Bolt riders and regular motorcycle taxis fight in the street in Pattaya - "they started it" says 'win'

[webfact]

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath reported on a violent melee that broke out near a condominium in South Pattaya yesterday between Bolt riders and regular motorcycle taxi riders or "win".

 

The altercation in which a tire lever and baseball bat were used, was recorded on CCTV at a grocer's. This was shared to the Pattaya Talk site.

 

A win has said that this only showed some of the fight as the wins got the upper hand.  It was claimed that the Bolt riders started it.

 

Injured in the melee were three wins.

 

Anan, 37, (jacket #3 at the rank) had a head and leg wound, Noppadon, 37, (#25), was hit in the back of the head and Monthon, 37, (#15) was hurt in the left arm.

 

A one foot tire lever (or crow bar) and a baseball bat were left at the scene.

 

Thai Rath went to Pattaya to investigate.

 

Anan said that he was waiting for a customer a little away from the rank when three Bolt riders arrived on three bikes.

 

He asked them to follow the accepted rules and wait for customers a little away from the rank to avoid any trouble. 

 

But they were belligerent and demanded why they could not wait there. 

 

"They wouldn't listen to reason," said Anan adding that when he saw the metal weapon produced from one of the rider's jackets he realised there would be trouble and shouted to his mates to come and help.

 

Then all hell broke loose.

 

"They started it," he claimed. "I want the public to understand that we are following the rules and they were not".

 

He said that the wins had shown respect to the Bolt riders in the past and there had never been a problem. They were all trying to make a living for their families. 

 

They just wanted Bolt to wait for customers a little bit away from the win rank.

 

He said that the CCTV put online only showed part of the trouble. He intended to get the full tape and take it along with the recovered weapons to the police and report the incident.

 

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[2baht]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

"They started it,"

........................it were'nt me! ????

[Gottfrid]

Boys will be boys

[Sqoop]

Some of those win riders are really nuts. I took a win from central and the guy rode like he was at the track. I asked him to slow down and he laughed. So if you want win from central and they call the guys name, "odd odd odd" be careful. It seem like it's just 1 in 20 that is crazy. 

[PJ71]

Children!

[Screaming]

It is insane to get on a motorbike in Thailand as a rider or passenger.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He said that the CCTV put online only showed part of the trouble. He intended to get the full tape and take it along with the recovered weapons to the police and report the incident.

ya sure you will. 

[2baht]

1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

Boys will be boys

Shame they will never be men!

[2baht]

1 hour ago, PJ71 said:

Children!

     Eternally!

[gargamon]

46 minutes ago, Screaming said:

It is insane to get on a motorbike in Thailand as a rider or passenger.

Go hide under your bed. There's danger everywhere. 

[BostonRob2]

1 hour ago, Screaming said:

It is insane to get on a motorbike in Thailand as a rider or passenger.

 I'll grant you that riding a bike in Thailand should only be done by good riders and there are many deaths.

 

But since I started working for TV/AN in 2016 I have translated 20,000 stories from the Thai press and IIRC not a single one involved a fatality on a "win".

 

They provide a great service here in Bangkok, the last thing they and the public needed was Bolt and Grab who are largely unregulated.

 

Rooster

[Orinoco]

2 hours ago, Screaming said:

It is insane to get on a motorbike in Thailand as a rider or passenger.

23 years, not gone mad yet.

Please come out from under the pillow. 

 

[ignore it]

Sure would be a shame if the customer was a foreign tic tok influencer with a million followers documenting their vacation in Thailand.

 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Injured in the melee were three wins.

Three Wins, three losses and two draws.

Replay next Saturday for the two draws.

[Tarteso]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai Rath went to Pattaya to investigate

What about install a permanent office in Pattaya?

[Leaver]

 

It's always interesting to see how basic market forces are applied in Pattaya / Thailand.  

[Leaver]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Anan said that he was waiting for a customer a little away from the rank when three Bolt riders arrived on three bikes.

 

He asked them to follow the accepted rules and wait for customers a little away from the rank to avoid any trouble. 

 

But they were belligerent and demanded why they could not wait there. 

 

"Accepted rules" are not laws. 

 

The whole reason Bolt is successful here is because  it does not follow "accepted rules." 

[smedly]

try finding one of these so called taxi's actually sober after 12am and I am serious. I see them sitting drinking at their ranks throughout the evening - I use taxi's to get home from a night out as I prefer to leave my vehicle at home when drinking, it really is shocking how many of these riders are drunker than I am in the small hours - I have a few reliable guys that I will call by phone to come to a location and take me home - they never drink - I even have a rider that is already drinking at 7pm at my condo - I am going out and they think it is ok to be drinking - I refuse to take a ride with this particular rider because they are already well oiled when I am going out.

 

as for the battles that go on between win and bolt - there is a simple explanation - with bolt we have a defined fare that is generally much cheaper than the rip off win riders - they don't like that - they don't like the fact that if they were all working for bolt they would not be able to rip people off - that is the problem right there.

[kidneyw]

In the US you have the Bloods and the Crips.

Thailand has the Win and the Bolt.

[NanLaew]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He asked them to follow the accepted rules and wait for customers a little away from the rank to avoid any trouble. 

I recall when these win first hit the Pattaya streets and pegged out their unofficial 'taxi ranks'. Woe betide anyone who they perceived was parked too close to their pitch. Lolling about on plastic chairs, whistling and clapping at anyone walking within sight and shouting abuse when waved away.

 

Looks like the vermin persists.

[OneMoreFarang]

6 hours ago, Screaming said:

It is insane to get on a motorbike in Thailand as a rider or passenger.

And the alternative is to spent hours in traffic in a car. Insane! 

[OneMoreFarang]

In Phnom Penh I always use the PassApp for any vehicle, anywhere.

 

I.e. maybe I am at the end of one of those entertainment streets and lots of TukTuks demand outrageous prices.

Open PassApp, select the vehicle type, point on a map where you want to go and a minute later one of those TukTuks from the corner will come and drive like with a meter. No hassle, just great service.

Someone should introduce that service in Thailand. Everybody would love it - except the scammers. 

[Leaver]

19 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Someone should introduce that service in Thailand.

 

They have, it's called Bolt. 

[steven100]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

try finding one of these so called taxi's actually sober after 12am and I am serious. I see them sitting drinking at their ranks throughout the evening - I use taxi's to get home from a night out as I prefer to leave my vehicle at home when drinking, it really is shocking how many of these riders are drunker than I am in the small hours - I have a few reliable guys that I will call by phone to come to a location and take me home - they never drink - I even have a rider that is already drinking at 7pm at my condo - I am going out and they think it is ok to be drinking - I refuse to take a ride with this particular rider because they are already well oiled when I am going out.

 

as for the battles that go on between win and bolt - there is a simple explanation - with bolt we have a defined fare that is generally much cheaper than the rip off win riders - they don't like that - they don't like the fact that if they were all working for bolt they would not be able to rip people off - that is the problem right there.

I agree on why they have their fights .....  most of these guys are drug users, heavy gamblers in debt, heavy drinkers, crims who have police files against them, guys who can't get a regular job at a factory or workshop because of their past history.   Having said that, there are one or two who are clean and do it to earn extra cash.    I try to give them all a wide birth but unfortunately one has to use them occasionally.  I wouldn't trust them as I don't any thai.

[OneMoreFarang]

6 minutes ago, Leaver said:

They have, it's called Bolt. 

They would have it if all the Win riders were also Bolt riders.

Because in Cambodia that seemed to be the case. It seems all TukTuks used that app. They still tried to get passengers in the traditional way on the street corners. But the didn't complain when I was on that street corner and then they use the app with very reasonable prices.

Last time I used that is was pre-Covid. I don't know about now. But at that time it was great. 

[Leaver]

10 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

They would have it if all the Win riders were also Bolt riders.

Because in Cambodia that seemed to be the case. It seems all TukTuks used that app. They still tried to get passengers in the traditional way on the street corners. But the didn't complain when I was on that street corner and then they use the app with very reasonable prices.

Last time I used that is was pre-Covid. I don't know about now. But at that time it was great. 

 

It's my understanding that Win riders can also be on the Bolt app.  If they accept a Bolt job, they lose their position in the Win queue at their rank, but they can still be on Bolt. 

 

Post covid, does anyone know what these Win riders are paying for your average location rank?