TRANSPORT
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
The Transport Ministry has agreed to let taxi drivers bargain for fares directly with passengers leaving Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports for the provinces outside greater Bangkok as the use of meters was found to be unfair to the cabbies when it came to long trips. Surachai Thansitthipong, the permanent secretary-designate of the Transport Ministry, said after talks with representatives of taxi drivers yesterday that transport authorities had agreed to let taxi drivers switch to verbally agreed fares when making trips from the city's two airports to provinces other than Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Pathum Thani.
Mr Surachai said transport authorities admit that the new taxi fare structure imposed on June 18 this year for metered taxis had drastically cut the income cabbies used to earn from personally agreed fares with passengers for long-distance trips.
For example, taxi drivers who could verbally charge 1,300 baht for a Bangkok-Pattaya trip, complained that under the new metered fare structure they could only earn 900 baht.
However, permission for pre-arranged fares between drivers and passengers will not be granted for the time being because taxi drivers must wait for Transport Minister Santi Prompat to sign a regulation excluding the long-distance trips from the ministry's taxi fare regulation.
Mr Santi is not in the country at the moment.
Sunee Luangwijit, Mr Santi's assistant, said the minister should sign the regulation within one week of his return.
However, the permission will be temporary as transport authorities and independent experts are working out a new fare structure for long-distance trips to the provinces.
The authorities will call on representatives of taxi drivers to help design the new fare structure for long-distance runs next week.
Officials yesterday disagreed with taxi drivers' demands for temporary fare leniency for all such trips, no matter from which point they originate in Bangkok. Officials have limited the privilege only to trips originating from Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.
Taxi driver Pathawee Meerat said the June 18 fare structure was only suited for taxis working within greater Bangkok, as taxis making provincial trips also faced the risk of having to wait a long time for refuelling because there were only a handful of petrol and natural gas stations upcountry.
He proposed that taxis be allowed to charge 10 baht per kilometre for long-distance trips.
The rate was close to the pre-arranged fares that drivers used to demand from passengers, he said.
Another taxi driver, Wasin Uea-patarapong, said taxi drivers would ask the Central Administrative Court to order the suspension of the enforcement of the June 18 regulation against long-distance trips since a separate regulation for them was being worked out.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Next
