase, passengers pay on average, 12% more than what they used to. The B35 “flag” (base fare) now only covers the first kilometer (before it was 2km). After that you pay B5-8.5 per kilometer.
Another reason why Bangkok cabs are nowhere near perfect is that there are just too many. We have 90,000 registered taxis and out of that 60,000 are in operation. Unlike New York city where getting a “hack” license (taxi driver license) involves a driving course, medical checkups, language proficiency tests and a number of processing fees, Bangkok regulations only require you to show up with your regular drivers’ license, pay up and drive off. First of all, would be taxi drivers need to pick from the dozen different taxi companies on the streets, (each one represented by a different color.) You contact your company (or color) of choice and they’ll provide you with a car, which can come fully equipped with a meter and a taxi radio. In cases where you buy the car, you don’t need to buy a taxi license plate; you just get your car registered by paying the vehicle registration fee like any other ordinary vehicle. So when the process is as easy as 1,2,3 and there isn’t much red tape involved, you have an overflow of vacant, clueless, colorful cabs roaming about the city.
Colored Service
While it’s rather charming to travel streets filled with over a dozen different taxis, Bangkok officials didn’t just come up with that stunt to liven up the already-lively city.
Bangkok actually started off with two different taxis: the green-yellow and the red-blue. Soon, the city branched off to include other single colored taxis starting with Howa’s all-green. Without stating the obvious, different companies equal different business practices which, in turn, mean varying standards of taxi. Some companies, like Howa, place their taxis in certain “pick up points.” So, most of the time, you’ll find it hard to just hail a green taxi, you have to either visit a pick up point, or call for one (see Pick Me Up below).
At the end of the day, cabs are either privately owned or rented out on a daily basis. On average, drivers who rent out their cabs do so for 12-hour shifts either in the morning (4am-4pm) or in the evening (4pm-4am). Rental charges are between B550-650 a day, depending on the company, and they pay about B380-400 on gas, pushing their costs up to anywhere between B630-1,050. The 50-satang per kilometer seems like a pretty measly increase now doesn’t it?
Crabby Cabbies
Bangkok cabbies are younger, more educated and aren’t necessarily farmers from Isarn anymore, according to Hudsadin’s father and Managing Director of Howa, Dejo Eamsherangkul. He says more and more people from the city are starting to drive taxis; a lot of them retirees. Why? No, it’s not because Bangkok cabbies earn US$1,000 a week like their New York counterparts, but a lot of it is because at the end of the day, it is a profession that allows you to measure your earnings right away. “Instead of buying a normal car, you can buy a taxi and drive it to work. On your way home, you can pick up a passenger or two, drive around a bit to add some extra earnings to your salary. You drive for X amount of hours, you make X amount of trips and you make X amount of money. You get rewarded for the amount of work you do on a daily basis,” says Dejo. Being a taxi driver in the current economical situation is not easy, though. With rocketing fuel prices and the overall increase in prices of everyday commodities and necessities, like food, many taxi drivers make just enough money to get by on a daily basis and have zero savings. Most of them can’t afford to take a day off, like Somsak Yimlamai, a taxi driver who has been at the job for over 10 years. Somsak drives his taxi for 12-hours a day, seven days a week and is regularly a victim of abuse: “I have had instances where I have taken passengers to their destination only for them to throw a B100 note at my face when the meter clearly read B180. Then they just say, ‘Sorry, no money.’ What can I do? Sometimes, it’s worse. There are times when I get to a final destination, and the passenger just gets out and says they have no cash. I end up getting nothing.”
It seems that even the recent fare increase has done little to ease the daily niggles of Somsak’s profession. He shares a similar view to many other taxi drivers. “When it comes to short distances within the city, it’s fine, we end up making more money. But when it comes to longer routes, we lose money. I don’t understand how that works, but that’s a fact.”
According to Dejo, the government has failed to recognize a very important fact about long-distance journeys. “If you’re wondering why taxis refuse to go long distances, it’s mainly because they might make money on the way there, but what about on the way back. Who’s going to guarantee them passengers? It’s fair to say that the government has failed to realize that that’s a big problem when it comes to taxi drivers taking passengers out of the city center.”
The biggest problem in Thailand is that there is no established process to determine how and when meter fares should be changed. Outside of Thailand, most countries usually have a commission to check up on gas prices and make appropriate fare changes.
The fare increase was supposed to have benefited the taxi drivers, but it seems it has managed to add on to their already existing list of problems. “It starts with replacing the meter, I had to dish out another B1,200 to get it replaced,” says Somsak. It’s not as simple as it sounds. Besides being an additional cost to driver, there are only a handful of places that offer meter-replacement-services. “Not all taxis in Bangkok have had their meters replaced,” says Hudsadin. “That’s because, the parts are imported and every replaced-meter has to undergo a test to make sure it works properly. So the whole process requires time and money. It means it will be a couple more months before all taxis in Bangkok are running on the new meters.”
So lets say the cabbies do get their meters changed. There is another recurring problem that could potentially keep them from making up lost money and that is the unfortunate prevelance of “mafia gangs” that run certain taxi circles. Mafia taxis at the airport (see Golden Land Taxis below) once made huge headlines but the AOT seems to have taken control of the situation. However, you don’t see that happening anywhere around the city as of yet.
Notice Silom Road at night: there’s a police baracade meant to block vacant taxis from cramping up Silom Road, but word on the street is that a little “protection” can get you in anyway. Or, if you walk out of Siam Paragon after a late night movie, you’ll find these guys all lined up ready to take tourists for a ride. Good luck getting them to switch on their meter.
But besides meter issues, whiny passengers and the horrible economy, taxi drivers are also faced with much more tragic situations, like the Aug 3 incident which involved the disturbed video game-obsessed teenage boy who, in imitation of Grand Theft Auto, hailed a taxi and killed the 54-year-old by stabbing him repeatedly. Ask most people and they would claim that this was simply a freak incident. If you look at the statistics, taxi drivers suffer far more abuse than passengers. In fact, the ratio of incidents reported stands at an astounding eight drivers on the receiving end compared to just one passenger.
A Brighter Future?
Taken as a whole, it all seems to paint a rather dark picture for the state of our city’s taxis. But there is hope for a better future. In fact, the future is being formed now, especially among certain taxi companies, determined to raise Bangkok taxi standards quickly. “We’re trying to raise the bar of Bangkok taxis by providing our drivers with training: this could be in the form of language, like learning the basics of English, or in the form of services provided, like knowing how to perform CPR or first aid. We are also trying to bring elements like a more uniform look where our drivers will all wear company shirts and display badges around their necks,” says Hudsadin.
However, there are no talks of possible “taxi driver general knowledge” tests. We know that many world capitals enforce those—fair to say that we certainly need them enforced here. Just the most important sights, the biggest malls and the most popular hotels will do.
As far as the actual cars are concerned, in the future, besides being able to swipe your American Express in a cab, companies are also looking to equip our taxis with full-on tracking and GPS systems. That way when your paranoid mom needs to find out your exact location, all she needs to do is ring up the call center. Plus some of them will also be connected to the 191 police network so they can help report on crimes and suspicious activity. Cabs and cops working together? That would surely be something special on the streets of Bangkok.
Safety Tips
When it comes to staying safe on the backseat, it’s obvious to say that it boils down to being sensible and aware (yes, your belongings are for you to worry about). Here are some more pointers:
Look who’s driving
This should be clearly visible on a laminated sheet of paper on the front left hand side of the dashboard. Although nine times out of ten it probably isn’t the driver’s, you can still get the identity number of the person who should be behind the wheel.
Jot down the license
Definitely another essential if you ever need to file a complaint, take a note of the license plate number, either before or after you get in the cab. If you are worried text it or take a picture and send it to a friend, your boo or your paranoid mother.
Record it
If you want to protest, be clear what you are protesting about. You need to know the date, time and specific location of the incident along with a clear description of the actual grievance.
Call 1584
The Department of Land Transport will take down all the info and file a report. The driver will then be called in for investigation. If found guilty, the driver will be fined or punished accordingly. They claim you will then be contacted and informed of the results. Except we’ve done it and never been called back.
What’s Your Flavor?
We asked you, BK readers, which is your favorite color for taxis. Looking at the results and some of your comments, most of you took it as a vote on which color is the prettiest. But when it comes to service, pink is actually your least favorite ride.
“I love the pink ones! Very few places in the world can get away with a pink taxi! It makes me feel safe; I mean how could you possibly feel threatened by a guy who drives a pink car for a living?”
“Without question, the best are the green taxis. The cars are better. They’re Toyotas like the rest of them but the next model up (bigger engine, quieter ride) and consistently cleaner, with white cloth covering the interiors. And the drivers are great!”
“My favorite color taxi is blue because they tend to be newer taxis with plush interiors, owned by the driver. These ones tend to smell of newly bought air freshener, rather than vomit and cigarettes.”
“For service, both the yellow-green and blue-red are usually driven by nice, more knowledgable, older cabbies. Unfortunately, the cabs are often older too.”
“I love the blue ones. I’m not sure if this color is really better than the others or not but orange and pink are just too bright and ugly. It works for bonbons, not for taxis.”
“I don’t have a favorite color. You’ll get equally suckered and ripped off by all of them!”
“Pink ones are by far the worst: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had problems with young punks driving pink cabs.”
Here’s what the colors really mean:
• Green/yellow: Privately owned taxi
• Blue/Red: Siam Taxi Cooperative
• Green: Suvarnabhumi Taxi Cooperative / Howa
• Orange: Boworn Taxi Cooperative
• Purple: Laemthong Taxi Cooperative
• Pink: Sahamitr Taxi Cooperative
• Blue: Thai Taxi Cooperative
• Cyan: Thai H Leasing Cooperative
• Yellow: Samaggitham Taxi Cooperative
From the Backseat #1
"It was a Friday night and I was dozing off in the back seat of a cab cruising along Sukhumvit Road. The next thing I knew, my face was making very painful contact with the hard central console between the two front seats. Apparently, the driver was forced to brake hard to avoid a motorcycle. Feeling slightly dazed, but otherwise okay, I decided to cut my losses, got out of the cab and jumped in another and made it home in one piece. The next day, I woke up with a swollen cheek and an aching jaw. It was quite sore, but I thought little of it. In fact, it wasn’t until Sunday that I started to experience sharp pains down the whole side of my face; that’s when I realized that something was definitely wrong. I went to the hospital where they immediately detected a fractured jaw and chin and sent me straight to the plastic surgeon for an operation. I had a metal plate inserted into my chin and a brace over my jaw. My mouth was clamped shut for weeks and I was in a lot of pain!"
- B.H., teacher
From the Backseat #2
"On the way back from a great night at 808, I left on my own and wanted to be the first to get back to the after party. So, I grabbed a taxi (I think it was pink) at the end of RCA and offered the driver B100 to get me back to Sukhumvit Soi 10 in less than 10 minutes, which at 2.30am would’ve been very easy at a sensible driving pace. However, Mr. young taxi driver took this as his casting-call for the Fast & The Furious: Bangkok Drift and floored the accelerator. He jokingly looked over his shoulder and asked me (in Thai) if I felt sick; I said I was fine. About 30 seconds later, and at about 80kph he broke way too late for a sharp left turn and smashed into a huge concrete support for the sky train. I went flying into the front passenger seat headrest. Aside from a slight bump on my head, I was fine. However, the car wasn’t. The front right-hand wheel was completely buckled under the engine. My Schumacher taxi-man did the best he could to laugh it off, but I could tell he was going to be paying for this slip up for a long time!"
- Octo, DJ
From the Backseat #3
"Having lived in Manila where I’ve lost wallets, bags, passports and mobile phones in a cab, I am always wary of taxis and will check the seat before getting out to make sure I haven’t left anything behind. My experience in Thailand however, has been the complete opposite. One time I was rushing and didn’t realize that I has left a small shopping bag inside the cab that brought me home. The next morning, I went down to my lobby and found my bag sitting on the guard’s desk. The cab driver had taken the time after his shift to try and find my flat again to return a small item that probably cost less than what he spent on petrol. He didn’t even wait around to be thanked or rewarded. Thai cab drivers rock!"
— M.E., MBA Student
Golden Land Taxis
“Even though the airport has been opened for two years, the taxi section at the Bus Terminal area is one of the sectors where there are still rough spots,” says Chalong Tangjai, 42, taxi overseer at Suvarnabhumi Airport, “But as long as we can continue to provide every new arrival passenger with a cab, we can say we are getting along fine.”
“Rough spots” is right. “Fine” is being nice. In fact, the taxi situation at the Bangkok International Airport is pretty darn appalling. According to AOT rules, public taxis at the airport are supposed to be: 1. Less than five years old and 2. Driven by cabbies certified by the AOT. A trip to the airport will have you scratching the less-than-five-years idea from about a mile away from the taxi stand—an ugly looking counter. As far as certified drivers goes, if that means, they don’t have a criminal record then great. However, don’t get too excited, because the “standards” stop at just that—because most of the time, you’ll pay that extra B50 and get into a cab with someone who has no clue as to where he/she is going.
Another huge problem with airport taxis is where they’re placed. When the airport opened, cabs were first threatened with relocation to the distant transportation hub, along with public buses. Then, taxis were granted a spot along the middle island, on the first floor (which is not the arrivals floor), and well away from the exit doors. The taxi stands then moved closer to the exit doors but not for long. AOT limousines took their spot and sent the one remaining taxi stand to the far end of the airport.
Negative images of Suvarnabumi taxis also stem from stories of well-connected gangs dominating the area. Apparently decent taxis, part of registered unions, were rarely given clients and eventually had to move away from the scene allowing passengers to fall victim to rigged-meter “gang” drivers. Thus, most foreigners only came into contact with corrupt, rip-off taxis who wouldn’t turn on their meters or used rigged meters. However, airport authorities seem to have banished the thought altogether. “I wouldn’t say that there is a ‘mafia presence’ here anymore. This is something that is still stuck in people’s minds from before; the taxis here have improved massively since then. Of course, there will always be bad people looking to stir up trouble and deceive the passengers, but these are mostly isolated cases acting separately from each other,” says Chalong.
The airport currently has a pool of 4,000 taxis. According to our sources, a company is set to come along in October to handle the registration of all cabs. But nothing is set in stone as of yet.
5km in a Cab
We round up taxi fares to see how good we’ve got it:
BANGKOK
B55
Initial fare (first km) B35
Each additional km B5
SHANGHAI
B75
Initial fare (first 3km) B55
Each additional km (up to first 10km) B10
SINGAPORE
B90
Initial fare (first km) B58
Each additional 240m B2
HONG KONG
B160
Initial fare (first 2km) B70
Every 200m thereafter B6
NEW YORK CITY
B273
Initial fare (first km) B85
Each subsequent km B47
LONDON
B378
Initial fare (first km) B135
Each subsequent km B60
TOKYO
B467
Initial fare (first 2km) B206
Each additional 274m B24
Taxi Timeline
1924: First taxis appear in Bangkok, costing 15 satang/mile
1926: 14 taxis roaming Bangkok’s streets
1960s: Meter debates
1993: Introduction of metered taxis
1994: Non-metered taxis still running, people campaign for universal conversion
1980s: Taxi stands start popping up
1996: Meter taxis required to have radio, call-in and change in fares approved
2005: Metered taxis introduced in Chiang Mai
2008: Change in taxi fare. No. of registered taxis is 90,000, 60,000 are in operation
Pick Me Up
Get a cab at your doorstep.
Public Taxi Call Service: 1545
Bangkok Taxi: 02-880-0888
Siam Taxi: 1661
Taxi Radio: 1681
Nakhonchai Taxi: 02-878-9000
Howa: 02-424-2222
Transport Company Limited: 02-134-4097/8
Thonburi Taxi: 02-287-3345
