Meter Taxis in Korat

[buad hai]

Yes, Korat now has a fleet of ten taxi meters. They are blue and yellow in color and seem to hang out at the new bus station (the one near Makro). The charge is 30 baht for the first kilometer and 4 baht for each K after that.

Korat Meter Taxi Call Center: 044-342-255

[meepho]

i'd say getting ready for the games, buad hai.

they start november sometime.

[Texpat]

Great!

Now instead of haggling with a tuk-tuk driver on a fare, you get into a shiney new taxi and then argue about whether or not the kunt's going to turn it on.

(Had a bad experience 2 weeks ago with a taxi driver at Don Muang airport. Was pretty close to going to jail that night.)

[buad hai]

i'd say getting ready for the games, buad hai.
they start november sometime

Right you are. Ms. B is a volunteer "Guest Liaison Officer" for the games and was told about the taxis in an orientation meeting. The games begin in December. Supposedly, the fleet is to be increased.

[donmeurett]

Great!

Now instead of haggling with a tuk-tuk driver on a fare, you get into a shiney new taxi and then argue about whether or not the kunt's going to turn it on.

(Had a bad experience 2 weeks ago with a taxi driver at Don Muang airport. Was pretty close to going to jail that night.)

Tell us the story

[Texpat]

My parents were visiting from USA for the first time. We (me, wife, mum, dad) spent 5 days in Phuket and had just returned to Don Muang. We required a wagon taxi to take us to hotel near Victory Monument. I've taken this trip dozens of times before and know it costs about 200B on a meter. I am also capable of reading the huge sign above the DM taxi stand that says all taxis will use meters, riders will pay 50B for airport use, and pay all highway tolls.

As there were four of us, with one small bag each, we waited 5 minutes for a station wagon taxi to reach the head of the line. We loaded bags, jumped in and away we went. I was sitting in the front seat and expected him to turn the meter at any moment. All in the world was fine -- until the asswipe turned and said to my wife "Haa roi baht."

To set the stage a bit, I had just spent the better part of a week being poked, prodded, squeezed, scammed and cheated by every Indian tailor, hotel bellboy, tuktuk driver and sand merchant in Phuket. I had grown weary of the absolute shamelessness and lengths those fuckwits will go to exact an extra 10 baht out of visitors.

I turned to the taxi driver and said, "Mai chai 500B -- meter," and pointed to the meter. He started explaining to my wife that because we "waited" for his taxi, he was not bound by the rules of the Don Muang taxi queue. It was now a personal request and a one-on-one hire.

She said politely, "If you're not going to turn on your meter, take us back to the airport."

He started in on a tirade about how taxi drivers don't make enough to live on, blah blah, blah and my wife repeated for him to return us to the airport. Meanwhile we're still tooling down the road, albeit under the tollway. Finally he said, with a very straight face, "Sii roi baht."

My parents were starting to wiggle in the backseat and I was getting really pissed off. Traffic stalled and I kept thinking that if this cheat wasn't trying to take us for a ride, we'd be on the tollway, zipping toward our hotel.

I looked at him, smiled and whispered, in my best English, "Bullshit you mangey ****. If you don't take us back to the airport right now, I'll rip your face off." Of course he didn't know what I was saying, and I didn't expect him to. Then he did something I also didn't expect. He fished around for his cell phone and announced that he was calling the taxi stand at the airport. I watched as he dialed and was a bit relieved the traffic started flowing again. I listened as he spoke (probably to a dial tone) and then hung up, visibly irritated.

I pulled my cell phone out and told him in Thai I was calling the police.
He reached over and flipped the meter on.

When we finally got to our hotel, the meter read 115B. The airport fee made it 165B. Some taxis are professional, polite and punctual. Some are like this asshole.

I'm sure Korat's team of outstanding taxi drivers will be the former.

[forreachingme]

Good news, that...

How much for a trip down to Bkk ? a 2000 thb should do, but if they accept 1500 thb would be great...

[buad hai]

I'm sure Korat's team of outstanding taxi drivers will be the former.

Not bloody likely. I was exiting the highway yesterday and had one of the new taxis right behind me. I stopped to make sure there was no oncoming traffic. He swerved around me, cut off two other cars that had the right-of-way, floored it through the u-turn and passed three more vehicles on a blind curve after which he passed a huge line of vehicles by driving on the wrong side of the road for about 500 meters.

Ms. B turned to me and said, "Kind of makes you want to avoid the new taxis, doesn't it?"

[Nerike]

Here you have photo on taximeter in Korat

/Nerike