Taking a Taxi

Taxis abound and can be flagged down anywhere along the street. Drivers will also often drive by bus stops looking for new passengers. All taxis have meters, which the drivers are required to use. The colors of the taxi indicate the driver's status. Yellow and green taxis indicate an indendent driver who owns his car. Other colors indicate drivers who lease their taxis from a company. On the dashboard of the taxi should be a card with a picture of the taxi driver and his license plate number. Tips are not customary, but it is common to round up the price to the nearest whole number so that the driver doesn't need to give change.

A special Thai taxi is called a tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is a three-wheeled motorized vehicle with a roof that is open on the sides. Tuk-tuks do not have meters. Ask the driver for the price and negotiate if the price quoted is too expensive. Tuk-tuks move through city traffic faster (sometimes quite fast) than cars because the drivers can more easily zig zag around the other traffic.