Phuket taxi drivers get their way, no reduction in fares

Officials from the Phuket Land Transportation Office (PLTO) have bowed down to the demands of local taxi drivers and agreed not to reduce taxi fares on the island.

PLTO director Sommai Sutkhao told The Phuket News yesterday, “I had a meeting with relevant officials and representatives from local transport associations to discuss reducing taxi fares last month. However, the idea was dismissed by them immediately.”

“The reason they gave for not wanting to reduce the fares was because they use a queuing system in the areas in which they work. They said if the prices were reduced this system would not work,” he said.

Mr Sommai explained that he understands that the cost of living in Phuket is too high, however, he said that if fares were reduced, it would affect many people’s livelihoods.

“We can only ask the drivers to treat customers fairly and we have requested that if people travel less than 4 kilometres they should consider charging cheaper fares. The representatives said they would discuss this with their drivers and send a letter of confirmation back to my office with their decision,” he said.

“So far have not received such letters, but for the time being, we have asked them to treat customers fairly by not charging a high price.”

“We continue to receive complaints from people about fares in Phuket being high, but most of the complaints we received via our call center lack information about the taxi that serviced them, so officials can not proceed with further action.”

“If you have a complaint against public transport drivers, please get their license plate number so we know who to call,” he added.

Mr Sommai also confirmed that taxi fares on the island will not increase if the Transport Ministry approves a 5 percent increase rate for Bangkok this year.

“We will use the fares set by the Provincial Office on December 25, 2012, ” he said.

Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said the Transport Ministry is considering approving a 5 percent increase on taxi fares this year, on Aug 15.

In 2014, the ministry agreed to raise taxi fares in Bangkok by 13 percent. However, it only granted an 8 percent increase, holding back the rest until drivers could prove they had improved their services.

The PLTO considered lowering the island’s taxi fares following a video of a Thai speaking Westerner complaining about the cost of a taxi on the island going viral.

The video clip was initially uploaded by internet celebrity, “Jack Dek Farang” on the afternoon of June 18 and by the next morning it had amassed more than 105,000 views and 11,000 Likes.

Story: The Phuket News

 

Related:

Clip of farang speaking adorable Western-accented Thai goes viral (VIDEO)

 



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on