UPDATE: People have reported issues seeing the taxi fare rates posted in the image gallery immediately above.
Here is the full list in the original document issued by Governor Narong on Nov 1, 2021: download here.
The list of fares were released after Mr Jaturong went on a live local radio broadcast this morning (Feb 2), repeating his explanation that the public’s lack of knowledge of the fares charged by Phuket taxi drivers was a key cause of “problems” between tourists and taxi drivers.
“Governor Narong Woonciew attaches great importance to the issue of public transport fares,” he said.
Mr Jaturong gave the same explanation yesterday after meeting with other officials to discuss possible strategies for resolving Phuket’s continual problems with taxi drivers and fares charged.
Of note, none of the strategies involved the government regulating the fares set. One strategy slated for further discussion was allowing Grab, Bolt and metered taxis to pick up passengers in areas currently controlled by Phuket’s taxi cartels.
As evidenced again by an incident in Kamala last Friday, the Grab, Bolt and metered taxi drivers decline to pick up passengers in such areas out of fear of reprisal by the cartel taxi drivers. (See stories here, here and here.)
Mr Jaturong this morning admitted that the current list of fares were by agreement only. Yesterday, he told the press they were set by the government.
The full list of fares were “enacted” by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew on Oct 29 last year, ahead of the Nov 1 opening of the province to tourists under the Test & Go entry scheme, he said.
However, while saying that the fares agreed to were supposed to be the maximum, Mr Jaturong admitted that the fares were “open to negotiation”.
“During Sept-Oct last year, Governor Narong ordered the PLTO to cooperate with all sectors to set taxi fare rates for tourists using public taxi services in all areas of of Phuket.
"Governor Narong hopes that tourists will use taxi fare rates to negotiate prices with drivers to solve the problem of exploitation and price manipulation," Mr Jaturong said.
"The taxi fares set were considered fair rates. They were considered by all sectors, including the drivers, the Phuket Tourist Association and the Tourism Authority of Thailand [TAT] as well," he added.
Mr Jaturong said that the PLTO needed to ramp up its efforts in publicising the taxi fares to “passengers and tourists” (sic).
“So they can take advantage of knowing the taxi fares to be able to negotiate prices and reduce the chance of being deceived by the drivers,” he said.
"If drivers use these fare rates, they can negotiate a price that will satisfy the passenger and the driver," Mr Jaturong said.
"The fare may be increased or decreased from set fares set, such as a B50 reduction or an additional B50, depending on the agreement between the passenger and the driver," he added.
“The list of taxi fare rates can solve this problem. Tourists or passengers [sic] will know what a fair fare is, so they can use it to negotiate and come to an agreement with the driver," he said.
(For the full list of fares agreed to, see gallery above.)