5 apps to get a taxi in Bangkok

[Horatio Hornblower]

Taxi is one of the easiest ways to travel around Bangkok but sometimes it won’t be so easy to catch one. If you are planning a trip far away the taxi drivers nearby might not be interested. Once again, application comes to rescue.

Several apps are trying to get into Thailand market, being GrabTaxi the most successful one so far. Booking a taxi through an app is very easy: you open the app, choose your destination and wait for a driver. These are the different choices you have.


grabtaxiGrabtaxi

You have probably seen this sign on several taxis. It is growing fast and trying to get partnership with existing Thai taxi fleet. In Thailand, it is available in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiangrai. In the rest of the world you can find it in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. You can read our review here.


It has a surcharge of 25 THB, that you will have to add to the meter at the end of the ride. They are very active with promotions and discounts which often means no fee or even a cheaper price than the meter.

The technology on the app is quite acceptable. Probably the only difficulty you will find is choosing the origin and destination, because of the language. If you are going to a landmark or a hotel, you shouldn’t have any problem.

grabtaxi sshot

After your request, you can see on real-time how the drivers nearby deny or accept your journey. When a driver agrees, it tells you where he is and you can contact him for further details. Or he might just call you to check where you are.

Now GrabTaxi is also introducing GrabCar on Bangkok. It is basically the same, but with limo and a slightly different pricing (there is no surcharge, but the meter starts at 45 THB). You can also get a motorcycle taxi with GrabBike.

Available for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry

EasyTaxiEasy Taxi

Easy Taxi is not as clever as GrabTaxi or Uber, but it is easy, indeed. This app is available in many countries around the world, mainly in South America and South East Asia.

It works as an app version of the traditional Taxi Call Center. You pick up your origin, destination and wait for the result. When a driver is assigned for your trip, you can check all the details or call him to offer more information.

Easy Taxi booking

The surcharge is 20 THB, which you have to add to the meter fare at the end of the destination. Even if you don’t have the app installed, you can reach the service through the web app using any browser (also mobile-friendly!)

Available for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Samsung Apps and web.

UberUber

Uber is also available in Thailand too. For now, just in Bangkok, but you will be lucky if you can catch one of these as they are too few yet.

The price starts at 25 TH and increases 1 THB per minute and 4.5 THB per kilometer. That is sometimes slightly cheaper than normal metered taxi, but be careful because it is kind of tricky. The minimum cost per ride is 45 THB and there is also a 45 THB fee if you cancel the ride. That is for UberX, the cheapest one. UberBlack is more expensive, as you can see in Uber website.

UberX

In most cases Uber will mean a more expensive ride than on a normal taxi, but in exchange you are supposed to get a better service.

One thing that you might and might not like is that you need to add your credit card details first when you create your account. The service fee is deducted automatically from your card, so you don’t need to carry cash with you. That’s good, but it is also kind of scary somehow.

You can get an estimation for the ride cost on the app and the website, but be aware that some routes have a fixed cost, like 1,000 THB for an airport ride.

Available for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone.

allthaitaxiAll Thai Taxi

All Thai Taxi is the uninspired name of a brand new services, just launcher in Thailand. It is still on early Beta, so don’t expect it to work as smooth as others like Grab Taxi.

All Thai Taxi has its own taxi fleet and features focused on safety and features a Lady Taxi.

att1

For now it has been launcher only on Android, but it will be available on iPhone too.

Available for Android and iPhone.

smarttaxiSmart Taxi

Smart Taxi is the last on our list. It is only available for iPhone and iPad and seems kind of abandoned, as it has not been updated since December 2014. Anyway, you might still see it on some taxis and wonder what is it. The service fee is 20 THB.

As for the app, as you can see on the screenshots, it is a bit outdated and childish. Definitely not as professional as the others.

smart-taxi

Available for iPhone and iPad

And more will come

When we first wrote this article, it featured only the main 3 apps back then. Now the list has gone up to five and it is likely that the number will continue rising. Which one is your favorite?

http://bangkokhasyou.com/grabtaxi-ub...ytaxi-bangkok/

[Headworx]

Which one is your favorite?

I use GrabTaxi quite often for coming home from drinking if it's later than normal or pissing rain, not fair on Mrs Worx to come get me in those situations. It's a great service and a nice App to use, with GPS turned on the driver can see exactly where you are and you can track him as he makes his way to your location. When he's 3 minutes away, drink up pay the tab and walk out the door. No bullshit about the price to worry about, both parties know the correct freight the moment a driver accepts the job. Perfect.

[david44]

I've used grab and yes it works fine

[Horatio Hornblower]

I'd never of thought of using Apps for cabs before,will be from now on.

[thaimeme]

How about motioning physically [hand/arm] in their direction?
Old school still seems to work. Great concept.


Without the added, and unneeded, distraction of mobile gadgetry.

[Headworx]

^Yeah great idea Jeff. Flapping your arms around like a duck on take-off will surely get a taxi to pull up nearby when you're sitting in your lounge room or in an establishment that's nowhere near a taxi rank .

For times like that, old school is completely useless. But technology has it covered.