PHUKET: A scale of fares has been chosen as Phuket moves towards adopting meters in all the islands taxis, a meeting heard yesterday.
Four hundred green-plated taxis are to be the first to be converted to metered fares, Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada said.
In anticipation of the move, Phuket's taxi drivers were last month given the option of three different scales of fares. They selected one that gave them a 52 percent fare increase.
It is said that there has been no increase in the meter rates since the metered cabs were introduced on Phuket about 10 years ago.
One taxi spokesperson, Sabu Boonprasob, 52, of the Phuket Taxi Cooperative, told the gathering at Phuket Provinicial Hall in Phuket City yesterday that the fares remained too low for a change from green plates and their high fares scale to meters.
''Some drivers have only one customer a day,'' he said. ''They have to pay for children to go to school, petrol and all the other costs of living and supporting a family.''
Sarayuth Mallam, Vice President of the Phuket Tourist Association, responded: ''When you have good business in high season, nobody complains. Nobody forced you to become a taxi driver.
''Every occupation on Phuket carries a risk. You simply have to improve the quality of the service.''
Meters were the international standard, the drivers' representatives were told, and Phuket was compelled to provide an international service.
Tourists were now saying: ''You must solve these problems. We want more taxis converted to meters.''
For decades, Phuket's village-based monopoly system has encouraged more drivers to take up the work and charged tourists higher and higher fares to compensated for the unsustainable equation.
Taxis and tuk-tuks continue to monopolise precious parking space in Patong and Karon especially, with thuggish responses at times to those who dare invade ''their space.''
The biggest rip-off is the double fare that tourists pay so that drivers can return to base, without picking up a passenger.
It's clear that the only answer is for Phuket to have fewer taxis, working harder.
Phuket Land Transport Department specialist Jaturong Keawkasisaid raised that prospect again yesterday by telling the meeting that a call centre would enable taxis to pick up customers all over Phuket.
Those who called to have a taxi pick them up from home would pay a 50 baht surcharge, he told the meeting. The same surcharge would apply to calls made from Phuket's bus stations or the deep sea port, he added.
A service charge of 100 baht would be applied to taxis picking up customers from Phuket International Airport between midnight and 5am.
He said the new rates would be introduced ''in two or three months.''
With a flagfall fee of 100 baht, the new rates would be airport to Chalong, 506 baht, City 476 baht, Patong 636 baht, Karon 686 baht, Laguna 356 baht, Cape Panwa, 576 baht and Rawai 566 baht. (see attached image for details)
The adoption of a new rate for metered taxis is seen as the latest in a series of incrimental moves aimed at reforming Phuket's taxi and tuk-tuk services over an unspecified period of time.
Department of Special Investigation officers working with local police are expected to crack down on the most thuggish of Phuket's tuk-tuk and taxi queues any day now.
Four hundred green-plated taxis are to be the first to be converted to metered fares, Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada said.
In anticipation of the move, Phuket's taxi drivers were last month given the option of three different scales of fares. They selected one that gave them a 52 percent fare increase.
It is said that there has been no increase in the meter rates since the metered cabs were introduced on Phuket about 10 years ago.
One taxi spokesperson, Sabu Boonprasob, 52, of the Phuket Taxi Cooperative, told the gathering at Phuket Provinicial Hall in Phuket City yesterday that the fares remained too low for a change from green plates and their high fares scale to meters.
''Some drivers have only one customer a day,'' he said. ''They have to pay for children to go to school, petrol and all the other costs of living and supporting a family.''
Sarayuth Mallam, Vice President of the Phuket Tourist Association, responded: ''When you have good business in high season, nobody complains. Nobody forced you to become a taxi driver.
''Every occupation on Phuket carries a risk. You simply have to improve the quality of the service.''
Meters were the international standard, the drivers' representatives were told, and Phuket was compelled to provide an international service.
Tourists were now saying: ''You must solve these problems. We want more taxis converted to meters.''
For decades, Phuket's village-based monopoly system has encouraged more drivers to take up the work and charged tourists higher and higher fares to compensated for the unsustainable equation.
Taxis and tuk-tuks continue to monopolise precious parking space in Patong and Karon especially, with thuggish responses at times to those who dare invade ''their space.''
The biggest rip-off is the double fare that tourists pay so that drivers can return to base, without picking up a passenger.
It's clear that the only answer is for Phuket to have fewer taxis, working harder.
Phuket Land Transport Department specialist Jaturong Keawkasisaid raised that prospect again yesterday by telling the meeting that a call centre would enable taxis to pick up customers all over Phuket.
Those who called to have a taxi pick them up from home would pay a 50 baht surcharge, he told the meeting. The same surcharge would apply to calls made from Phuket's bus stations or the deep sea port, he added.
A service charge of 100 baht would be applied to taxis picking up customers from Phuket International Airport between midnight and 5am.
He said the new rates would be introduced ''in two or three months.''
With a flagfall fee of 100 baht, the new rates would be airport to Chalong, 506 baht, City 476 baht, Patong 636 baht, Karon 686 baht, Laguna 356 baht, Cape Panwa, 576 baht and Rawai 566 baht. (see attached image for details)
The adoption of a new rate for metered taxis is seen as the latest in a series of incrimental moves aimed at reforming Phuket's taxi and tuk-tuk services over an unspecified period of time.
Department of Special Investigation officers working with local police are expected to crack down on the most thuggish of Phuket's tuk-tuk and taxi queues any day now.
What does a taxi passenger do when the driver refuses to turn on the meter?
Posted by gee on September 25, 2013 13:33
Editor Comment:
find another cab.