Taxis licensed in Bangkok are now allowed to drive without using meters outside of the city’s 7 main provinces, allowing more service flexibility. Taxi drivers and passengers travelling outside of these 7 provinces will have to negotiate prices instead of using metres. The 7 provinces include Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi.
Taxis and passengers prefer negotiating prices over using taxi meters when travelling across provinces. However, taxis operating in the seven provinces must use meters. The update will be official on Saturday after being published in the Royal Gazette on Friday, June 10, according to DLT Director-General, Chirute Visalachitra.
The change is intended to boost competition in the taxi industry following the use of private cars for the popular ride-hailing taxi services like Grab.
Source: Bangkok Post 13.June 2022