Captain Kirk wrote: ↑Wed Nov 20, 2019 5:09 pm
These companies are an absolute evil.
That's one perspective on it and no doubt there are some downsides to Uber, Grab etc.
However, from a consumer perspective, taxis is one of those sectors where I see more dishonest practices and scams than in most lines of business.
Grab, Uber etc counter this and put some control back with the consumer
As an example of the dishonest practices, earlier this year, I arrived in Pattaya on a bus, which stopped as soon as it turned onto Sukhumvit road, at the north end of Pattaya. I was sat at the front and noticed numerous people asking if this is the stop for "hotel XYZ".
Every time, the lead motorcycle taxi driver said yes and they got off the bus, even when the hotels were in central or southern Pattaya (the bus stops in central Pattaya, south Pattaya and finally ends up in Jomtien). This is a simple case of motorcycle taxi drivers lying to customers to rustle up business.
Also some "Meter Taxis" that refuse to use the meter, or take deliberate detours when they are using the meter.
Then when I once arrived at North Pattaya bus station, the baht bus wanted to charge me 200 to go to South Pattaya. The same driver quoted Thais "sam sip baht" (30). I walked across the road and eventually got a regular baht bus for 10 baht.
There are further examples.
So even though dodgy practises may be from a minority of drivers, I'm not particularly inclined to be charitable to people in this sector. Whilst I'm not a regular user of taxis, if the price looks right, I will happily use Grab, Uber etc, with fixed pricing that protects me from scams.
If the drivers don't like the T&C for Grab, Uber etc, they can naff off and try a different career.
Incidentally, as far as I know, Uber and the rest of them are losing money as they try to build market share. They need to make it attractive enough for drivers to move to Uber/Grab etc. No excess profiteering here.