If you have been to downtown Bangkok, you would agree that Bangkok has monster traffic jams. Bangkok’s traffic problem has been getting worse since the government introduced a policy to refund tax for first-time car buyers. Coupled with the Thai aspiration to own a car and get some status, this policy has resulted in five million vehicles in a city which can only cope with less than two million cars.
Other than owning a car, another mode of transportation is the taxi. As the country grow in affluence, with tourists visiting everyday, mobile apps that make taxi booking in Bangkok easier have been launched.
Over the past one year, mobile apps such as Grab Taxi, Easy Taxi and Uber have launched their services there, hoping to be the taxi booking app leader.
Easy Taxi in particular, caught our attention: According to Easy Taxi Thailand cofounder Nicky Surapaitoon, to date there are over 100,000 taxi drivers and 5 million users using the app globally. It is present in 26 countries around the world, and is actively expanding its service in Bangkok. Users can use Easy Taxi to easily, with a tap of a button, book a taxi and track it in real time.
Easy Taxi aims to solve the bad taxi problem in Thailand. Taxi drivers often turn people down and sometimes are hard to find during rush hours traffic, heavy rain, taxi shift changes and major events. With the app, passengers will know whether a taxi is on the way or not within three minutes.
To promote its awareness and getting more users onboard, the team is relying a lot on the social media. This is in line to what the Taiwan Easy Taxi team shared with Vulcan Post: Easy Taxi uses Facebook page as a major channel to increase its brand awareness, targeting a more tech-focused customer group.
During Valentine’s Day too, the Thailand team did a Cupid campaign, where the Easy Taxi team would send roses and discounted coupons to various community groups, tech-startups as well as coworking spaces around in Bangkok.
When asked about its main competitor GrabTaxi, which is a similar app that allows user to book taxis through its app, Nicky confidently shared that they have superior in-person customer service. “Talking to a real person really helps bridge both the customer and the driver.” Easy Taxi is also not worried about the recently launched Uber, a on-demand private chauffeur service. I heard they are worried about us, teased Nicky.
For now, the Easy Taxi team is focusing on improving their operations in Bangkok, as well as answering every call from their passengers in the shortest possible time. They are also actively promoting Easy Taxi Pro, a tool for bigger companies, bars, hotels and nightclubs to book taxis on Easy Taxi.
So the next time you are at Bangkok and looking for a taxi, you can give Easy Taxi a try. At the very least, you will be able to track in real time where your driver is.
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