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Langkawi Nature Blogs
The Taxis
Pricing, how it works
They have a clear price system, which is noted down at a few central taxi stations. The most central station is in the car park beside the Bay View Hotel in Kuah.
But if you are not there or not aware of the price - looking like a freshly arrived tourist - some Taxi Drivers might well overcharge you. (They do not use a taxi-meter and I have seen no printouts of the Price-List).
The fare e.g. from Kuah to Telaga Harbor is RM 30. And after 12 midnight - they put another 50% on top of that.
If you ask a Taxi driver at 11.00 pm to bring you from Kuah to Telaga he might tell you that he now has his coffee break - and when he is ready at 11.30 he will already charge you the 50% surplus (own experience).
If you come from Satun (or wherever) and land at the Jetty Point with a ferry - and tell a taxi to bring you to Kuah (which is near by) - he will probably refuse. He will not say so - he will just turn around and ignore you.
He has waited perhaps for a long time - and so he wants to have a guest who needs to go to Telaga or The Datei or anywhere far away - to make some money.
The solution to this seems to be the following: At the Jetty you do not try to get a taxi by yourself, you go to the official Taxi Counter. There you will be assigned to a taxi which then has to take you to Kuah. This seems to work properly.
Reliability
I once had a bad experiences because the taxi Center did not know my exact address (even though I asked them before and they said, they would). I nearly missed my plane because of that.
So if you are located outside in the woods - make sure you give them an exact plan beforehand. And call them when they should send a taxi. Don't try to 'reserve a Taxi' for the next day. In my experience it gets forgotten.
Mark
