If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Phukets ripoff taxis
http://phuketgazette.net/news/detail.asp?id=8321
Phuket rip-off: the trouble with tuk-tuks February 6, 2010 Seeing red ... tourists pay 10 times more for tuk-tuks in Phuket than in Bangkok. Photo: Austin Bush/Lonely Planet Tourists in Phuket are being taken for a ride, writes Alan Morison. Most of Phuket's tuk-tuks are red, which is the colour tourists are seeing when they encounter extortionate fares and sometimes gruff and thuggish behaviour by the drivers of these strange local taxis. The quaint open-sided vehicles provide a ride that's about as comfortable as the back of a ute but visitors are charged a five-star luxury price for the privilege of being bounced all over the holiday island. One Canadian tourist complained about the 150 baht ($5) fare for a one- minute journey and was punched in the face five times by a driver last month. A French tourist argued about a parking space on December 26 and had his arm broken. The cost of a tuk-tuk from Phuket's airport to Patong, a journey of 40 kilometres, is 800 baht, about the same price as the bus fare to Bangkok, 852 kilometres away. Phuket's tuk-tuk drivers snaffle the best parking spots along the island's popular beaches, charge more than 10 times what their Bangkok colleagues ask and the number of drivers is growing quickly. While Phuket tuk-tuks have four wheels compared to the three-wheelers in Bangkok, that extra wheel hardly seems to justify prices that are on par with those charged for air-conditioned taxi services in the world's most popular cities. Natdanai Chaowana, a prominent tuk-tuk owner in Patong, says: "In Patong, everybody knows that it's 200 baht just to start the engine of a tuk-tuk." When asked why the cost is so high, he adds: "'Look at the economy of Phuket. Everything is expensive here." Patong's police chief, Colonel Grissak Songmoonnark, says there are too many tuk-tuks on Phuket. There are about 500 in Patong alone, he says, not including unregistered vehicles. "Two hundred tuk-tuks would be enough for the whole island," he says. "Problems arise because of the rivalry between the tuk-tuk groups, which means they often cannot make pick-ups so return trips are usually made empty. It should be 150 baht to travel from Karon to Patong but because the driver has to return empty, he charges 300 baht." Tourists and expat residents have used internet chat sites to call for a boycott, petitions and the introduction of a proper public transport system on Phuket. Visitors to Phuket can hire cars or motorcycles or catch slow buses from Patong on the west coast to Phuket City on the east coast. Taxis from the airport, for example, can drop passengers in Patong, Karon and Kata but they cannot pick up passengers. There are no buses linking the popular west-coast beaches, so tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis have a monopoly along the west coast. It is widely acknowledged that tuk-tuk drivers have supporters in local government, resulting in growing pressure for intervention by the Thai government. Even Phuket's powerful provincial governor, Wichai Praisa-ngob, who recently forced unscrupulous jet-ski operators to pay for compulsory insurance, seems unable to rein in the "the tuk- tuk mafia". |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Phukets ripoff taxis
Join packaged tours to avoid rip off, same in many countries.
E.g. Xiamen hotels charge high rates to walk-in customers, low rates only to packages tours. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Orbitz ripoff | Riley 77 | Cruises | 7 | April 20th, 2009 01:20 AM |
Orbitz ripoff | TEP | Cruises | 0 | April 10th, 2009 12:19 PM |
Ryanair ripoff | Tom P[_4_] | Europe | 73 | January 26th, 2009 02:27 PM |
A case of a CO ripoff | Reef Fish | Air travel | 7 | November 25th, 2006 07:35 AM |
Accra a Ripoff? | Miguel Cruz | Africa | 0 | February 18th, 2004 09:36 AM |