The Kalkan Taxi Debate

[Chrisjust1attheMerkez...]

Emre .Thank you for your thoughts and explanations. Personally as I have a "house up the hill "I have to accept the going rate and the increase in 1 journey is only about 1 .5 efes.
I agree some visitors abused the "free supermarket service" but the changes may cause waves that will affect the taxi market more adversely than has been thought.
If a family of 4 decide to rent a car for their airport transfers ....do their shopping... bits & bobs...and then drive down to town for the evening. The only taxi fare could be the journey home.Economically it may now be cheaper - I havent worked it out yet.
But all  will lose out  if the good will to make the Kalkan experince something special is lost
I suggest the supermarket shuttle  be reinstated  if the client buys more than ?? 100 or 125 lira. a family shop plus wine can easily be  at this level. We always tip the driver who helps deliver to the villa door. - especially the large water bottles.
economics will dictate.. who said "you can never buck the markets "?

[Kalkan Taxi]

Emre bey, no one says taxi drivers should not earn money.  Of course you have to earn more money than the cost of the trip.  The price to the airport is okay.  No one is complaining about the trip to the airport. The problem are the local taxi prices.  The price from Kalkan center to say Samira Deluxe or to Kalamar.  The distances are short, the prices are high.

There are many people who come here who have a limited amount of money to spend.  Not every foreigner has lots of money!  If the tourists or residents who live here decide that a taxi is too expensive, they will walk or they will hire a car. 

Sağlık ve refah içinde yaşasın!

May you live in good health and prosperity.

Hi Cosetta;
Then you always taling about taximeter fares then think about this there are 5 beach parks they you dont pay for taxi service and we do this several times in a day and we get fixed prices from the beach parks. For example yesterday or the day before I dont remember well but I took a customer from Akbel the small village on the hill on the way to Patara and took them to Kalkan Beach Park and they just pay me 10YTL for that service but taximeter costs more then 15 nearly 17 YTL and who is going to pay us those 7YTL to me? And we do this several times in a day we go to Ä°BO beach and take 5.50 YTL fixed price from there and take the customer where they want anywhere in Kalkan. No body calculates these. Please do not think these in only a one way. Think everything from both sides.

Regards

Emre

[Kalkan Taxi]

Merhaba Emre.

Thanks for the defence''''s side of the debate.

I am concerned though that you state that, you, the taxi drivers talked to the supermarkets about the free '''' goodwill '''' service they provide to their customers. Have you been sucessfull in stopping this valued customer service practice, please advise.... I really hope not though. Not everyone uses the service when they have only bought a couple of items. Myself and partner have property in deepest Kalamar Bay and when stocking up on weekly groceries etc we find this a very helpful service when loaded down with upto 6,7,8 bags. Whilst we do not expect to get a free service from the supermarkets it is always nice to be offered.

We would often walk down to the taxi rank with shopping and take a taxi anyway if the delivery service was being used by someone else.

I think you may well find it counter productive to alienate the people you aim to provide a service for.

Regards

 

Hi

I understand what you mean but I really wish everybody thinks and behaves in the same way you do. Because I saw it with my own eyes they just bought a 5 litres water and a bread and took the free service. And if 60 percent of the customers does this then what are we going to earn??

[Kalkan Taxi]

Lantana thank you for your post....

[Johnjen]

Hi Emre

     Think you have just scored an own goal my friend.If the beach parks will only pay a set amount for Taxi transfers,this tells me that they know what the rate should be & will not pay more.Many visitors to Kalkan will also take their own actions.Hire cars or walk.The problem to me is obvious.There are far too many taxis for the number of visitors.You would have to double the number of visitors to keep all those taxis busy & you won''t do that by making it more expensive for people.The same applies to restaurants,again far too many for the number of visitors.Its a publicity campaign that you need most.   

[felicity]

I may be being naive here so apologies - but it strikes me that the way to fill the taxis is the halve the fares - not double them!!  Pricing people out of the market just won''t work - no market economics there!!  If you make it cheaper then people won''t mind using them and will start using them again but the more the price goes up the more people just won''t use them.  Even my turkish friends are jibbing and complaining at these fares - the other week, my turkish friend and I took a taxi from the green school up the main road - nearly but NOT as far as the Bezirgan turning and it was 9 lira - she nearly fell over - it took about 3 mins to drive and must be all of 1 mile....needless to say we walked back (admittedly downhill).  If the taxi fares are halved then I''m convinced that people will use them again and even for short journeys and that will be good for the taxis, good for business, good for kalkan - ie: nobody needing to take hire cars into the congested village centre etc etc.  then the supermarkets will be able to reinstate their very useful shuttle service (which I for one - ONLY use when I have bagfuls of shopping, EFES, wine, water etc etc - and NEVER for 1 big bottle of water and some bread!).  There will be no need for this gang type intimidation giving kalkan tourism and bad name and hordes of taxis outside supermarkets accosting people as they come out. 

In defence - I do appreciate that they need to earn a living - but there are simply too many of them now chasing too few customers - like the restaurants - but unlike restaurants who even if they halve their prices will get SOME more trade, Im sure - but you can still only 1 meal at a time - but you can nip up and down to town countless times in a taxi...(says she who never uses them - but my good ole pins!!  )  I''m glad that the beach clubs are paying the taxi drivers - coz at least they are still getting some trade - and if this carries on like this - maybe the supermarkets can ditch their vans and pay the taxis too...??  Because that is such a useful service....

[holidayfever]

But it is petrol that is so expensive not LPG so why not all use cars that run on this ,as my Turkish friends do then you wouldnt have to charge sooooooooooooooo much and I guess most taxi drivers do really. So maybe the bechclubs know that also, and at least this is a regular trade they are giving you. Guess it is true there are just too many taxi''s doing very short distances around the town.

[Kalkan Taxi]

Hi Emre

     Think you have just scored an own goal my friend.If the beach parks will only pay a set amount for Taxi transfers,this tells me that they know what the rate should be & will not pay more.Many visitors to Kalkan will also take their own actions.Hire cars or walk.The problem to me is obvious.There are far too many taxis for the number of visitors.You would have to double the number of visitors to keep all those taxis busy & you won''''t do that by making it more expensive for people.The same applies to restaurants,again far too many for the number of visitors.Its a publicity campaign that you need most.   
[/qu
You still dont want to understand us. There is nothing that we can do with the taxi fares. We dont cost it to you. The men that we belong to obey their costs. Dont we want to get all customers back? Of course we do but we cant do anything about the fares we just obey what they want us cost it to you. Thats all.

[Kalkan Taxi]

Before you forget!

I am here for just telling you the reasons of your problems. But if you are going to try to attack me then I wont write anymore. IF you understand this or not THERE IS NOTHING THAT WE CAN DO! People who we belong to they cost the meters and we obey them. Thats all!!!

Regards

Emre

[Alfaman]

I''m with Blue Lizard - if taxis are metered then there''s no debate - you pay what the meter rate is or walk next time if you feel it''s too steep.  But varying rates to the same destination - somebody''s trying it on - and doing no-one a favour in the long term. (Has anyone noticed the band wagon effect in Kalkan - hoteliers, restauranteurs building villas,apartments, then sell the villas/apartments, then charge the purchaser for letting/maintenance?)  Keep it simple - just book what you need this particular year!

[holidayfever]

Please dont take it personally Kalkan Taxi we are grateful for your input, very brave of you. But at least you know what people think.

[felicity]

Merhaba Emre/Kalkan taxi

Thanks for your explanation and sorry if it appears that you are coming in for some criticism.  As you can see there are some very strong feelings on both sides here.  As you say that you are not able to control the taxi prices - it is the cop-operative who sets them or some local government official - Im not sure what...  Would it be possible for you and all your fellow taxi drivers to get together and go to them and demand that prices are reduced due to the backlash from the tourists, locals both turkish and english who are simply voting with their feet and refusing to use taxis?  In the same way that you all banded together to stop the supermarket service - could you also band together to reduce the prices and get your trade back??

Cheers and thanks for coming on the forum!

[bankieken]

If a large number of the taxi drivers are simply employed to drive the cars then I can understand the frustration that some may feel as there is very little they can do to alter the pricing structure that is now in place. 

Having spoken to a couple of the taxi drivers in August none of them seemed to be particularly quiet so perhaps trade isn''t down.  The impact will be felt next year when visitors who have had to stump up decide not to return.

Over the last 5-10 years Kalkan has seen a big increase in visitor numbers and a huge amount of new development.  The local business people have grown used to year on year increases in income and may think that it will continue in the future. Who is saying it won''t?

The taxi drivers are not unique in this regard - look at the oversupply of villas and apartments - some have been on the market for 3 years and they still keep pushing up the prices.

Market forces will dictate the prices for the taxi''s and if they can charge the current prices and make a good living they will not reduce the costs.
If we don''t like it - make other arrangements.

[bluefudge11]

Firstly - Emre  thank you for taking part in this debate and it is great to get the views of the taxi drivers. None of the comments below (or on any of the posts) should be taken personally.

I have some questions to help me be better informed.

Does the fare increase after midnight(or later)? and if so by how much?

Why do you think the fares vary for the same journey?

Do you think the Taxi drivers would allow the supermarket to offer free service if customers spend say 100ytl (as suggested)?

If the prices are fixed by Government - do these vary depending on the area of Turkey?

I stayed at the Samira Deluxe three weeks ago and the shuttle service was stopped / affected - can you explain why - the reason we were given was because of a bylaw. (i was not staying at a nearby villa but at the hotel).

We had a great day out with a taxi driver for an agreed fixed price (not metered) - Very reasonable and he spent all day with us. A very nice man too! More of this please!

Also
Felicity - I agree with your opinions , If prices were reduced (and i hadn''t been abused) I would have used Taxis many more times instead I either walked or timed visits to catch the shuttle bus.
The intimidating approach will only drive people to alternatives  - People have a choice and will vote with there feet (or hire car)resort).
 

[alantj]

After all this debate, I don''t feel any the wiser as to why a Taxi in Turkey should cost as much as in London; apart of course from the fact that they have been able to establish a monopoly that has been able to both reduce competition and raise prices.  Although it was good to have the taxi drivers viewpoint, for me their comments just confirmed this, especially their complete lack of understanding that people should use a taxi because they want to not because alternatives have been removed.

As, despite all the fuss, there has been no sign of any rethink, I think we will all just have to live with the rises.  Fortunately for us the rises are more of an irritation than a real problem. Even after the Effes we can manage  the midnight walk home (its only 10mins, saves £8 and helps fund/offset the holiday overeating) and fortunately I don''t think our bookings will suffer. As we have a large villa we tend to be oversubscribed for the school holidays and get almost nothing outside of that period, so even if some people decide not to book hopefully it shouldn''t make much difference overall. 

However, I am sure it will have some effect on Kalkan (every guest has mentioned it at the end of their holiday and our on-line reviews, from otherwise happy guests, now contain a warning about having to budget for expensive taxis). Some people won''t come and others will book a hire car direct from the airport, which probably means less money spent in Kalkan''s bars, restaurants and of course taxis. 

Regards

Alan



As an aside, Lantana''s justification about living costs being only a quarter less than the UK, sounded unlikely and got me Googling. The figure quoted was from an annual survey of costs for holidaymakers. It includes English newspapers, beers, wine, three course meals and a 5 mile taxi ride (it was never intended to provide an indication of living costs for residents of a country).

However, the annual surveys were interesting, showing just how fast holiday costs in Turkey are rising. In 2004 Turkey was far cheaper than anywhere in westen Europe; but by 2006 it had passed a number of EU countries (and as taxi rides account for for a fair chunk of the index the doubling in price will push up the 2007 figures a lot further). Incredibly it states the price of a 3 course meal in Turkey doubled between 2004 and 2006 from £7.50 to £15.00 and is now more expensive than Majorca, Spain, Portugal and Greece - Is this really true, (we have only been on holiday in Turkey for the last 5 years) possibly a new thread for views on this?

[Blue Lizard]

we have taken our last Kalkan taxi,after spending out on a conservative estimate £120+ during our summer break(14 nights and some nights & days we didn''t go to the village!!).we have decide to rent nearer the village next year....mrs lizard is back in kalkan in oct and will be looking for rental details ..we would rather spend our money on our break how we like  )

[Cosetta]

The four times we let guests and family stay in our villa in our absence, we told them all they had to hire a car and they did ... and enjoyed having it.  We are exactly 1km from center town, walkable down, hard job to walk up at night.  I don''t think you who rent will have a problem if you tell your renters the options upfront.

[Cosetta]

Alan, your point that Turkey has become very expensive is true, Turks will all agree with you.  As regards comparisons with Spain, we spend the winter on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, I can tell you that you eat better here in Kalkan for much less.  You do not get here the same variety of international foods, but the cheapest we have ever paid for a meal on the beach near Marbella -- basically paella, wine and salad -- was 60 euros for 2 people.  The only cheaper place was lunch in a tiny worker cafe.  Food okay but you wouldn''t eat it everyday.

And I can tell you that you can buy 1 kilo of beef fillet in Kalkan for YTL 31.5, in the Marbella area you will pay approximately 54 euros for that same kilo!!!  If you have transport, you can eat a full meal in Islamlar for YTL 15-20 /pp!  And if you go to inland villages, you will eat for 3-4 YTL.  In Fethiye you can also eat more cheaply than in Kalkan.  But Kalkan has something that many of those other places don''t, so we pay a bit of a premium.

[Kalkan Taxi]

Firstly - Emre  thank you for taking part in this debate and it is great to get the views of the taxi drivers. None of the comments below (or on any of the posts) should be taken personally.

I have some questions to help me be better informed.

Does the fare increase after midnight(or later)? and if so by how much?

Why do you think the fares vary for the same journey?

Do you think the Taxi drivers would allow the supermarket to offer free service if customers spend say 100ytl (as suggested)?

If the prices are fixed by Government - do these vary depending on the area of Turkey?

I stayed at the Samira Deluxe three weeks ago and the shuttle service was stopped / affected - can you explain why - the reason we were given was because of a bylaw. (i was not staying at a nearby villa but at the hotel).

We had a great day out with a taxi driver for an agreed fixed price (not metered) - Very reasonable and he spent all day with us. A very nice man too! More of this please!

Also
Felicity - I agree with your opinions , If prices were reduced (and i hadn''''t been abused) I would have used Taxis many more times instead I either walked or timed visits to catch the shuttle bus.
The intimidating approach will only drive people to alternatives  - People have a choice and will vote with there feet (or hire car)resort).
 

Hi

Yes taxi fares goes up after midnight. Because we are not sleeping and waiting for you all night and this is same all around turkey. Also you can face with rises all around turkey it is not for only Kalkan so we cant go all taxi drivers to change the taxi fares. I know yes we talked this with the police and make them stop it and Samira Deluxe did everything to their customers if they havent try to get the people from villa to sell them a beer and give them shuttle service then hotel guests wouldnt be effected by this. Sorry for that bluefudge11

Regards

Emre

[ali & john]

We have just returned from our honeymoon in Kalkan and I must say I found the taxi service both reasonable in price and efficient.

Firstly the cost,well we were in a villa up high(far above the petrol station) a nice stroll into town but a struggle up, so it was taxi''s back each evening ,between four of us it was around  £1.50  each! secondly the service we received was excellent when we ordered from a restaurant the cab arrived at the time we ordered it(unlike the UK). as for the taxi''s outside the supermarkets.Great no struggling up or down hills with arms full looking for one,I never felt bullied into taking a cab if i didn''t want one a simple hayir and a smile was all that was needed. I had not been to Turkey for a few years and Kalkan for many, so I was expecting prices to have gone up far and above what they had done. Of course prices have risen that sadly is the nature of the world.