Taxi drivers honesty! honestly!

The Nation, Published on January 19, 2006

Taxi drivers are often regarded as rapacious cheats, but that reputation was amply belied yesterday by two honest cabbies.

An elderly taxi driver in Samut Prakan returned the equivalent of Bt630,000 in British currency to a housewife who had left the money behind in his cab. In Chon Buri, meanwhile, another cabby performed a similar act of kindness by returning Bt164,500 to a forgetful British tourist.

On Tuesday, Ladda Hill, a 32-year-old housewife, called the Jor Sor 100 traffic news radio station to report that she had forgotten a plastic bag containing ?9,000 (Bt630,000) on the backseat of a taxi.

She told the station that she had hailed a cab outside Evana Hotel in Bang Na, where she and her British husband had been staying. She later realised she had accidentally left the bag full of cash in the taxi. Ladda said she had been planning to give the money to her sister to pay for a house for their mother, who lives in Tak.

тАЬI was shocked,тАЭ Ladda said. тАЬThatтАЩs a lot of money and I couldnтАЩt remember the taxiтАЩs registration number. My brother in-law told me to call Jor Sor 100 for help.тАЭ This she did, and as it turned out the hotel staff also had the taxiтАЩs registration number on record.

Phut Dokmaijin, a 63-year-old taxi driver who volunteers as a health-care giver, received a call yesterday on his mobile phone just as he was helping vaccinate residents in his neighbourhood in Samut Prakhan.

Phut was informed that a passenger had left a bag full of cash in his cab. He said he immediately rushed home to check and found the money.

Ladda said she and her husband had given up on ever regaining their money. They rewarded the honest driver with Bt10,000.

Also yesterday, another taxi driver Jaikla Thongphaen, 34, drove back to the Sunya House Hotel in Chon BuriтАЩs Bang Lamung district to tell the staff there he had found a suitcase containing ?2,350 in cash (Bt164,000), some documents, and the passport of an Englishman called Wilson Matthew.

He said he had driven the tourist to the hotel at 11pm on Tuesday. Matthew, 31, thanked the Thai driver profusely and gave him Bt26,000 as reward yesterday.

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[yaraboy]

Lovely, but for the second time I have been ripped off by a taxi from A/p to Bnk. Trip to Pinnacle should be about 165 baht (ex tolls) but in each case about 280 baht..one being a speeded up meter other being a meter with 2 amounts showing,and I of course was charged the higher. Did not complain as frankly the amount is not much and on my trips in from the a/p do not know if rates have been raised (which they should be)

Yaraboy.

I took a taxi from the Airport to the Pinnacle last week and the cost was Bt300 which was correct. The meter fare was Bt140. The Airport tax is Bt50 and the two Motorway tolls make up the rest. You were not ripped off but I bet the driver did not get a tip!

Poor taxi drivers and no tariff increase for the huge rise in the price of gasoline and other fuels.

I am sure that out of the 20,000+ taxis in Bangkok some are ready to rip off passengers - especially tuk tuk drivers.

I could bore you with stories about a taxi who gave me 30 baht back to appologize for the traffic jam, the one who put on the clock and after a few hundred yards I decided to go somewhere else and did not want a taxi. I offered the minimum fare but he said no charge. A guy brought a Pattaya couple to our meeting. A passenger had become sick in their baht bus and they took him to hospital, took care visiting as he knew nobody and finished up using their life savings to pay for his treatment when money from Sweden was delayed - and all for making merit!

Everything I ever left in a cab was returned to me (they remember my usual pick up point in front of my condo bldg). The trip A/P to the Pinnacle neighborhood is about 280 baht total. The few times a taxi driver ever really screwed on me he accepted less than the meter (forgive me, but sometimes getting stuck in Bangkok traffic unnecessarily and have to PISS really gets me mad).

My only problem with Bkk taxi drivers is that very few times they want to barter higher fares than the meter would charge, usually late when they think they can get it. I usually just politely (well, not always politely) refuse and find another cab.

[TrongpaiExpat]

It's not so much the meter taxi drivers at the airport that are crooks as is the official Thai Limo service. Those polite uniformed boys and girls that approach you asking you where you go. They charge up to 600B for what is a 200/300 B meter taxi trip.

I generally go the the street for a taxi, not so much to avoid the 50B surcharge as to get what I find to be honest drivers and to skip having to wait in a sometimes long line.

I am curious as to how taxis are going to work at the new airport. What will the airport surcharge be and will some official limo service try to get you to go with them?

The high speed train is a good idea but so was the sky train that originally was to continue to the old airport. The completion date for the train is 2007 and anyone want to take bets on the when it really opens?
I understand that this train is to terminate at Makkasan station and that is not connected to the sky train or subway.

[Bob]

I've had only good experiences with the taxi drivers. A few years back, one went way out his way to return a passport I had dropped on the floor of his cab and the guy initially refused any tip at all for his efforts (but my insistence eventually won out). Given this was a taxi which didn't hang out at the hotel in which I was residing, I still can't figure out how he remembered where he picked me up the day before.

Late evening on Silom and Suriwong it is often difficult to get a taxi to go for the meter fare despite there being lots of them around. I'm told (?) that they have to pay Bt50 to hang around there. There are usually plenty who will go for meter fare on Rama IV or Silom Soi 6.

Unsurprisingly, Government plans to make all Bangkok taxis operate from taxi stands - to improve traffic flow - have faded. It was mooted to start on 25th October and then Mr. Taksin was expected to bring it up at his meeting with the taxi drivers in December (the one when he cussed a lot). Anyway it did not happen and we still enjoy a plentiful supply of cheap taxis.

I find it amazing that the meter prices have not gone up due to the massive fuel price increases.

Come to think of it Bangkok taxis are much cheaper than chartering a Pattaya baht bus.

[yaraboy]

Wowpow...................I said that meter was about 250 baht from a/p............so about 100 baht over charge. Toll and surcharge extra.
Now I just go up to departure level and jump an incoming taxi...never a problem and the driver is grateful
Re late at night on Silom. I find never a problem if one crosses road and catches one near Convent Rd

I dont ride TUK TUK S ,and no more Bangkok taxis,already i have had a fight with three of them.They pick you up at the airport,yes yes yes 1200 b to Pattaya,then take you to the flamin Limo place a couple of Kilometres /miles from the airport.I had a fight with the limo company in that yard down from the airport.They called the cops after i punched one taxi driver.I was walking back to the main rd to hail another cab when the cop car drove in and spoke to the drivers and didnt say nuthin to me at all.
Im not gonna be ripped off by c...ts.Yes yes we take you to Pattaya for 1200b and then take me to the flamin Limo yard.This hasnt only happen to me its happened to other people too.F....... em i now get the bloody bus,cheaper,more interesting and i can sit up the front and sleep.
If i want a taxi in Bangkok i now have to follow the same procedure as i do in Sydney and go around looking at their faces first.In Sydney the cab drivers are all mostly chinese students and Arabs.I think 70 per cent asian and 30 per cent Arabic.I jump into a cab at Sydney airport with a asian cab driver at least i know he doesnt try to rip me off but in BAngkok the c...ts do.No stuff them,look for women cab drivers.I try to look for Thai cab drivers in Sydney,heaps of Thai boys now driving cabs here.
Good luck to them,not a job i would want to do during the night.

[lonelywombat]

[quote="mrsydney"
In Sydney the cab drivers are all mostly chinese students and Arabs.I think 70 per cent asian and 30 per cent Arabic.I jump into a cab at Sydney airport with a asian cab driver at least i know he doesnt try to rip me off

Good luck to them,not a job i would want to do during the night.[/quote]

How much is the fare from Sydney airport to West Dubbo. Are there asian students driving cabs there.

What type of job is safe at night in West Dubbo. Parking Inspectors?