kdd

Hi,

We have deliberately chosen not to have a car and driver in Yangon. This is on the understandibg that it is easy to hail taxis and travel place to place within Yangon. Is this a correct assumption?

Thanks!

silverwool

That was true when I was there about 6 years ago. I remember one night going back to our hotel with two of us sitting very close together in the middle of taxi holding the doors closed. The driver only turned on the lights when he was approaching an intersection! An interesting drive!

My wife was there 3 years later and said the quality had improved a lot. My info could be out of date though.

Kathie

The quality of the taxis has improved unbelievably since our first trip to Yangon in 2009. At that time, while taxis were readily available, all seemed to be missing large parts of the car, none had working air conditioning, and most of the cars barely ran. Last year (2015) the taxis in Yangon were all functioning cars and there were probably 10 times as many as there had been six years previously. You will have no difficulty using taxis in Yangon - I think it makes much more sense than hiring a car and driver. We've used taxis for all three of our visits to Yangon.

LancasterLad

So long as your money is going into helping the people then spend it how you want.

I might be wrong, but...

- taxi drivers usually lease cars, and pay a daily rent. Those cars are normally beat-up right-hand drive Japanese imports. But at least they provide an income for an otherwise impoverished local man who lives from day to day...

Or on the other hand...

- hire a much better quality air-conditioned saloon. But that vehicle is owned and run by the military, and the income goes into their grimy hands.

If I'm right, then hire a beat-up old cronk, keep the window open, and help to feed a local family.

Kathie

Things have changed a lot since you were there, LL. Most of the taxis are now privately owned. And the atmospheric beat up Japanese cars are gone.

In all my visits to Yangon, I never saw a "much better quality air-conditioned saloon. But that vehicle is owned and run by the military." But I assume they must have existed when you were there.

sartoric

I spent four nights in Yangon last month (May 2016) and used taxis at least twice each day. There are no meters, agree your fare before you go. In my experience, many (not all) taxi drivers will charge a small premium to a foreign person. Not much, maybe a dollar or two. They may, or may not use the aircon.

LancasterLad

Kathie. The government owned taxis are/were called Parami...

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/nat...nese-cabs.html

I can't remember the yellow ones, only white ones.

They stuck out because of their name, and they were always in much better condition than the old cronks. The old cronks did us fine, in fact we hired one for 2 weeks.

Anyway if things have [genuinely] moved on in favour of the people, then that's good.

Kathie

Interesting, I never saw one of them in two stays in Yangon in 2009, two stays in 2011, and one stay in 2015. No taxi I used on any of my trips had a name on the side at all. All were either privately owned (2015) or privately leased (2009 & 2011).

LancasterLad

Our taxi driver/guide for the fortnight told us, amongst many other things about his country, all about Parami taxis, and how to recognise them.

Here's another article about Parami...

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/bus...s-drivers.html

...US$44,000! Yikes!!

A bit more about taxis in Yangon in general, but still v.interesting...

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/bus...eir-belts.html

A bit on the colours of vehicle number plates...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...tes_of_Myanmar

Kathie

Things have changed dramatically in the last few years in Myanmar. The articles you link to, while interesting, are from 2010. Things are very different now. There have been changes in the import duties on cars, and it is possible to import new cars now (unlike in 2010). The number of taxis on the road, - almost all new cars - was simply astounding in 2015. The vastly increased number of taxis is why Yangon is struggling with so much traffic.

LancasterLad

Yeah, I accept that. There must be a lot of money flying around the country, and hope that a lot of it is filtering down to the people.

Kathie

I hope so, too. We certainly heard from lots of people that their lives are better, which usually means they are able to earn more money.