Unlike taxis in New York or in UK, Thai taxis have several candy-like colors: hot pink, vivid orange, bright blue, yellow-green, etc. How many coolers are they? Is there any special meaning for each color? Let’s find out!
source image from myreadyweb.com
Single-Color Taxi, like this one, comes in many colors; blue, green, red, yellow, and pink.
source image from itemsell.net
Bi-color taxi also comes in 2 main types; yellow-green and blue-red.
source image from kris krüg
source image from thai-blogs.com
And, there is this yellow Toyota Prius too.
source image from prachachat.net
Is there any different between each kind of those Thai taxis?
source image from Christian Haugen
The answer is YES…and NO…. lol
The only thing that Thai taxis share in common is the fare rate. The fare rate starts from 35 baht and gradually increase by distance: 5.5 baht/kilometre after 1km – 10km, 6.5 baht/ kilometre from 10km – 20km. Passengers pay for their toll/ express way. And, catching a taxi from Bangkok airports will cost 50 baht as surcharge.
The differences between each types of Thai taxis are varied by organisations and individuals.
– All single-color taxis are run by taxi companies, taxi co-ops, and their alliances. According to the laws, one, who owns more than one taxi, need to register as a taxi company (or a co-op) to Department of Land Transport. And, each company has to have their own signature colors, so the officials know which taxis belong to which company. But, the new taxis (from 2008 onward) are compulsory to have their cabs yellow with blue registered number
– Bi-color taxis are the old series which also belong to companies and co-ops. There are only two kinds of bi-color taxis; blue–red and yellow-green. The yellow–green taxis are the only type of taxis that are owned by individuals.
– Yellow Toyota Prius is a new taxi under ‘All Thai Taxi’ project of Nakhonchai Air Co., Ltd. The project was launched a couple years back in order to provide a better quality of taxi and its services for all passengers. You can also download their mobile application (or dial 0-2018-9799 to their call center) to get a designated taxi right to your pick-up point.
If you’d like to learn more about alternative ways to get around Bangkok please visit my previous article here
Happy Traveling
Kate
credit: cover photo from JOHNNY LAI