Category: bigsmile

Board: what to know about TAXI?

If you come and travel in Bangkok, Taxi is one famous transportation because of easy finding. This time, I will inform you about Taxi in Thailand.

1.Taxi Colour Codes? Bangkok taxis are famous to be very colourful, especially the pink ones: This means nothing to us, those are just different companies and fares and features are the same.

2.How to Spot Available Taxis Available taxis are the ones with the glowing red vacant sign.

3.Fair Fares No need to negotiate the fare as all taxis in Bangkok are now metered (well, sort of anyway). A driver refusing to use a meter is an indication of a suspicious agenda. If he insists on giving you a fixed fare, instead of using the meter, it’s best to find another cab. Taxis standing by in front of hotels are usually suspicious.

*The starting fare is 35 Baht
*There is a service charge at least 50 Baht if you flag a taxi from the airport

4.Unwilling Drivers Don’t be surprised if the driver refuses to take you where you wish to go. While there’s not much you can really do about it you can report to Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584 and report the taxi if you were fast enough to take a picture of the car plate (plates are both inside and outside the cab). Alternatively you can download this app DLT Taxi to report the taxi. Better try your luck with the next taxi.

5.Flagging a Taxi It’s ok to get a taxi at a bus stop when there’s no bus approaching, otherwise you can expect to be honked at.

*Moreover flagging a taxi by yourself you can also use the application as follows Grab, All Thai Taxi, Smart Taxi, Line Taxi but there is a service charge about 20 bath or over

6.Taxi Scams Like tuk-tuks, watch out for an over-eager taxi driver who offers to take you to ‘good’ places, skip it or decline! Trust your intuition. If you don’t get a good feeling about a taxi driver, rather wait for the next one. Again Taxis standing by in front of hotels are usually suspicious.

7.Clueless Taxis Don’t expect Bangkok taxi drivers to know the city’s every nook and cranny, as a driver qualification exam isn’t required. It’s always a good idea to carry a map, or the name and the location of where you’re heading to written in Thai. (Pick up a hotel card when leaving your hotel if you are in a small street of Bangkok)

8.Watch when stepping out! Look behind you and make sure there’s no motorcycle coming before you open a car door. It’s very common for passengers to open the door without looking, and have a motorcycle slam into it. This can cause serious injury to the motorcycle driver, the taxi passenger, as well as considerable damage to the taxi itself.

9.Tips? Change? Tipping of taxi drivers is not required, though rounding the fare off to the nearest 5 or 10 baht is common practice (it’s a nice thing to do, as they earn very little, work long hours in often stressful conditions). But remember: Taxis often pretend not to have change, so carry small amounts!

10.Lost Items Before getting out of a taxi, make sure you haven’t left any valuables or shopping bags behind.

Data from http://www.bangkok.com/information-travel-around/taxis.htm?cid=ch:OTH:001