PHUKET: From Monday, the meter taxis counter moves to the front of Phuket International Airport to occupy the prime space previously held by the green-plate taxis, Phuket Land Transport Department specialist Jaturong Keawkasi said today.
The green-plate counter moves to the spot previously held by the meter taxis, out of the way at the end of the building.
The switch symbolises the new priority that will be given to meter taxis, Khun Jaturong said. It marks the beginning of the end for the days of Phuket's peculiar ''negotiated'' fares.
While police and the military have been arresting taxi and tuk-tuk drivers over blockades, extortion and intimidation, the other part of the island's transport revolution - the movement to introduce a complete meter taxi system on Phuket - has been proceeding as planned.
On Monday comes a milestone switch in priority between the meter taxis and the green-plate taxis.
''Directly in front of the airport exit will be 10 'lady parking' bays,'' Khun Jaturong told Phuketwan today. ''Then behind those spaces, there will be parking for 40 meter cabs from Monday.''
While green-plate taxis are to be moved to a holding pen in Sirinath National Park nearby, where they will be called in as requested to the airport, the meter cabs will be able to come and go from the airport at will, with the capacity to drop off and pick up passengers anywhere on Phuket.
''A Royal Thai Navy special operations group will be on standby to react at the first sign of trouble,'' Khun Jaturong said. ''Any driver who has a problem will be able to call them in immediately.''
There were already 139 meter taxis with another 200 signed up and ready to make the changeover by having meters installed, Khun Jaturong said.
Monday, September 1, also marks the day on which green-plate taxis will no longer be able to park in public spaces anywhere on Phuket - except for officially designated holding bays.
The deadline comes from the Army's Major General Somchai Ponatong, senior Army officer on Phuket.
''From Monday, green-plate taxis will all have to find alternative places to park,'' he told Phuketwan.
''Most will be able to use holding spaces especially created for taxis to wait before being called to hotels.
''The alternative is private space off the roads, if the driver has somewhere to park. Resorts may also give taxis permission to use their space, but we believe few have room for green-plate taxis.''
Meter taxis - now the preferred form of taxi for Phuket - will be able to drop off and pick up passengers anywhere on the island, giving the drivers a freedom to work where and when they wish.
Green-plate taxis, on the other hand, will be confined to designated holding bays and called in to resorts one by one on a first-come, first-served basis.
There are certain conditions for the changeover, though.
''The meter taxis will have to switch on their meters,'' Khun Jaturong said.
Meter taxis were established on Phuket years ago with the intention of gradually replacing the green-plate taxis.
However, support for the meter taxis did not come from the Phuket administration or from Airports of Thailand, which at the same time negotiated concessions with three large green-plate taxi consortiums at the airport.
By uniting the drivers in groups and applying intimidation where necessary, the airport groups held sway.
They set extortionately high ''negotiable'' fares that were, in practice, never negotiable.
The strength of the system lay with each large taxi group never allowing fares to drift down to realistic levels.
As a consequence, Phuket's taxi fares have remained about six times those of Bangkok, and thousands of young men aspired to become a taxi driver as soon as they could begin paying off a saloon car.
The second key principle in maintaining the monopoly on high prices was that taxi drivers were not allowed to pick up passengers outside their traditional village zones, so with power on the side of the drivers, passengers were charged double to take account of the driver's journey back to base, empty.
Eventually, after years of having the green-plate drivers make more through their system, the meter taxi drivers at the airport succumbed to the temptation to turn off their meters and adopt the highly successful ''negotiable'' fares of their green-plate rivals.
The takeover of Thailand by the military on May 22 opened the door to a transport revolution that is now seeing the efforts of the Phuket Land Transport Department to reform the system accelerated. Their attempt to rationalise the system to match international standards is finally being rewarded and fast-tracked.
This week, with crackdowns and scores of arrests made among taxi and tuk-tuk drivers first in Kata-Karon and then this week in Patong, regional police announced their intention to target Mai Khao and the airport next.
There has been no sign so far that the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, who once used blockades and the threat of physical violence to get their way, intend to repeat their past misdeeds.
Registration for meter taxi drivers at the airport resumes from next Wednesday.
The green-plate counter moves to the spot previously held by the meter taxis, out of the way at the end of the building.
The switch symbolises the new priority that will be given to meter taxis, Khun Jaturong said. It marks the beginning of the end for the days of Phuket's peculiar ''negotiated'' fares.
While police and the military have been arresting taxi and tuk-tuk drivers over blockades, extortion and intimidation, the other part of the island's transport revolution - the movement to introduce a complete meter taxi system on Phuket - has been proceeding as planned.
On Monday comes a milestone switch in priority between the meter taxis and the green-plate taxis.
''Directly in front of the airport exit will be 10 'lady parking' bays,'' Khun Jaturong told Phuketwan today. ''Then behind those spaces, there will be parking for 40 meter cabs from Monday.''
While green-plate taxis are to be moved to a holding pen in Sirinath National Park nearby, where they will be called in as requested to the airport, the meter cabs will be able to come and go from the airport at will, with the capacity to drop off and pick up passengers anywhere on Phuket.
''A Royal Thai Navy special operations group will be on standby to react at the first sign of trouble,'' Khun Jaturong said. ''Any driver who has a problem will be able to call them in immediately.''
There were already 139 meter taxis with another 200 signed up and ready to make the changeover by having meters installed, Khun Jaturong said.
Monday, September 1, also marks the day on which green-plate taxis will no longer be able to park in public spaces anywhere on Phuket - except for officially designated holding bays.
The deadline comes from the Army's Major General Somchai Ponatong, senior Army officer on Phuket.
''From Monday, green-plate taxis will all have to find alternative places to park,'' he told Phuketwan.
''Most will be able to use holding spaces especially created for taxis to wait before being called to hotels.
''The alternative is private space off the roads, if the driver has somewhere to park. Resorts may also give taxis permission to use their space, but we believe few have room for green-plate taxis.''
Meter taxis - now the preferred form of taxi for Phuket - will be able to drop off and pick up passengers anywhere on the island, giving the drivers a freedom to work where and when they wish.
Green-plate taxis, on the other hand, will be confined to designated holding bays and called in to resorts one by one on a first-come, first-served basis.
There are certain conditions for the changeover, though.
''The meter taxis will have to switch on their meters,'' Khun Jaturong said.
Meter taxis were established on Phuket years ago with the intention of gradually replacing the green-plate taxis.
However, support for the meter taxis did not come from the Phuket administration or from Airports of Thailand, which at the same time negotiated concessions with three large green-plate taxi consortiums at the airport.
By uniting the drivers in groups and applying intimidation where necessary, the airport groups held sway.
They set extortionately high ''negotiable'' fares that were, in practice, never negotiable.
The strength of the system lay with each large taxi group never allowing fares to drift down to realistic levels.
As a consequence, Phuket's taxi fares have remained about six times those of Bangkok, and thousands of young men aspired to become a taxi driver as soon as they could begin paying off a saloon car.
The second key principle in maintaining the monopoly on high prices was that taxi drivers were not allowed to pick up passengers outside their traditional village zones, so with power on the side of the drivers, passengers were charged double to take account of the driver's journey back to base, empty.
Eventually, after years of having the green-plate drivers make more through their system, the meter taxi drivers at the airport succumbed to the temptation to turn off their meters and adopt the highly successful ''negotiable'' fares of their green-plate rivals.
The takeover of Thailand by the military on May 22 opened the door to a transport revolution that is now seeing the efforts of the Phuket Land Transport Department to reform the system accelerated. Their attempt to rationalise the system to match international standards is finally being rewarded and fast-tracked.
This week, with crackdowns and scores of arrests made among taxi and tuk-tuk drivers first in Kata-Karon and then this week in Patong, regional police announced their intention to target Mai Khao and the airport next.
There has been no sign so far that the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, who once used blockades and the threat of physical violence to get their way, intend to repeat their past misdeeds.
Registration for meter taxi drivers at the airport resumes from next Wednesday.
Now we have to see if this meter taxi,s have what we call high speed meter's. If they have the same meter's as in Bangkok, the heaven is near.
Posted by Retired Roadworker on August 29, 2014 15:45