5 Essential Tips To Take a Taxi in Thailand

Tip No.1 - Know Your Exact Destination

Bear in mind that there are few drivers in Thailand who can speak English. It is highly recommended to take a map with you or have the name of the place you want to reach written in Thai.

You can also ask the bellhop, security guard, or your Thai friend to tell your driver where you want to go. Google Maps can help you find the fastest way and avoid tricky taxi drivers who use a longer route to get a higher rate.

Tip No.2 - Choose Reliable Taxi Brands

One way to avoid tricky taxi drivers is to use reliable taxi brands. You may be wondering which ones you can trust. The information below can help:

• Average price: From US $1.1 per km

Tip No.3 - Insist On The Taxi Meter

Do not forget to ask the drivers to turn on the meter before you use their service. If the drivers refuse to use a meter and try to give you the fixed price, step away, and flag down another taxi. Drivers are not allowed to offer non-meter fares, but they always try to do that to get higher rates.

Even if you feel like it is a reasonable price in your home currency, it can be twice as much as the metered fare. Thai taxi fares can be calculated based on the time, not the distance when a taxi drives slowly in rush hours.

Taximeter on the street in Bangkok

Tip No.4 - Be Careful Of Taxi Scams

While most taxi drivers are doing a good job, others try to make more money from customers with their scams.

Below are a few scams you should pay attention to when you are using taxi services in Thailand:

• Claiming a place is closed and sending you to “recommended” places (usually low-quality places) where he gets a commission
• Recommend seafood restaurants, or massage parlors,… because they may receive commissions from them.
• Adding a fee (e.g. luggage, booking)
• Not using a meter or driving a longer route to get a higher rate.

Tip No.5 - Use Transportation Apps

If you do not want to haggle a price, hail a taxi during a busy time, or insist on a meter you can use transportation apps. There are a few apps for calling taxis in Thailand:

Grab Taxi

Grab Taxi is one of the original taxi-calling apps in Bangkok. To be a grab driver, the taxi driver needs to pass some examinations, therefore a grab driver can be more skillful than others.

There is a great number of taxis in the app, so you will not have to wait too long for a taxi. Rate starts Bath 35 plus Bath 5.5/km and Bath 2/min in traffic

Grab Taxi

All Thai Taxi

It is a less-known taxi app but earns great reviews from customers. The highlight of this app is that they all use eco-friendly Toyota PRUIS loaded with GPS and a camera. Lady taxi where the drivers are female is available for you to choose.

All Thai Taxi

12Go

12Go is a famous website for online booking transfers in Thailand that you can easily reserve with simple steps. There are also various transfer options for you to move between destinations in the country.

Having those tips in hand, you will be soon familiar with taking a taxi in Thailand. Just grab a cab, get over your destination, and enjoy Thailand.

Jenny Tran
(Image Source: Internet)