Thai DLT to look at legalising GrabCar and GrabBike

[webfact]

Thai DLT to look at legalising GrabCar and GrabBike

By The Thaiger

 

 

Thailand’s Department of Land Transport is toying with the idea of officially legalising the Grab ride-hailing services using private cars and motorcycles through the Grab App.

 

The DLT say they are already aware of the issue but say amendments would be required to the Land Transport Act if it were to happen. Today they were unable to put a timescale on the necessary amendments if the new Cabinet were to instruct the changes.

 

Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumajaithai Party, went to the last election with a party policy of legalising GrabCar and GrabBike. Saksayam Chidchob, secretary-general of Bhumajaithai, is poised to become the new transport minister as part of the pre-PM vote negotiations where ministerial portfolios were dangled as carrots to secure votes for Prayut Chan-o-cha before the parliamentary session where he was elected.

 

There has been massive push-back from the country’s traditional taxis, tuk tuks and ‘win’ (motorbike taxis) who have held an almost gang-like monopoly over the services for decades. There has been protests and violence making headlines in the past year as the traditional services try and stave off the legalising of the new-technology services.

 

Read The Thaiger story HERE.

 

 

Grab services are already widely popular around Thailand but the law has been fairly opaque about the issue and enforcement has been perfunctory up to now.

 

The DLT have said they believe that overseas ride-hailing experiences may need to be studied and that other changes would need to be made eg. will Grab providers need to have a public driving license?

 

The DLTs ‘Taxi OK’ App, released to provide an App-booking experience for the current taxi services, has been a big failure.

 

Meanwhile, the Grab Car and Grab Bike services in Bangkok, for example, have provided users with a superior and reliable experience, usually less expensive than the traditional services. The Grab App shows the identity of the driver, previous votes from passengers, a map showing them coming to pick you up, time-to-arrival and a lot of other features.

 

Source: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thai-dlt-to-look-at-legalising-grabcar-and-grabbike

 

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2019-06-21

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[bluesofa]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s Department of Land Transport is toying with the idea of officially legalising the Grab ride-hailing services using private cars and motorcycles through the Grab App.

Does that phrase translate to something like: Looking for substantial brown envelopes from the mafia groups running Baht buses and motorbike taxis?

[legend49]

Great photo. The motor scooter dude; flip flops on the feet, no helmet and about a foot from the taxi.

[Henrik Andersen]

On 6/21/2019 at 4:29 AM, webfact said:

There has been massive push-back from the country’s traditional taxis, tuk tuks and ‘win’ (motorbike taxis) who have held an almost gang-like monopoly over the services for decades

Almost 555

They are mafia and Thailand and tourists want grab so no more talk legalize grab now 

[Justgrazing]

On 6/20/2019 at 10:29 PM, webfact said:

win’ (motorbike taxis) who have held an almost gang-like monopoly over the services for decades

And as we see last week are prepared to give it some gang warfare to hang on to their turf .. 

[lamyai3]

On 6/21/2019 at 4:29 AM, webfact said:

Thai DLT

Would that be Dave Lee Travit? 

[Vacuum]

On 6/20/2019 at 9:29 PM, webfact said:

other changes would need to be made eg. will Grab providers need to have a public driving license?

If they mean a 'taxi lisence', I can't see why not, as they do offer a taxi service.