Taximeter Cabriolet
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An email from a tropical-disease doctor who commutes between Kenya and Thailand.
Your magazine is a wonderful find; its advice for foreigners is really not only honest and fresh but insightful—everyone should read it.
Your magazine is full of wisdom and a lot of it is really funny—the warnings, tips, and suggestions
are excellent. I don’t think anyone should come to Thailand without reading this. I loved the “Bar Boys’ Ten Commandments.”
I noticed in the Silom Soi 4 area that
the metered taxis try to cheat a lot of tourists because they refuse to
use the meter. I was in four different taxis this week and all refused
to use the meter, wanting between Bt200 and Bt350 to go to my hotel.
The actual trip costs Bt68, and they were trying to get 3 to 4 times
that! These sorts of people should be stopped as they are not good for
Thailand. The tourist police should clamp down on these guys.
You have a refreshing sincerity and integrity which is really helpful and I’ll be keeping up to date through your web site.
Thank you, Ross
This email came to both the publisher and Uncle Ted.
The publisher replied…
Dear Ross,
Thanks so much for your kind comments.
The Taxi situation is common in that area. The way I beat it, is to
avoid the taxis sitting there double-parked, waiting outside the soi.
Just go down a bit past the waiting taxis and flag one down that is
passing by. When I get in and he does not turn on his meter after 30
seconds, I ask him to put it on or tell him to let me out. I hope this
was helpful.
Best regards,
Phil
Uncle Ted replied…
Dear Ross,
Thanks for appreciating our efforts.
Re: Taxis. Sometimes I negotiate the rate (knowing what it would cost
anyway). Thais like to bargain and if they don’t have to turn on their
meter, they don’t have to share the fare with the owner of the cab.
Besides, can you imagine a worse job than being a taxi driver in
Bangkok’s traffic? Actually they deserve more than the meter shows
because so much time is lost standing still, and…as Thai taxis are the
cheapest in the world, I tend to tip generously.
There is another taxi-related problem. Five years ago, no taxi would
ever dream of refusing a passenger, but this morning as I left a
meeting at a university, three taxis, sitting at the front gate,
refused to take me on what is usually a 100-baht ride. Don’t ask me
why; maybe they want a big trip to the airport (but then they should be
waiting outside an hotel, not a university); maybe they just want to go
someplace more nearby.
On the street, some of those that don’t stop are probably just going
home after a full day’s work, but they don’t have an “Off Duty” sign as
they do in New York City, for example.
All the best,
Uncle Ted
P.S. In London, before motorcars, a one-horse “taxi” carriage was called a Taximeter-cabriolet thus Taxicab.