PHUKET: A key meeting takes place tomorrow to determine the future of Phuket International Airport's taxis and limousines.
Driving changes is Phuket Land Transport Chief Teerayut Prasertpon, who believes Phuket's entire taxi system is being gradually brought into the 21st centry.
Tomorrow's meeting is likely to see Airports of Thailand, which manages Phuket's airport, resume control over the assignment of taxis and limos.
At present, two existing taxi groups and the metered taxi group each make their own arrangements.
Khun Teerayut has recommended adopting the successful system that operates at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, where taxis form one queue and the airport gains 50 baht per pickup.
Today is also a significant milestone for Phuket's public transport future with tenders now open for bidders who wish to run the three new airport bus services to Phuket's west and south.
Companies and groups interested in the buses have until December 26 to express interest.
Reforms introduced this year by Khun Teerayut are gradually bringing under control and modernising the chaos of Phuket's freewheeling taxi transport system.
The most important development so far is the introduction of a central call number, 1584, for anyone looking to hire a cab anywhere on Phuket.
It's anticipated that as drivers in the system gain most of Phuket's taxi business, more drivers will sign on to be part of the call centre system.
An important decision for consideration at tomorrow's meeting will be about the future of the Mook Andaman group, a new taxi group established from taxis that were formerly illegal.
There are 130 members of the group but the airport management says there is room for just 50 additional taxis under the present system.
Creating a more efficient system may allow all existing registered taxis to function from the airport.
The new bus routes from the airport will for the first time offer arriving and departing tourists a cheaper method of transport to and from Phuket's west and south.
The three bus routes open for tender from today are: Phuket airport to Rawai (southern Phuket); Phuket airport to Kamala-Patong, and Phuket airport to Kata-Karon.
Driving changes is Phuket Land Transport Chief Teerayut Prasertpon, who believes Phuket's entire taxi system is being gradually brought into the 21st centry.
Tomorrow's meeting is likely to see Airports of Thailand, which manages Phuket's airport, resume control over the assignment of taxis and limos.
At present, two existing taxi groups and the metered taxi group each make their own arrangements.
Khun Teerayut has recommended adopting the successful system that operates at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, where taxis form one queue and the airport gains 50 baht per pickup.
Today is also a significant milestone for Phuket's public transport future with tenders now open for bidders who wish to run the three new airport bus services to Phuket's west and south.
Companies and groups interested in the buses have until December 26 to express interest.
Reforms introduced this year by Khun Teerayut are gradually bringing under control and modernising the chaos of Phuket's freewheeling taxi transport system.
The most important development so far is the introduction of a central call number, 1584, for anyone looking to hire a cab anywhere on Phuket.
It's anticipated that as drivers in the system gain most of Phuket's taxi business, more drivers will sign on to be part of the call centre system.
An important decision for consideration at tomorrow's meeting will be about the future of the Mook Andaman group, a new taxi group established from taxis that were formerly illegal.
There are 130 members of the group but the airport management says there is room for just 50 additional taxis under the present system.
Creating a more efficient system may allow all existing registered taxis to function from the airport.
The new bus routes from the airport will for the first time offer arriving and departing tourists a cheaper method of transport to and from Phuket's west and south.
The three bus routes open for tender from today are: Phuket airport to Rawai (southern Phuket); Phuket airport to Kamala-Patong, and Phuket airport to Kata-Karon.
It will be interesting to see how many, if anyone, dares to bid on these routes and risk the retaliation and intimidation from the taxi and tuk tuk mobs.
Last attempt to introduce a bus service between Patong and Karon-Kata ended up in the driver being pulled from the bus and badly beaten.
Since this is a well known risk, I wonder what efforts the authorities are making to ensure the safety of the new routes and their operators.
Posted by Andrew on November 12, 2012 10:58