CBST Bulletin: Taxis

Perhaps the easiest and most comfortable way to get around, if not always the quickest, is by the aircon taxi. These come in quite a few different colours though the green-yellow and red-blue ones are the most common. Bangkok has thousands of taxis, and finding one at any time is never a problem. The occasional exception to this is during a monsoon season downpour. By international standards they're very cheap too, the flagfall rate is 35B (0.85 US$ approx) including the first 2km and it's 5B/km after that. This means that even relatively long journeys, such as from Sukhumvit to the Grand Palace often aren't above 100B (2.5 US$). A surcharge is applied in traffic jams (1.25B/m when moving under 6km/h), meaning at night when there's not much traffic they're definitely the best way of getting around.

There's no exams that have to be passed to become a taxi driver in Bangkok, and so many have a less than encyclopedic knowledge of the city. Communication can be a problem with the majority of Bangkok's taxi drivers too. It's worth bearing in mind that many taxi (and tuk tuk) drivers are from Thailand's poor Isaan (northeast) region, are likely to be fairly uneducated and many speak little English. Even the ones that can will probably not be able to read a map that's written only in English. Although there are a large number Thai words that have been taken straight from English, they often come out with a distinctly Thai pronunciation that can be markedly different from the original (see the 'Thai-English' page.

The two tone green and yellow taxis are generally reckoned to be the best ones. These are driven by the owner, while all others are rented out by the day. Of course, everything really depends on the driver rather than the color of the car, and there's not really any major difference between any of them. All licensed taxis have yellow and black number plates. Tipping of taxi drivers is not really a Thai practice, though rounding the fare up to the nearest 5B or 10B is fairly common. Any more is not expected and not really necessary. If you're unlucky, the driver will sometimes claim to have no change to try and force you to leave a 30% tip or thereabouts - getting out to change money at a nearby store will often lead to him remembering where his change is kept.

If you aren't near any taxis, you can phone 1661 and order one to pick you up. This costs the meter fee + 20B.


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