Pattaya taxi drivers that refuse to use meters and overcharge customers are whining again about ride-hailing apps “stealing” their customers.
Local cabbie Nakhon Sukphadung posted a video clip to Facebook March 7 showing a Bangkok-registered cab trying to pick up a Grab app customer outside a store in Jomtien Beach, only to be blocked by Pattaya drivers.
Nakhon whinged that Pattaya cabbies are facing hard times and that app-registered drivers, particularly those from Bangkok, should “respect” local cabbies and not work here. The Bangkok driver was detained until people started noticing the ruckus.
The driver said there are 800 taxi cabs registered in Pattaya, many of which are registered with Grab or other ride-hailing apps. When using the app, they use the meter, he said.
What he didn’t say is that passengers who didn’t use Grab to hire them get gouged.
Virtually no meter cab in Pattaya uses the meter. They sit outside shopping malls or hotels hoping to find a victim gullible enough to pay three times or more the legal rate. Cabbies outside Royal Garden Plaza, for example, quote 300 baht for the five-kilometer ride to the Pattaya Bus Station when the legal rate is less than 70 baht.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, fistfights and car blockades by Pattaya and app cabbies were common. Then, however, ride-hailing apps were illegal. No longer.
The Chonburi Land Transport Department summoned both the Bangkok and Pattaya cabbies for questioning.
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