It happened a bit before I ever arrived here but there was a time when there were no apps to get taxis in Thailand or at least, there was a ton of opposition to it by the various taxi mafias that I have heard existed and perhaps still do exist.
I don't know if they were really mafias so much as they were a union of sorts that tried to protect their livelihoods by working together as some sort of lobbying team to influence government decisions and I suppose that is normal all around the world.
Today in 2023 it is really quite rare that we even see taxi ranks or metered taxis getting flagged down for a ride and sometimes I feel bad for these guys because they are getting absolutely destroyed by Grab which is similar to Uber - not similar, it is exactly the same company. I felt bad for them until I heard the horror stories of what these groups would get up to before my time.
In Bangkok, these guys are still all over the place and it is easy to understand why seeing as how there are more than 10 million people in the metro area and they basically dominate the landscape on most streets. Outside of Bangkok, you very rarely even see any of them even though it was basically the same story in any other large city just like Chiang Mai.
These days the only time you ever see taxi ranks are outside of popular tourist areas or shopping malls and still most people will opt to order a Grab Taxi rather than even deal with these guys. The reasoning is quite simple. Meter taxis have a lot of opportunities to rip you off whereas the Grab app has made it nearly impossible for the driver to con you.
I'm disappointed that a lot of these people have been put out of work and also that Grab is certainly taking a big part of the profits for themselves but the reason why they are here in the first place is because the "regular" taxis were such con artists for such a long period of time.
I hear stories from people here that have lived in Thailand a great deal longer than I have about how taxi drivers would tell you one price as you are getting into the taxi and then tell you a completely different and of course much higher price once you arrive at your destination. In some of the stories that I have heard the taxi drivers would intentionally park near other taxi drivers and they would surround and intimidate the passengers until they eventually capitulated and paid. Other stories I hear are when it would start to rain that taxi drivers would refuse to use the meters which they are required to use by law. There idea was that "if you don't like the price I am quoting, get out and stand in the rain." It is an a-hole tactic, but it was a very effective one.
Tuk Tuk's have been a bane on transportation since forever, and that particular scam is still alive and well today because all tourists want to go for a ride in this iconic machine.
The scams these guys would pull off were numerous but one of them was that they would offer a price to foreigners and then without permission they would stop at a gem shop or tailor and refuse to take the customers to their intended destination until they went inside the shop for "5 minutes." Once inside the shop the hard sell began in there and if the customers came out without buying anything they would again be surrounded by Tuk Tuk drivers and intimidated. These days Tuk Tuk's still charge rather insane prices for short journeys and basically the only people that ever ride in them are tourists. Once the tourists find out that a tuk tuk is actually a pretty lousy way of getting around and that they paid 3x what it would cost for a Grab, they never use them again.
So the story continues with a sign that is still up in the city that I live in. At the train station here there are always taxis parked outside and there is a crudely made sign that states that Grab is banned from being used. It also says Uber is banned which is funny because Uber hasn't existed in Thailand for many years. The sign is all lies though and once again passengers are harassed and intimidated into getting into overpriced taxis who conveniently don't have or refuse to use the meters.
I like Grab / Uber and think they are extremely useful but there is no denying that they have put a serious dent into the taxi driving industry.
When I think about it a bit I realize that had it not been for the actions of the taxi drivers themselves there wouldn't have been an opportunity for Grab to ever take over the transport industry in this country. Had the drivers of the taxis just been a bit more honest and kind, customers would still be using them. This is what we call a "self inflicted gunshot wound." The only time I ever get a "regular" taxi is when I arrive at the Chiang Mai airport because Grab is inexplicitly banned from entering the compound. If you want a Grab you have to walk several hundred meters to the main road in order to get to one. Even this will eventually be scrapped because you can only bully a population into using your services for so long.