I was reading about this guy who "invented" a meter for motorcycle taxis. I think it's an interesting concept but I'm not convinced the guy will make any money off of it. First off, he seems to have done absolutely zero market research to determine if there's a demand. He simply thought: Motorcycle Taxi + Meter = Huge Profits!!!!!!

It's a two part problem:

1. If it reduces fares the motocycle taxi drivers will refuse to use them.

2. If it increases fares passengers won't want the driver's using them and will only ride on unmetered taxis.

So that brings in someone who can enforce the law. And we all know what happens once the government steps in, in Thailand. They might demand that the drivers use them but what do you bet the chances are that these two farangs are going to get the contract to supply them?

The other issue is I'm assuming the motorcycle taxi profession isn't exactly a huge money maker. I rarely see any of these guys finish his shift and drive off in a Ferrari. So, where are all of the drivers going to get the money to buy them? That's an unanswered question in the article.

Also, then these guys are talking about showing advertising on the meters and building in a black box that would record everything about what the bike was doing just before it got into an accident.

Okay, first off, I'm not sure my motorcycle taxi driver needs any additional distractions when he's zooming down the sidewalk on Sukhumvit passing by other people and obstacles so closely that I can feel my pant legs brushing up against as we woosh by. That is not when I want him to take his mind off what he's doing to watch that really funny Leo ad.

Second, who's going to watch the ads? Motorcycles are loud and noisy and you can barely communicate with the driver screaming into his ear. So all you can effectively do is show still ads. And since most of the ladies ride side-saddle they're not even positioned to view them.

And who cares what happened right before the accident? When's the last time the police spent more than 10 minutes investigating the scene of a motorcycle taxi accident? I've witnessed several fatal motorcycle accidents and the police come out, take a report, throw the body in the back of a truck, and the whole thing from start to finish is over in 1/2 hour.

Oh, and wait . . . have they even considered the mafia?

So what's the point? Even the inventor mentions that there's been a little "feature creep" which has resulted in them spending about $1 million so far on something that they haven't even established there is a demand for and if there is a demand that someone won't just come along and undercut them and blow them out of the market.

Interesting, but like you said, who'd want them?

And, how often does anyone use a motorcycle taxi for a journey which costs much more than 20 baht?

I can just see these guys getting shaken down by both the cops and the motorcycle mafia and ending up losing money on every sale. Sort of makes me laugh.

Look at the big picture, and I mean big. If these guys pay off the right people, at the top level, then it can get implemented. Don't think at the street level.

Don't think at the bottom level of getting this put in place. ***, you go to the top, and make it worth their while to buy these units from you. They in turn pass the laws requiring them, for what ever lame reason they will come up with. If the police commanders, and high ranking political supporters, are getting their cut, then there is no shakedown by the street level cops, or low level mafia.....lolol.

If all of the estimated 40,000 motortaxis had to buy them, there is enough profit involved to spread the money around to the correct places. Whether these individuals know how to do business in Thailand is another question.

Oh I am looking at the meta picture here.

You do know that many of the lawmakers are actually at the top of the mafia food chain, don't you? Actually, about six months ago some human rights group declared Thailand's police force to be the largest organized crime organization in the world. How many MP's are former police officers . . .

The idea, by itself can work, but not with two dumbass farangs who plow $1 million into an idea without figuring out how to sell their product running the show. That was the point.

Needn't sell in Thailand only.

Has anyone ever ridden a motorcycle taxi?

If it's not new the brakes are gone, the tyres are bald, the bearings are shot and half the bulbs have blown.

If they aren't making enough money to cover the costs of even the most basic maintenance, how on earth they would pay for something as fancy as a meter is beyond me.

Beyond me I tell you.

Aside from the discourteous remarks, the above commentary is thoroughly flawed; however, the point has no practical significance:

Congratulations to “koolbreez” who correctly concluded that the Moto-Meter will be mandated. Additionally, the Moto-Meter is patented, and like all taximeters it will be government certified, regulated and inspected, thus knockoffs and competition will be locked out.

Bear in mind that there are over 20 million motorcycle taxis worldwide, in more than one hundred countries, plying the streets of thousands of cities: Bangkok is simply one market. At present, we are in talks with motorcycle taxi fleet owners and transportation officials from a growing number of governments.

Thank you for your interest in the Moto-Meter.

Paul Giles

Founder

World Moto

And if it is mandated do you think the Thai mafia that runs the moto-taxis are going to let you control this?

The Thai mafia is diffuse and unorganized, yet indirectly controlled by the Illuminati, which is merely an offshoot of the Borg...

I enjoy a good discussion of facts, not fiction, and not with an uninformed person with a closed mind. My answer above is conclusive. And frankly, the only correct answer to your off-color question is "yes" we are working in collaberation with the BMA and the motorcycle taxi association, as we'll work with other governments, organizations, businesses, individuals, etc., to bring the Moto-Meter to market wherever there is a viable market.

It's best to let my actions speak for me, and let history be the judge of my contributions to the world.

Paul Giles

World Moto

I don't know. The motorcycle taxi guys outside my place seem pretty organized.

Don't be a total douche, dude. Address the questions and quit pretending you don't have an hurdles to overcome. Every feature you add to your device costs money. Do you really think any motorcycle taxi driver wants or needs a black box feature?

I think most people welcome some standardization of the motorcycle taxi fares but to pretend that the other factors don't matter actually hurts your cause.

To institute a device that will increase the cost of one of the basic transportation modes for the middle, and lower class people, will not go over very good, and this device will do that, both in recovering the cost of the device, and in measuring the distances traveled. As it is now there is a standard cost of bt20 for a motortaxi trip in Bangkok, whether I travel to the end of the street, or 4 times farther to the BTS, the cost is the same. This device will very easily double the cost, and in some cases triple, and quaduple the cost of a trip. It will not reduce a trip cost.

What effect will the reprocussions of this increase in transportation cost have on the basic economy of the countries these are used in? A few baht increase in the price of any necessesary cost has very damaging reprocussions to the working poor, the very people that keep a country competitive in the world manufactoring arena. You raise there basic costs, and the cost of manufactoring will go up as a result. Are you (the Worldmoto dude) willing to address this issue? How will the governments you sell these to offset the increased cost in basic transportation needs of the rider?

Will minimum wages go up so the riders can again afford to ride the motortaxis for their basic transportation needs? With a large portion of the lower payed people using this form of transportation, how will these meters affect them? To most people looking down from their multi thousand dollar paychecks a month a bt20 increase in cost is trivial, but to the majority of the people that actually use this form of transportation, you are seriously affecting their way of life. A person that makes the minimum wage, and some less than this amount, of bt200 a day (it might be a little more than that now), a bt20, or bt30+, increase in transportation cost seriously affects them. Are you willing to address these reprocussions of putting meters on motortaxis?

Have you even looked at this so you can explain it to the governments you try to sell to? I'm sure some of them are concerned, or are you operating on the principle of who cares about what the rider will experience because of this meter, I have a product to sell. At what point do you say this is not a good product for a government to institude because of the economic costs to the riders?