Uber says Thai govt agrees to study ridesharing benefits

[webfact]

Uber says govt agrees to study ridesharing benefits
By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Uber claimed on Monday that the government had agreed to have an independent third party carry out a study of the benefits from ridesharing.

 

Amy Kunrojpanya, director of Policy and Communications for Uber in Asia Pacific, made the claim in a press statement after she was given an opportunity to meet representatives of the Land Transport Department and the Transport Ministry.

 

“Today, we’d like to thank the Ministry of Transport for the opportunity to talk about ridesharing and how technology can play a role in ensuring safe and reliable transportation,” the director said.

 

She said at the meeting, Uber urged the government to amend the existing Motor Vehicle Act so that it allows for ridesharing in Thailand. 

 

“Uber is pleased that the government agreed to conducting independent third party research into ridesharing regulations and the benefits they bring to Thailand, as they have in so many other countries in the region,” Amy said.

 

She said the government agreed that the study would take six to 12 months. 

 

“We look forward to contributions to the study and hope for a speedy resolution,” Amy added in the statement.

 

“We remain committed to our mission of providing reliable transportation for everyone and will continue to serve Thai riders, drivers and cities.”

 

The meeting was held after the Land Transport Department stepped up crackdowns on Uber drivers on grounds that they were violating the law by using non-registered vehicles as taxis.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309724

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-21

[Tracyb]

Happy to hear that UBER will continue to serve customers in Thailand.  We use them every time we land at BKK. ( five times in the last six months) Why?  We always pay the same rate each time we go to our condo in the city, we no longer have to deal with "adjusted" meters, the Uber drivers are courteous and safe drivers, and the cars are clean.  Gone are the days of intoxicated or drug addled drivers demanding extra $$ for luggage while providing poor service in sub standard vehicles while traveling at unsafe speeds on the road passing other vehicles in an unsafe manner while using their cell phones for texts and conversations.  Oh, and Uber drivers never refuse a customer!  The Uber drivers are also Thai citizens working hard trying to make a living.  We don't feel we're taking anything away from cadre of taxi drivers, we're just choosing what we believe is the safer path.

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Tracyb
added info

[sungod]

Grab bike was great, far superior to the win guys, didn't take long to close it down.

[Happyman58]

The object here by the study is to see how much the government can make out of it

[Prbkk]

Uber is ok: clean cars, not smelly, drivers don't drive crazy, no arguments about destinations or fares, cashless. 

[hobz]

1 hour ago, Tracyb said:

Happy to hear that UBER will continue to serve customers in Thailand.  We use them every time we land at BKK. ( five times in the last six months) Why?  We always pay the same rate each time we go to our condo in the city, we no longer have to deal with "adjusted" meters, the Uber drivers are courteous and safe drivers, and the cars are clean.  Gone are the days of intoxicated or drug addled drivers demanding extra $$ for luggage while providing poor service in sub standard vehicles while traveling at unsafe speeds on the road passing other vehicles in an unsafe manner while using their cell phones for texts and conversations.  Oh, and Uber drivers never refuse a customer!  The Uber drivers are also Thai citizens working hard trying to make a living.  We don't feel we're taking anything away from cadre of taxi drivers, we're just choosing what we believe is the safer path.

 

Amen, In Chiang Mai we don't even have metered taxis, that's why Uber is totally killing it here and the taxi mafia are now panicking and witchhunting normal Thai people that happen to drop off foreign friends at the airport. 

 

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

BANGKOK: -- Uber claimed on Monday that the government had agreed to have an independent third party carry out a study of the benefits from ridesharing.

 

Red and yellow shirt is taken so what color can we pick out for the taxi driver party. They will not silently go off into the good night. 

[rkidlad]

If the governemnt can't offer or won't allow a safe, reliable and reasonably priced taxi service, a market will open. Supply and demand. Simple business 101. 

[Moonmoon]

Good news for tourist n passengers who need a good, honest reliable ride.

[outsider]

Thailand 0.4, If ride-sharing services are banned. Backward and primitive.

[webfact]

Ministry asks Uber to stop services temporarily pending 6-12 months study

 

 

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Transport has asked Uber Thailand to halt its taxi service temporarily pending a comparative study of the taxi service via mobile applications in other countries.

 

The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Somsak Hommuang said the ministry is in the process of hiring an experienced company to conduct study of the use of  mobile technology in calling taxi service.

 

He said the ministry needs to know everything from the standards of vehicles to be used, supervision of drivers, service users, as well as taxation with comparison with services in other countries which such services are in operation, such as in Malaysia and Singapore.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ministry-asks-uber-stop-services-temporarily-pending-6-12-months-study/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-03-21

 

[clockman]

The mafia getting there nosed pushed. Have not moved with the times.?

[clockman]

4 hours ago, hobz said:

Amen, In Chiang Mai we don't even have metered taxis, that's why Uber is totally killing it here and the taxi mafia are now panicking and witchhunting normal Thai people that happen to drop off foreign friends at the airport. 

 

The red taxis have been mafia run for more than 20 years.

[11223344]

Study... how much you give us?? How much?

 

You let regular people earn money, you bad bad!! It takes money from hard working government (mafia)

[balo]

This will not be legal in Thailand , too many angry taxi drivers who refuse to use the meter. 

[dukeandduke]

43 minutes ago, balo said:

This will not be legal in Thailand , too many angry taxi drivers who refuse to use the meter. 

Has the government ever addressed why they allow "metered" taxis to drive meter-less?  I hope that Uber brought that up.  Go Uber.

[Chip Allen]

When I first came to Thailand in 1998, I was impressed with the ease of taxi service as compared with places like the Dominican Republic where every taxi ride is a hassle with the driver. Now, taxi service in Bangkok has deteriorated to the same level. Many drivers simply refuse to take me where I need to go or want to charge me USA prices. Uber and GrabTaxi are market forces responding to an intolerable transportation situation where the taxi driver wants to dictate terms to the customer.

[Big Daddy]

In Chiang Mai, Uber means door-to-door service without negotiation or trying to change the price because the driver gets lost or some other excuse.
One may question how anyone can "study" the effects of Uber by suspending the service? Maybe a better idea would be to "study" the red buses, taxis and their drivers instead? Maybe a simple poll of Thais, expats and tourists would be more revealing...


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[hobz]

2 hours ago, Big Daddy said:

In Chiang Mai, Uber means door-to-door service without negotiation or trying to change the price because the driver gets lost or some other excuse.
One may question how anyone can "study" the effects of Uber by suspending the service? Maybe a better idea would be to "study" the red buses, taxis and their drivers instead? Maybe a simple poll of Thais, expats and tourists would be more revealing...


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

You really think they care about some study? The people running things here have zero interest in anything but grabbing as much money as possible, this is more a business deal negotiation than anything else, uber has stepped on their turf, now the government are sizing uber up and trying to figure out how to deal with them in the way that gives the most money possible.

They have to weigh in what leverage they can put up against uber. They have to consider the power of the taxi "lobby". What is best for the people, or tourists, is the least of their problems.

I think they might realize that it's going to be hard to get rid of uber. 

The biggest problem is that the taxi "lobby" will become more and more desperate and will start assaulting drivers more and more. Completely innocent thais will get assaulted when the taxi "lobby" mistakes them for being uber drivers because they give a ride to their foreign friends. Real uber drivers will get assaulted. Things will get heated. The government will do nothing but collect money from taxi "lobby" in form of donations and from uber in form of increased fines.

Passengers will be harassed for taking uber to certain spots where the taxi "lobby" illegally park. Uber drivers will be reluctant to go to these spots and will beg customers to walk a little bit. 

All in all it's a sad situation.

[Thechook]

Study what?  I think it is already well known that Uber provides a far better service for less.

[sjaak327]

13 hours ago, rkidlad said:

If the governemnt can't offer or won't allow a safe, reliable and reasonably priced taxi service, a market will open. Supply and demand. Simple business 101. 

Such a service already exists.... or wait, exept for reasonably priced, as the current service is ridiculously cheap. Maybe that's the Uber hype, people like to pay more to get from A to B.

 

Technology, hype word for a simple transportation service, at least the existing one works without a need for a data connection.

Edited March 21, 2017 by sjaak327

[Get Real]

13 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

Red and yellow shirt is taken so what color can we pick out for the taxi driver party. They will not silently go off into the good night. 

That´s right! The question is who is going to come out as a leader for them in their crusade? As we all know, there is nobody lifting a finger if they are not told by the great leader of all the secondary small things in the country.

[beautifulthailand99]

It will be very easy to identify some Uber drivers and then their cars get burnt or worse - meaning that it will be very difficult to recruit drivers. Used them a lot in CM this January and they were absurdly cheap. Talking to drivers most were new , smart , young (and half female) - moonlighting in their own cars - and they were making very little money so would try it out say for a month and then get a new schmuck to try it out - rinse and repeat. It was a no-brainer to use them over the red song-thaews and I figured it wouldn't be long befoe the push back - which I guess is coming. As others have said the government getting involved is to see how much they can trouser. The local mafia will have operational control over their patches so if the government want to let Uber they will have to take them head on and it will be nasty. As This is Thailand I suspect like Carlberg in days of yore they will give up on Thailand as it's in the too difficult to do box - and then it will b back to frustrating business as usual.....

[hobz]

4 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

It will be very easy to identify some Uber drivers and then their cars get burnt or worse - meaning that it will be very difficult to recruit drivers.

Yes, you're right. But it's also easy to mistake some innocent thai dropping of foreign friends somewhere for being an uber driver. Assault someone innocent and their vehicle and you might get severe punishment under law....

If there only was law and order in Thailand that is.....

 

[rkidlad]

7 hours ago, sjaak327 said:

Such a service already exists.... or wait, exept for reasonably priced, as the current service is ridiculously cheap. Maybe that's the Uber hype, people like to pay more to get from A to B.

 

Technology, hype word for a simple transportation service, at least the existing one works without a need for a data connection.

Okay, if you say so. Tell everyone else and Uber and Grab, etc, will be out of business in a week.

 

Thanks for telling people about 'their' experiences. 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, Get Real said:

That´s right! The question is who is going to come out as a leader for them in their crusade? As we all know, there is nobody lifting a finger if they are not told by the great leader of all the secondary small things in the country.

Your right they do need a leader.

[elgordo38]

22 hours ago, rkidlad said:

If the governemnt can't offer or won't allow a safe, reliable and reasonably priced taxi service, a market will open. Supply and demand. Simple business 101. 

In theory sounds good but then this is Thailand. 

[beautifulthailand99]

6 hours ago, hobz said:

Yes, you're right. But it's also easy to mistake some innocent thai dropping of foreign friends somewhere for being an uber driver. Assault someone innocent and their vehicle and you might get severe punishment under law....

If there only was law and order in Thailand that is.....

 

the nice  , charming young folk that I had the pleasure of driving with (and adding a small tip to help out) are not the sort of folk that would be handy with a baseball bat . Yes and you're absolutely right - others will be targeted like you say.  Rule of Law - Thailand - there's a joke ------ I remember being on the Bangkok - Hua Hin bus with my wife and were chatting to a US newbie (lawyer) who was visiting for the first time. The air con on  the bus was turned down so everybody was getting a bit sticky - he asked us if it would be ok to ask the driver to turn it up - my wife's instinctive reaction was to laugh. He said why are you laughing - we said you'll find out soon enough. He managed to make himself understood to the driver and the air was turned up and he sat down. Everyone around him thanked hm and I was glad he had made the effort as the bus got cooler - ---for around 5 minutes. Then back to their parsimonous money saving kineeio air. In said welcome to Thailand - cannot - mai dai !

 

The answer to many questions in Thailand is "cannot" - to which the obvious question is "why" to which the answer is of course "cannot".

[sjaak327]

4 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Okay, if you say so. Tell everyone else and Uber and Grab, etc, will be out of business in a week.

 

Thanks for telling people about 'their' experiences. 

It seems their failure to comply with certain regulations will do that anyway. I am not telling anything, you asked for a service that already exists for decades here in Bangkok. And it works by flagging a taxi, call it low tech, love simple services.

[rkidlad]

Just now, sjaak327 said:

It seems their failure to comply with certain regulations will do that anyway. I am not telling anything, you asked for a service that already exists for decades here in Bangkok. And it works by flagging a taxi, call it low tech, love simple services.

Yes, flagging a taxi works. What happens after that can be anyone's guess. You like simple services and some people like peace of mind. There's a market for the latter so let it be.