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Catching a taxi at BKK and general Thailand taxi discussion

Old Jan 3, 2015, 2:56 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: IluvSQ
READ THIS FIRST:
Step-by-Step Guide to Getting a Taxi at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)


BKK Terminal Map

Source: AOT

MAP KEY

Arrival Gates - Level Two
Immigration
Baggage Claim Carousels
Customs and Exits to Landside Terminal Area
Elevators/Escalators to Ground Floor Level One
Numbered Exits to Outside (taxi queues are near exits 4 & 7)

WHAT TO DO

Taxis accept cash only. There are ATMs and currency exchangers inside the terminal.
  • Take an elevator or escalator down to the ground level.
  • Follow the signs to one of the two taxi queues outside of the terminal on Level One.
  • The taxi queue attendant will ask your destination and write it on a taxi slip. UPDATE: There are no longer attendants to write your destination at BKK. You get a slip from a touchscreen kiosk which directs you to a parking stall number where you meet your car/driver.
  • The larger part of the taxi slip is yours to keep, the smaller part goes to your driver. Be sure to keep your taxi slip as it contains information you will need if a problem arises. Do not give your portion of the taxi slip to the driver, even if he asks for it. UPDATE: There is no portion of the new slip from the kiosk to give the driver.

BASE COST
  • Airport Fee - THB 50 per taxi levied from the airport (never to the airport)
  • THB 35 - flag drop through 1km
  • +THB 5.50/km for kilometers 1+ through 10
  • +THB 6.50/km for kilometers 10+ through 20
  • +THB 7.50/km for kilometers 20-40
  • +THB 2 per minute waiting or standing in traffic (less than 6kph)

TOLLS
  • THB 75 to city center (two toll booths)
  • THB 60 to DMK

SAMPLE FARES FROM BKK TO...
Amounts are approximate and will vary with traffic, specific drop point, etc.
  • City Center - THB 170-200
  • Grand Palace - THB 215
  • Don Mueang Airport (DMK) - THB 290
  • Hua Hin - THB ___ (typically a negotiated flat fee)
  • Pattaya - THB ___ (typically a negotiated flat fee)

FARE CALCULATOR TOOLS
Reasonably accurate fare estimates are available from a number of websites and apps. These services provide estimated base fares only. Calculations do not include traffic, tolls, airport fees, etc. Reliability varies - use at your own risk.
FAQs

Q: Should I use the hotel's airport transfer service instead of a taxi?A: It depends on your comfort zone, budget, time of day, number of people/bags, etc. In general, the cost will probably be about two to three times the typical taxi fare, or more. If you are relatively new to Asia, it might be a bit overwhelming, and you might find it reassuring to see someone holding a sign with your name as you walk out of baggage claim.
Q: Is it best to take the expressway or surface streets?A: Depending on your destination and time of day, surface streets might be quicker and/or shorter. However, expressway tolls will usually add less than THB 200 to the trip (see above), so you may wish to defer to your driver.

Q: What types of scams should I watch for?A: The most common thing you'll encounter is taxi drivers who do not want to use the meter. They will often ask for a flat fee that is usually much higher than the meter would register. If a driver refuses to use the meter, it's best to exit the taxi and get another. Do not get angry or argue with the driver. If a driver demands more money on arrival at your hotel, wait until your bags have been offloaded from the vehicle, then seek out a porter or other hotel employee to assist you. Again, do not get angry or argue with the driver. A driver may say there is a THB 50 fee to go to the airport. There is no fee to go TO the airport. If the fee is mentioned at the outset, get out and flag down a new taxi. If it is mentioned upon arrival at the airport, remove all your belongings from the taxi and calmly state that there is no such fee while handing over the metered amount. If the driver is insistent, offering to call over a police officer to assist will usually put an end to the discussion.

Q: What is the most common meter scam?
A: Very often, when you enter the taxi, the meter is obscured with a rag or towel, so you do not see that it has been running prior to your entrance,
and is now well over 100 Baht. Always ensure that you observe the driver starting the meter.
Q: If the driver does scam me, how much money are we talking about?A: Usually no more than THB 200-300, which is about USD 7-10
Q: I think I still have other questions...A: Just hit the reply button and get feedback from other helpful FlyerTalkers who take Bangkok taxis regularly!

Q: This all sounds like hassle. Is there some way I can use a small amount of money to make that go away?A: The AOT limo stands before and immediately after customs are trustworthy, although their initial quote will be for their most expensive vehicle. Ask for the Isuzu SUV. You'll be looking at 1,050THB / $33.50 to the center of town, inclusive of all fees and fares, and a small increment on that for a sedan. Credit cards are accepted. You will get a printed receipt before you get in the taxi. The vehicle will be well-driven, clean, and will have seatbelts.



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Catching a taxi at BKK and general Thailand taxi discussion

Old Jan 30, 2019, 3:56 am
  #1381  
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Originally Posted by trueblu
Moving back to car service options from DMK: any information if the equivalent of AOT is available from DMK?
AFAICT, AOT doesn't [yet] provide car services at DMK, at least not that I was able to find. These guys seem to dominate the Google searches I did for you. Link. I have no personal experience with them.
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 6:25 am
  #1382  
 
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Originally Posted by Dr. HFH
AFAICT, AOT doesn't [yet] provide car services at DMK, at least not that I was able to find. These guys seem to dominate the Google searches I did for you. Link. I have no personal experience with them.
Thanks...the rates are very reasonable. It would be good if someone had personal experience!

tb
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 11:00 pm
  #1383  
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AoT Car Service is only available at SBIA/BKK. It is not available at DMK.

Pre-arranging a car from DMK into the City is advisable as the taxi queues can be quite lengthy.

I wouldn't expect to get a van (the largest metered taxi vehicles here are Fortuners, and Innovas) at the official taxi stand.

You could try Grab on arrival, but even then you might get a pick-up, or a Yaaris.
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 11:05 pm
  #1384  
 
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I found some reasonable rates for transfer on "klook" I have not used it so no nothing except what I've read online. It seems to be a discount site for various (tourist) services.
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Old Feb 1, 2019, 1:19 am
  #1385  
 
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I've booked with "transfer BKK" (found on tripadvisor search) -- I don't think we need a van, a big SUV would suffice, and it seems (at least from the website) to be a family business. Will report back.

tb

ETA: Transfer BKK did the job very smoothly: we were delayed about 30 minutes, and upon exiting arrivals, someone was waiting for us with a sign, and took us down to a lovely older gentleman driver, who gave a very smooth ride.

As a PS: this thread has been full of how bad Bangkok traffic is: we left DMK around 18:30 and the drive to the IC was essentially traffic free. I appreciate it was past peak rush hour, but in Beijing, you would need to wait until 21:00 or even after to have such little traffic going to the centre of town. I guess a proper day tomorrow will allow me to compare traffic during a working day...

Last edited by trueblu; Feb 3, 2019 at 8:30 am Reason: ETA
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Old Feb 3, 2019, 8:38 pm
  #1386  
 
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Originally Posted by trueblu
I've booked with "transfer BKK" (found on tripadvisor search) -- I don't think we need a van, a big SUV would suffice, and it seems (at least from the website) to be a family business. Will report back.

tb

ETA: Transfer BKK did the job very smoothly: we were delayed about 30 minutes, and upon exiting arrivals, someone was waiting for us with a sign, and took us down to a lovely older gentleman driver, who gave a very smooth ride.

As a PS: this thread has been full of how bad Bangkok traffic is: we left DMK around 18:30 and the drive to the IC was essentially traffic free. I appreciate it was past peak rush hour, but in Beijing, you would need to wait until 21:00 or even after to have such little traffic going to the centre of town. I guess a proper day tomorrow will allow me to compare traffic during a working day...

thank you you for this. It looks like the 4 of us would fit in this ok. The price is great too!
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Old Feb 3, 2019, 9:00 pm
  #1387  
 
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Originally Posted by trueblu

ETA: Transfer BKK did the job very smoothly: we were delayed about 30 minutes, and upon exiting arrivals, someone was waiting for us with a sign, and took us down to a lovely older gentleman driver, who gave a very smooth ride.

As a PS: this thread has been full of how bad Bangkok traffic is: ... I guess a proper day tomorrow will allow me to compare traffic during a working day...
Helpful report but it sounds like you experienced Sunday evening traffic so not surprising it was light.
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 1:09 am
  #1388  
 
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Originally Posted by arcticflier


Helpful report but it sounds like you experienced Sunday evening traffic so not surprising it was light.
Fair point. We took a taxi back from Wat Pho this afternoon (again, not peak rush hour) and although there was traffic, it was pretty reasonable for any large world city -- not talking mid-West here (my wife's family is from MN, and they get shocked at traffic anywhere else...).

As an aside: taxi from Wat Pho to the IC was ~ 100 THB. No idea if that was doctored meter (it took about 4-5 attempts to flag a taxi that was willing to use the meter). To compare, for the 4 of us (including one infant) _to_ Wat Pho via BTS/ river ferry cost over 200 THB (and that wasn't the tourist boat, but the express "gold flag boat", 20 THB each)....We enjoyed taking the river boat, but otherwise, for a family, no reason to not take a taxi around town imo....

tb
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 2:42 am
  #1389  
 
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Originally Posted by trueblu
Fair point. We took a taxi back from Wat Pho this afternoon (again, not peak rush hour) and although there was traffic, it was pretty reasonable for any large world city -- not talking mid-West here (my wife's family is from MN, and they get shocked at traffic anywhere else...).

As an aside: taxi from Wat Pho to the IC was ~ 100 THB. No idea if that was doctored meter (it took about 4-5 attempts to flag a taxi that was willing to use the meter). To compare, for the 4 of us (including one infant) _to_ Wat Pho via BTS/ river ferry cost over 200 THB (and that wasn't the tourist boat, but the express "gold flag boat", 20 THB each)....We enjoyed taking the river boat, but otherwise, for a family, no reason to not take a taxi around town imo....

tb
The Chinese New Year is this morning and many families have made it a long weekend. It actually started monday. The traffic should be liight until Thursday anyway.

i hope you enjoyed Wat Pho and if you got to the area about 05:00 then you could have seen a very busy flower market.

Any chance you stopped at the SBUX there on the river? Its quite an enjoyable deck to enjoy a coffee?

Not much chance your taxi meter was doctored. Far more typjcal the driver simply takes a slower or longer route for an extra 25 baht.

Not using the meter is not always a bad idea. When I am in a hurry, I will typically skip the meter...its amazing how much quicker you will get to your destination...Lol

Last edited by arcticflier; Feb 4, 2019 at 2:47 am
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 3:19 am
  #1390  
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Traffic in-bound (from either airport) in the evenings is generally light. Obviously on weekends even lighter or non-existent.

Extensive traffic jams - delays of 60+ minutes - here occur more frequently during the rainy season, during the evening rush. You can check the traffic layer on Google Maps to get a feel for traffic and delays.

I think tomorrow, Tuesday 5 Feb is a semi-holiday, so in the midst of a four-day weekend. That said, there are a lot of tourists here this week.

The next national holiday is Tuesday, 19 February, which as a religious holiday (Makha Bucha) means no alcohol sales, so another four-ish day weekend.
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 7:13 am
  #1391  
 
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Good to know...

Not saying Bangkok has no traffic issues, but I guess living in Beijing, where _I believe_ traffic is even worse, I have found that taking a cab is usually still faster than public transport -- in Beijing this is particularly true if one needs to change subway line, whereas here the more limited network has more friendly interchanges.

And fair point about not using the meter: I'm against such practices in principle, but yes, time/ convenience can often be more valuable than $1-2....

tb
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 6:50 pm
  #1392  
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Originally Posted by trueblu
To compare, for the 4 of us (including one infant) _to_ Wat Pho via BTS/ river ferry cost over 200 THB (and that wasn't the tourist boat, but the express "gold flag boat", 20 THB each)....
Yup, that makes sense. Same with the ARL. Traveling alone, the ARL saves money. By the time you're up to three or four people, you might as well take a taxi. Taxis charge by the trip, ARL by the person.
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Old Feb 5, 2019, 4:39 am
  #1393  
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Originally Posted by Dr. HFH
Yup, that makes sense. Same with the ARL. Traveling alone, the ARL saves money. By the time you're up to three or four people, you might as well take a taxi. Taxis charge by the trip, ARL by the person.
And it gets worse - public transport usually means ARL+BTS(etc) ......
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Old Feb 5, 2019, 4:33 pm
  #1394  
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And it gets worse - public transport usually means ARL+BTS(etc) ......

+MRT

And potentially lengthy queues to purchase single-use tickets, for those not already holding stored-value cards.

I've seen massive queues at both Asoke/BTS and Sukhumvit/MRT this week, gotta be at least twenty minutes and the lines make the BTS station very difficult to traverse even with a Rabbit card.
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Old May 30, 2019, 5:25 am
  #1395  
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So I thought that with an early afternoon arrival and a stinking hot day that a taxi might be in order.

Got a ticket and went to the allocated spot. No taxi. People who collected tickets after me had a taxi in their spot.

Saw lots of taxis arrive and go to various spots but not mine. Asked a local official and he said to wait until one went to my spot.

After a couple of minutes the train was looking very good and went down and got one very quickly. Travelled all the way to Phaya Thai and transferred to the BTS which goes onto the Sukhumvit line.

I actually got one of the very few trains that went to the Silom line. With the recent extensions I then had to work out which trains went to Sukhumvit.

So what is the issue with the taxis? Just a stuff up somewhere or a scam of some sort?
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