Stories tagged with taxis
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More Phuket Airport taxis
Tourism and transport officials have agreed to allow Phuket Taxi Meter Service to use another 23 metered taxis out of Phuket International Airport (PIA).
Phuket Taxi Meter Service currently operates 42 vehicles and the committee granted permission for the company to operate another 23 taxis, bringing the total to 65 vehicles at Phuket International Airport.
However, the amount granted is far short of the 46 extra taxis that Phuket Taxi Meter Service wanted to operate and a request by Phuket Mai Khao Company to operate 20 metered taxis has also been tentatively approved.
Phuket Mai Khao Co is awaiting confirmation from the Airports of Thailand (AOT) after it signed an agreement to in January to operate 20 limousines and 60 vans at Phuket Airport.
Phuket Taxi Meter Service currently collects a fee of 40 baht for every customer the association picks up from Phuket International Airport.
The current meter taxi fee to the popular resorts of Patong on Karon is around 400 baht.
Tourists to Phuket are advised to take a taxi from the taxi rank just outside of Arrivals and avoid taxi touts in the Arrivals hall altogether. Prices with the touts are always higher.
Posted by: Andrew on 22 Feb 2008, 09:41 -
Protesting taxis jam Bangkok airport
Passengers arriving at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi airport were greeted with an unwelcoming wait Tuesday as taxis refused to pick anyone up. Sudden changes to the parking and pickup permits prompted about 2,000 taxi drivers to stage a protest at the airport which was eventually dispersed at 3pm.
The protesting drivers gathered at the Public transport Centre after the Airports of Thailand (AOT) suddenly introduced a trial plan that cancelled their permits. They were expected to now park and wait at an off-site facility which is no longer provided free of charge. Getting to and from Bangkok airport
The taxi drivers became furious when the AOT management begun allowing unlicenced taxis in to alleviate the problem, which developed shortly after 8am. AOT has been paying an outsourced company 700,000 baht a month to manage the taxi queuing system, as well as paying 300,000 in upkeep of the parking facility.
At 3pm the standoff finally ended when representatives of AOT agreed that the plan would be suspended and to first consider proposals from the taxi drivers, whom the AOT wants to assume responsibility for managing the queuing system. It claimed to have already consulted a committee who apparently were representing the drivers.
AOT’s management of transportation at the airport has been previously criticised for its lack of transparency and fairness. Their own, grossly overpriced, limousine service is unfairly promoted in the arrivals area, where passengers are warned not take the metered taxis for their own safety, despite having been awarded permits to pick up from the airport. Numerous complaints continue to pour in about the aggressive AOT-approved touts who accost visitors in the arrivals hall offering the limo service. Only recently AOT reluctantly agreed to move the taxi pick up to the ground floor and move their limos to the basement.
Info on Bangkok airport
Posted by: Andrew on 26 Dec 2007, 21:12 -
Bangkok airport taxi scam continues
Unsuspecting visitors arriving at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi airport are still being hustled and deceived into taking the airport’s overpriced limo service into the city. Despite more than a year of criticism about the lack of transparency and fairness behind the taxi set up at the airport, the scam appears to be continuing.
Large signs on the luggage concourses and a prominently placed transportation counter in the arrivals hall warn passengers to use the official airport limousine service for their own safety despite the fact that the regular metered taxis are available outside at a third of the cost and are equally official and safe. Furthermore, the large number of ‘agents’ who loiter outside continue to accost new arrivals, encouraging them to hire these over priced services.
The limousine service, which is part owned by Airports of Thailand (AOT) who oversee the management of the airport, enjoys preferential treatment. Regular metered taxis are equally entitled to operate from the airport and must be made available to the public. They are levied a 50 baht fee for entering the airport pickup area, which is passed onto the client. Until recently they were only allowed to pickup passengers from the official taxi rank in the basement area, but persistent complaints and calls for greater transparency lead to the airport management moving them to the ground floor where arrivals exit, while the limousine services were relegated to the basement.
The cost of hiring the AOT limousine service is between 700 and 900 baht, depending on the city destination, while a metered taxi costs about 300 baht including toll fees. Despite this, the limousine service continues to receive aggressive promotion which many have described as ‘deceptive’.
Says Michael Mense, a travel agent who regularly uses the airport; “this bad practice is still going on, last week I exited the arrivals hall and was confronted by six agents in the space of two minutes, all trying to sell me an overpriced taxi service. It’s a disgraceful welcome to Thailand�.
A taxi line is found outside the terminal’s ground floor exit, where an efficient service provides registered and safe taxis without much wait.
More on Suvarnabhumi Airport
Posted by: Andrew on 26 Nov 2007, 10:23