Bangkok Taxis
Mistifarang's thoughts on Bangkok taxis...
Bangkok Airport: when you are leaving the arrival hall avoids the taxi counter inside and avoid the runners for un-metered taxis and go to the taxis queuing-up outside.
When you need a taxi in Bangkok just give a sign to indicate you need one when the red light behind the front window (right hand side) is on, meaning that the taxi is available. A lot of times the drivers slow down or hoop when they see a farang (foreigner) to draw his or her attention. There are driving so many taxis around that you never have to wait long, even in the side roads. Bangkok has 60.000 ('normal') taxis.
Use only the (metered and legal) 'radio-taxis', which are named 'TAXI-METER' and is mentioned on the roof. The official taxis can also be recognised by their colours and there are various because all companies have their own colour, for example green/okra for independent drivers and red/blue for the biggest taxi-corporation thus allowing you to put an official complaint whenever is necessary. The driver can always been identified by his license shown inside the cab left hand side.
The car-plate is always yellow. The use of the illegal 'cheap' taxis can end in an expensive fare!
The meter starts with 30 Baht for the first two kilometers. For a ride in between 15 and 30 kilometers I have paid never more than 140-160 Baht, also depending of waiting in a traffic jam when the meter is calculating one Baht/minute. Take care, that you have always enough small notes in your pocket. As the drivers never have change, (or they pretend not to have) you will meet a problem whenever you want to pay with 1.000 Baht or even 500 Baht! So, stock enough 100, 50 and 20 Baht notes and 10 and 5 Baht coins, which is also very comfortable when you want to buy in a small shop or from a street-seller! When you are using a toll road ('Highway' as they call it but it can also be an 'Express Way') you are supposed to pay the toll on top of the normal fare. Although the Thai are generally very careful with tipping I tip the driver almost always, also depending of the change, thus avoiding also change discussions. So this comes out at 0-10 Baht.
It is September 2005 now, and the taxi-prices are being discussed already for several weeks to be increased due too the present Asian oil crises caused by the very high crude-oil prices.
Although it happened twice to me in four months that the driver tried to transport me without using his meter (one apparently and one 'forgot') they have been furthermore always honest. I have never noticed that they tried to fool by using wrong directions on purpose to make the fare more expensive. You can bargain a price in advance when you are familiar with the price of the specific trip but this is only interesting for long(er) distances.
There are plenty of taxis in Bangkok. You can see already on a distance if a taxi is free. When the taxi is free the driver is showing a red light sign at the left hand side of his car at the dashboard behind the front window.
Refusing me occurred some times but is not that frequent as in Manila or Singapore. When they refused to take me I don't think it was because of the trip was not interesting to them or too long but more that they hesitated because of their knowledge of the destination.
It is very convenient, if not necessary, to ask a Thai who is speaking English (rare) to help you to write your destination in Thai on a piece of paper thus avoiding a lot of 'discussion', confusing and explanation, or even refusing you. However, when there is a serious language problem they seem to be able to phone their office and you can explain, in English, your destination. Another option is to phone somebody speaking Thai at your destination, when you have a local cell-phone, and let him or her explain the driver where you want to go. You'll see also taxis with a big sticker mentioning that they 'love' farangs (foreigners) and that they speak English, but I have never met a driver of such an alien-friendly taxi speaking English.
Furthermore, don't be too afraid for their fast speeding and slaloming through the traffic! They just adapt to the daily behavior of their fellow road users because they seem all to be in a hurry! I rarely have seen traffic accidents or even scratched cars and, believe me, the road-users are very sharp drivers and they seem to know the size of their car very well. The taxi-drivers usually are pleased when you use the seatbelt, being seated on the front of the car, thus avoiding, when stopped, a 'settlement' with a police officer of 100 or 200 Baht for not using them.
The drivers are nice and quiet people, sometimes silent and sometimes trying to start a, for them, difficult conversation in English. Sometimes they try to promote an 'entertainment-location' but in a very subtle way. Depending of your reaction they continue or they leave the theme right immediately. I have never met a driver insistently trying to 'sell' these services, but I think at the airport-collection points they are more insistent to promote hotels, as everywhere in the world.