UPDATE
All 250 members of the Mook Andaman taxi group were gathering at Phuket International Airport late on Monday to discuss the arrest of one of their drivers this afternoon. The group's drivers have been denied access to airport ranks by two existing taxi groups.
Original Report
PHUKET: Profit for Airports of Thailand from Phuket International Airport was likely to reach two billion baht this year, airport General Manager Prathuang Somkhom said yesterday.
Profit in 2011 hit 1.5 billion baht and that rose to 1.85 billion baht last year, he said.
Wing Commander Prathuang was speaking on the eve of the eighth annual Airports Council International Asia-Pacific conference and exhibition, being held on Phuket until Thursday.
Airports of Thailand board charman Sita Divari took the opportunity to attend a meeting aimed at resolving a controversy about Phuket airport's taxis.
With two groups already controlling the airport's taxis and limousines, a third group, Mook Andaman Business and Travel Cooperative Ltd, is bidding to add its drivers to the taxi pool.
The group sought space for 250 additional taxis at Phuket airport but met with resistance. In the end, the decision was made that 25 Mook Andaman taxis could be added to each of the existing groups.
However, that arrangement has yet to be honored.
Under the deal, the new drivers were to pay 2600 baht monthly rent to the airport plus 25 percent of the fares per trip to either of the existing groups.
The groups had insisted on this fee being lifted from the original 20 percent being negotiated to 25 percent.
The point that is often overlooked in debate among interested parties is that Phuket's tourists are the ones who foot the bills. Their opinion is never sought.
Yesterday, Mook Andaman group member Manoop Pechrat told the meeting at Phuket airport that his father had donated land for the airport, yet he now found himself cut out of a slice of the taxi action.
''My home is near the airport and we hear the planes coming and going,'' he said. ''I am of the first generation to drive 'black' [illegal] taxis yet people don't want us to be legal.''
It's believed that the AoT and police are frequently at the airport gates these days to prevent ''black'' taxis from entering the airport.
Attempts to lift the number of metered taxis from the 60 currently in operation were also being resisted by the two existing groups, the meeting heard.
Mostly, the metered taxi drivers have abandoned their meters. They now usually negotiate a fee similar to those demanded by the airport group taxis because that earns them the same excessively high rate.
An AoT decision is expected sometime soon on the future of Phuket airport taxis because all existing contracts expire in June.
As with the taxi system all over Phuket, the airport cabs charge customers double the correct fare because they have to return to the airport empty after reaching their destination.
Taxi fares on Phuket continue to be six to 10 times those of Bangkok. Tourists who visit Bangkok and Phuket regularly complain to their embassies and internet travel sites about the extortionate taxi fares.
Drivers resist change because they only need to make one long trip or a couple of short ones each day to earn a good living.
The high taxi fares and the traditional village mentality that established this iniquitous system have so far been supported by AoT.
Efforts continue to try to establish an alternative hop-on, hop-off bus service from Phuket airport to Phuket's popular west coast and southern beaches. This move is also being resisted by the taxi drivers.
An undertaking to extend the hours of the airport taxi desk to prevent early-morning travellers being ripped off by being charged even more extortionate fares than usual has yet to be honored by AoT.
It's believed some tourists are also still regularly taken to ''visitor centres'' where efforts are made to sell them accommodation they don't need. Illegal commissions go to the taxi drivers.
Phuket police have told Phuketwan that it's the AoT's responsibility to end this tourist scam.
Will you leave the taxi drivers alone, I have lived here years and have hardly ever heard of any rapes or muggings by taxi drivers on their customers which is very postive. Tuk Tuks have been very good to me on the whole and taxi even better. They have to earn a lving Phuket is expensive. When tourists come here they understand the pros and cons, if you want a heavily regulated market go to Singapore. One is not better than the other just different.
Posted by Fiesty Farang on April 23, 2013 16:25
Editor Comment:
Trolling yet again, FF? Your sense of justice and fairness is, as always, warped in your own peculiar fashion.