This week, their “thuggish” behaviour made headlines after 12 prominent hotels joined forces to make a joint complaint to the Damrongtham Centre about the behaviour of taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers, the hotels say, block hotel transportation and threaten the drivers of hotels limousines or minivans; tout their services aggressively to guests walking out of the hotels; and use foul language when guests choose to hire a car from a rival group of taxis – among many other issues.
The original complaint was lodged as long ago as December last year, and was again brought up on April 22. The Damrongtham Centre acts like a regional Ombudsman for complaints. The centre receives the complaints and its job is then to ensure that the relevant authorities take care of the problem. In sum, it puts pressure on local government and authorities to do something.
The problem with this complaint is that it’s not a new one. All local authorities are well-aware of the ongoing ‘taxi mafia’ drama, and it has been raised in many meetings and via honorary consuls. It is fair to say the people of Phuket – as well as regular visitors – are sick of it and just want action taken.
Whether this complaint to the Damrongtham Centre will result in anything actually happening remains to be seen. The centre has the power to demand action, but the end result is still that the authorities have to decide if they will tackle the problem, rather than ignore it in the hope it goes away.
In this case, the fact that 12 hotels have joined together in the hope of finding some sort of resolution, is a big deal. It raises the stakes because instead of the hotels being in competition with each other and tackling the taxis individually, they have instead decided to band together over this common problem.
The hoteliers, and Phuket people at large, are fed up. Sadly though, perhaps the only way action will ever be taken is if the island’s tourism industry starts to suffer because of taxi, tuk-tuk and public transport issues – if people choose to stop coming here because they’re tired of being ripped off.
In the end, the self-interested ‘taxi mafia’ may kill the goose that lays the golden egg.