Brilliant taxi service - Meow

[gazman]

I've emailed her twice about bad drivers.I don't use Meow anymore.

Edited November 5, 2017 by gazman

[neilri2001]

A driver for Limo Pattaya told me on my last trip that the operators which charge 1000 baht each way usually have to do one extra round trip per day to make their money. If this is true would suggest that such drivers are more likely to drive fast / tired although i accept that you can pay more and still get a crap driver

[baddog666]

1 hour ago, neilri2001 said:

A driver for Limo Pattaya told me on my last trip that the operators which charge 1000 baht each way usually have to do one extra round trip per day to make their money. If this is true would suggest that such drivers are more likely to drive fast / tired although i accept that you can pay more and still get a crap driver

Sorry , but this makes little sense.  The drivers that Meow and the like use are freelance and in most cases use it as extra income. Meow is strictly the booking agent , although she does still drive once in a while. She gets a percentage , maybe 200-300B from the 1000B fee.  That leaves the driver with 700B plus any tip for 2 hours work. if he/she is lucky enough to get a rider on a return trip, that is 1400B less cost of fuel for maybe 5-6 hours work. 

Much like cab drivers will tell you not to use or trust Uber, I can see why this person would have told such a tale.

[whitespider - RIP]

42 minutes ago, baddog666 said:

Sorry , but this makes little sense.  The drivers that Meow and the like use are freelance and in most cases use it as extra income. Meow is strictly the booking agent , although she does still drive once in a while. She gets a percentage , maybe 200-300B from the 1000B fee.  That leaves the driver with 700B plus any tip for 2 hours work. if he/she is lucky enough to get a rider on a return trip, that is 1400B less cost of fuel for maybe 5-6 hours work. 

Much like cab drivers will tell you not to use or trust Uber, I can see why this person would have told such a tale.

You are correct about the freelancer aspect for sure. Having been closely involved in a similar service though the times you quote are a little innacurate. 

Assuming Pattaya to airport - 3-4 hours with 4 hours being closer to the mark over average. 

A pick up from the airport 4-5 hours. The driver has to arrive in good time (assuming they checked online the flights arrival time) but they are still at the mercy of traffic and immigration efficiency which as we know can vary widely, and parking. From experience i would say 4 hours would be quite rare and 4.5 hours average. If the vehicle is petrol (ours all were) you are looking at approx 420 Baht in fuel door to door. That means the freelance driver actually gets 280 Baht, less a small amount for depreciation and maintenance (higher than you might think on high mileage vehicles) so say 250 plus tip for anything from 3-5 hours. In my experience tips are quite often quite generous with 100 more often than not being the morm. That means they really need 2 jobs a day to make a decent living.

In reality, we charged 1200 leaving our drivers with approx 410 + tip, on pickups and 460 + tip on drop-offs, both less depreciation, maintenance, insurance etc, say 380 and 430 - average 405 per job. As you say not a bad hourly rate but unless they get two jobs every day not a particularly high daily rate. Say 16k to 20k a month less the cost of the car, they probably average around 10-12k a month,

I would disagree with the bit about "extra income". All our drivers had this as their sole source of income. Indeed we could not use them if they had other  jobs as they have to really be available at all times of day, often at short notice.

if they do get 2way trips, as you say its a lot better, but for the small operators those are rare. Pure booking agents, such as Mr T, do get a far higher %% of return bookings because they have the volumes to be able to manipulate that, hence why they offer lower prices.

[neilri2001]

43 minutes ago, baddog666 said:

 

Much like cab drivers will tell you not to use or trust Uber, I can see why this person would have told such a tale.

Over the course of a quarter of a century visiting Pattaya, Isaan, Bangkok and other destinations i have used many of the frequently mentioned car services including some of the cheaper ones. For the past 8 years or so i have exclusively used the Limo Pattaya as they have never let me down and with the exception of one journey (on my most recent trip as a matter of fact) never had a driver with whom i felt unsafe

[whitespider - RIP]

3 minutes ago, neilri2001 said:

Over the course of a quarter of a century visiting Pattaya, Isaan, Bangkok and other destinations i have used many of the frequently mentioned car services including some of the cheaper ones. For the past 8 years or so i have exclusively used the Limo Pattaya as they have never let me down and with the exception of one journey (on my most recent trip as a matter of fact) never had a driver with whom i felt unsafe

I for one do not doubt you. However, please note this thread is about Meows Taxi service. Please feel free to start a new thread about Limo Pattaya

[baddog666]

39 minutes ago, whitespider said:

Assuming Pattaya to airport - 3-4 hours with 4 hours being closer to the mark over average. 

This may be a bit exaggerated , drive time is 2-3 hours max. with 2 hours 15 min average IMO.  Once you get on the motorway it is 120km from Pattaya to BKK ...  nonetheless.... I don't doubt what you are saying overall. 

My main point was when a driver from another taxi company makes a statement like that... something stinks.

Wait time at the airport is minimal these days.... much like when I have to pick someone up , apps and online info knows when a flight is delayed .

A driver can pretty much bet a minimum of 20 -30 minutes from wheels down to that person arriving at Door #3  with bags.

I have used several car services starting about 13 years back.  I agree that once you find a good service , stick with it.  I have been using Meow for about 5 years now. Never had an issue. 

[whitespider - RIP]

18 minutes ago, baddog666 said:

This may be a bit exaggerated , drive time is 2-3 hours max. with 2 hours 15 min average IMO.  Once you get on the motorway it is 120km from Pattaya to BKK ...  nonetheless.... I don't doubt what you are saying overall. 

My main point was when a driver from another taxi company makes a statement like that... something stinks.

Wait time at the airport is minimal these days.... much like when I have to pick someone up , apps and online info knows when a flight is delayed .

A driver can pretty much bet a minimum of 20 -30 minutes from wheels down to that person arriving at Door #3  with bags.

I have used several car services starting about 13 years back.  I agree that once you find a good service , stick with it.  I have been using Meow for about 5 years now. Never had an issue. 

I agree re Meow mate but you lose me on the time. Yes 2 hours to the airport but they then have to drive home again so its petrol both ways also.. Its all one job even though they are driving back alone. In addition most Pattaya hotels tend to be central/South and your average taxi driver cant afford to live there so they have to drive to the hotel also, which in peak time traffic can take 30 minutes on its own. I understand the customer would only be in the vehicle 2 hours but the "job" is still a 4 hour one from the drivers time/earnings perspective door to door.

in addition, try driving to Swampy at 6pm in 2 hours. They would need rotors to do that in 2 hours and even 3 hours at 6pm on a Sunday is not unusual. There are a lot of flights where checkin in 7-8Pm. Thats why i said "average" as the drivers have to account for all the different times of day to arrive at an "average earning" rate.

[baddog666]

32 minutes ago, whitespider said:

I agree re Meow mate but you lose me on the time. Yes 2 hours to the airport but they then have to drive home again so its petrol both ways also.. Its all one job even though they are driving back alone. In addition most Pattaya hotels tend to be central/South and your average taxi driver cant afford to live there so they have to drive to the hotel also, which in peak time traffic can take 30 minutes on its own. I understand the customer would only be in the vehicle 2 hours but the "job" is still a 4 hour one from the drivers time/earnings perspective door to door.

in addition, try driving to Swampy at 6pm in 2 hours. They would need rotors to do that in 2 hours and even 3 hours at 6pm on a Sunday is not unusual. There are a lot of flights where checkin in 7-8Pm. Thats why i said "average" as the drivers have to account for all the different times of day to arrive at an "average earning" rate.

OK...makes sense.... I always book my flights to avoid peak hours.  

[Edge]

On 11/6/2017 at 01:04, whitespider said:

I agree re Meow mate but you lose me on the time. Yes 2 hours to the airport but they then have to drive home again so its petrol both ways also.. Its all one job even though they are driving back alone. In addition most Pattaya hotels tend to be central/South and your average taxi driver cant afford to live there so they have to drive to the hotel also, which in peak time traffic can take 30 minutes on its own. I understand the customer would only be in the vehicle 2 hours but the "job" is still a 4 hour one from the drivers time/earnings perspective door to door................

1. I thought the whole point of using a pool of FL drivers (as Meow and Tan and Mr T do) was that they usually arrange backloads and either sleep in the car or sometimes 'sell you on' so that it's one way driving time and cost?

2. I don't think I've been in a petrol car which hadn't been converted to LPG/whatever...obvious if the tank is in the boot but not so much with donuts.

[whitespider - RIP]

1 hour ago, Edge said:

1. I thought the whole point of using a pool of FL drivers (as Meow and Tan and Mr T do) was that they usually arrange backloads and either sleep in the car or sometimes 'sell you on' so that it's one way driving time and cost?

2. I don't think I've been in a petrol car which hadn't been converted to LPG/whatever...obvious if the tank is in the boot but not so much with donuts.

I dont know Meows business so cant comment on hers and it would depend of how many jobs she gets I would guess. Tanns, the one i do know the ins and outs of, gets 4-8 airport jobs a day and at that volume its not possible to do as you say really.

Mr T would do exactly what you say although i would guess he works on sheer volume thus creating a lot of "natural" returns. Passing on and sleeping in the car is likely in his case i would guess.

More and more taxis are returning to petrol, where they can. Basically this is getting done to allow them to carry more passengers. Again the bigger operators can get around this by having larger fleets (subbies or not) but those with 3,4,5, cars/drivers seem to be stitching to petrol so they can carry 2+ passengers comfortably.

As I say I don't know Meow's "business" model so as this is her thread its not really for me to expand by guessing.

[Edge]

@whitespider

OK I've mainly used Mr T (no probs) so the rest is assumption.
If they can't arrange backloads then I just don't know how it stacks up for themto do it for the price.
If they don't have another booking don't they just wait under a flyover for a rank guy to sell someone on?   

Re' switching back to petrol I don't get why they wouldn't just fit a Donut (OK no spare wheel I know).
My little truck has a 55 litre Donut tank underslung and does about 500 kms a fill (lasts me for months sometimes  )
I know petrol price came down, but not enough to justify switching back surely...maybe harder to justify conversion?

[whitespider - RIP]

43 minutes ago, Edge said:

@whitespider

OK I've mainly used Mr T (no probs) so the rest is assumption.
If they can't arrange backloads then I just don't know how it stacks up for themto do it for the price.
If they don't have another booking don't they just wait under a flyover for a rank guy to sell someone on?   

Re' switching back to petrol I don't get why they wouldn't just fit a Donut (OK no spare wheel I know).
My little truck has a 55 litre Donut tank underslung and does about 500 kms a fill (lasts me for months sometimes  )
I know petrol price came down, but not enough to justify switching back surely...maybe harder to justify conversion?

bro I think we are rather utilising Meows thread here but

On point one I guess (can ONLY guess) that's why they charge 1200and Mr T can do 1000. The savvy ones then justify that extra 200 Baht by offering newer, more comfortable vehicles + female drivers + English speaking + correct insurance etc etc. In the case of the taxi firm i "know" around 80% of their custom is repeat clients now so one assumes those clients repeat for some reason. As in all countries some people want to make a living (one car bands), some are happy running a small business and others (such as Mr T i guess) want to run a large one. With regard to the waiting for a retunr - i have to say i don't know the answer but i think they have to move on pretty sharpish these days from the airport.

Re petrol - my use of the word "switch" was probably misleading. Again I can only speak for the one firm i know about but by switch i meant the last two cars she has purchased have been petrol cars and then not converted to gas as they always did before. This gets a little mired by the fact 2 of her 4 cars are SUVs so the boot space is a little less important.

Now - lets get back to Meow

[Encora]

Having some insight from the workings of Nam’s  Taxi, which operates in similar fashion as Tan’s Taxi,  I agree with most of Whitespider’s assertions.

Virtually all Nam’s drivers are on petrol. Nam started off in  Gas fuelled car, insisting initially that would be cheaper to run. But since then, petrol came down, and her original car developed some engine problems, explained by  her garage as caused by the higher temprature the car operates on when using LPG.

So when she traded up to a new car, she opted for petrol only. Luggage space issues, plus short range on an LPG tank, and long waiting issues at fuel stations caused her to prefer contract drivers who use petrol only.

WS’ costings and drivetimes are pretty accurate. In fact, I don’t think it is viable to operate a airport to Patts service for 1000, unless you mostly do return loads as well. Time, fuel, wear and tear (repairs), insurance and depreciation simply don’t leave enough profit margin. 

I think many sole drivers start out optimistic because they havent done an accurate cost analysis and ignore depreciation.

[Edge]

@Encora

I accept that conversion (c. 25k) may not stack up at today's petrol prices.
Most converted taxis I saw had opted for the small 30 litre tank in the boot, meaning reduced luggage space and of course range vs the 55 litre tanks.
Add in that they would only fill at the cheapest places so there were queues.

About backloads, all I know is that 3 times I was sold on by a rank driver to one of those parked under the flyovers waiting.
No idea who they are of course but there are lots, presumably because they're not allowed to wait near the airport.

[whitespider - RIP]

11 minutes ago, Encora said:

Having some insight from the workings of Nam’s  Taxi, which operates in similar fashion as Tan’s Taxi,  I agree with most of Whitespider’s assertions.

Virtually all Nam’s drivers are on petrol. Nam started off in  Gas fuelled car, insisting initially that would be cheaper to run. But since then, petrol came down, and her original car developed some engine problems, explained by  her garage as caused by the higher temprature the car operates on when using LPG.

So when she traded up to a new car, she opted for petrol only. Luggage space issues, plus short range on an LPG tank, and long waiting issues at fuel stations caused her to prefer contract drivers who use petrol only.

WS’ costings and drivetimes are pretty accurate. In fact, I don’t think it is viable to operate a airport to Patts service for 1000, unless you mostly do return loads as well. Time, fuel, wear and tear (repairs), insurance and depreciation simply don’t leave enough profit margin. 

I think many sole drivers start out optimistic because they havent done an accurate cost analysis and ignore depreciation.

Yup thats about nailed it as far as i am aware. One thing that people often forget is these girls take a lot of effort to build customer bases and relationships. Airport trips make up around 60% of Tanns business but the real money is in local trips (lower rate but higher margins) and especially the "day trip" jobs such as Buddha Mountain / Silverlake (where they get paid to hang around i.e. a daily rate). I would guess 90% of airport jobs are single people and whilst not exactly loss leaders they are certainly not the good earners. To keep this on track for Meow i would assume they are the same.

[whitespider - RIP]

1 minute ago, Edge said:

About backloads, all I know is that 3 times I was sold on by a rank driver to one of those parked under the flyovers waiting.
No idea who they are of course but there are lots, presumably because they're not allowed to wait near the airport.

I will have a word with Tann about that as it does make common sense. I would guess there are three issues

1. The girls might naturally be a bit shy about doing it.

2. They would be VERY careful not to piss on people's chips at the airport. The guys "running" that show may well all know each other (especially if they use common agents) and work together but an outsider, especially a female, might find themselves in some bother.

3. Yes the waiting around is a problem and parking is quite expensive if you have to use the carparks + wait a few hours. Tann and all her girls have families so probably prefer to get home.

I THINK - all the above considered - the girls (Meow and Tann) are pretty happy to be running "small" businesses and are unlikely to even think about those things let alone want to get into it too much. I dont know Nam or Meow but Tann had a small hair salon before and barely made a living. Even when she started the taxi business she was getting 4 bookings a MONTH not a day. These days she has the salon, a taxi business, a wedding dress hire business and (believe it or not) a business importing/selling salmon. Her life is a million times better than it was 7 years ago and she is likely to be content.

PS Edgy - if you want to buy some nice salmon 555

[Edge]

@whitespider

Re' Tann, I tried to use her when I had family over last year....4 full size adults with full size cases/luggage.
She said not enough boot space in an SUV so quoted me for a minibus at 2,500.
Mr T sent a 6 seat luxury/exec minibus for 2,200.
When I told her what I'd done she said well I could have sent an SUV for 2,200 if you'd said.........Eh?
Actually two regular cars would have made more sense than an SUV....but the 6 seat Exec was perfect.

Re' Salmon, no thanks, but if you get some Haddock I'm all ears.

[raviinc]

Not used Meow services yet but some posts bet on the safety of female drivers which is bullshit. Since I had bad experiences with male road racers I engaged the services of a female driver and she almost killed me by ramming into a stationary concrete lorry and missed it by inches. I was so badly shaken up that my dick won’t go on the hop for my inaugural fuck in patts and had to get a specialist from Devils Den to reboot it. So since then I quietly use the common mans choice the Bell bus which slowly and safely takes me to my hotel. The old slogan ‘ better late then never’ is so true.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OoJohnnyoO]

5 trips to Pattaya and I've used Meow on all except on the first. My mate booked Tann to pick us up and my ride back to BKK solo I booked with Mr T.

Since making the switch to Meow I've never had an issue with any of her drivers.
Yes, most of them speed, but I'm quite used to travelling in vehicles that travel at high speed. Even though they speed, they're not erratic drivers, so I've never felt worried to the point where I've asked the driver to slow down or take it easy.

All the drivers I've had so far drove a Camry, however, on two occasions I've requested a larger vehicle (CR-V) for 3 blokes and she's easily accommodated my request. Obviously for a slightly higher fee.

Will continue to use Meow so long as her drivers keep up their QoS.

[Billyboy294]

Does anyone have Meow's Line ID. My nephew is coming early Dec and only has Line in the Airport using their wifi. Just in case he needs to contact the driver.

[defaultdon555]

I used Meow's taxi service this last trip in October, didn't have any issues.  Driver was on time, got me to the airport on time, and was very friendly.  

Highly recommend them---

[Garzan]

On 11/4/2017 at 16:22, OmarB said:

Use Meow extensively but the guy that picked us up earlier this week was doing 150 kph way too quick in my book. Twice I told him to slow but he soon speeded up again. Am not going to piss in his rice bowl by emailing meow over it (should I ??) but its back to Mr T for us who frankly in over a 100 bookings never let us down once

Definitely piss in his rice bowl. You just got done saying you are stopping using Meow's service because of the actions of a particular driver. How is she to know which drivers are loosing her customers (so she can stop using them) if the customers never provide feedback to let her know?

 

[Big_H]

On 08/11/2017 at 16:57, defaultdon555 said:

I used Meow's taxi service this last trip in October, didn't have any issues.  Driver was on time, got me to the airport on time, and was very friendly.  

Highly recommend them---

the driver who picked me up on Thursday morning was 20 early didn't drive like a Kamikazi pilot & still got me to swampy in 90 minutes, will use her servie again.

[striderman]

meow herself took me to swampy the other afternoon from south pattaya. booked for 15 30 and i was waiting ready as she is normally slightly early. got me to the airport in 1hr 30 mins which is par for the course daytime. been using her for over 9 years now.

 

EDIT...............you still need to allow plenty of extra time to avoid missing a departure. if you cut it too fine and hit traffic your knackered whichever taxi service you are using.

Edited November 10, 2017 by striderman