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Grab Bike and Uber MOTO motorcycle taxi services ordered to stop operations


webfact

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Funny how they just discovered that their cease to continue operations order was ignored and that they will now start to crackdown on them. Why aren't they cracking down on those other supposedly legal vested drivers that scam and con every foreigners with jacked rates in Bangkok. They can't even enforce their own preferred drivers yet here they want to crackdown on others for competing.

How many illegal Motorbike taxis do you think are scamming tourists?

How many tourists do you think actually try using motorbike taxis?

My guess for question 2 would be very few tourists use motorbike taxis.

And you said "supposedly legal vested drivers that scam and con every foreigners with jacked rates in Bangkok" What jacked rates for foreigners?

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Many motorcycle stalls are control by thugs/police. Hence to even obtain a vest for high traffic location such as Thonglor, one would have to fork out as much as 300,000 baht. There was a news article about this couple years ago.

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"Thailand is protecting it's sovereignty, and staying with tradition while protecting those drivers already licensed.

Guests in a country have no right to complain and all it does is make Thai citizens angry especially the Immigration Officers who decides who gets a visa and a visa extension."

coffee1.gif i am trying to work out if OP is a

  • thaier than Thai farang
  • or a motorcycle driver
  • or a immigration officer
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Stoneage behavior.

It isn't stoneage behavior. Those companies like to globalize all taxi businesses all over the world to their only benefits.

In my home country Switzerland, they face the same legal charges now (was on TV), because they take up to 30% of commission of the taxi-fare, don't pay correct taxes & fees to the government and use drivers who don't have any taxi license and cars without taxi meters.

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the government , any government should not be involved with any private venture much less the taxi business . any time a government agency mandates who can do what for who...... the wheel does not turn unless greased . the taxing ,licensing,and safety are the only areas they should be concerned with . the sale of vests , permits , badges , public locations , and" permission" to do business is a third world mentality run amok . when the people in power control business the said business becomes their second income . these two services are denied because of "fairness" to government drivers ? not a chance , the right amount of money was not put in the correct hand ...... the once perfect vacation destination called Venezuela is living proof of corrupt officials destroying a entire country. the country has unheard of earth bound wealth , and yet the country's people cannot afford toilet paper . none of the wealth collected thru the sale of their natural resources was or is ever been accounted for . they also have a quasi democratic military government . go figure .

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Stoneage behavior.

It isn't stoneage behavior. Those companies like to globalize all taxi businesses all over the world to their only benefits.

In my home country Switzerland, they face the same legal charges now (was on TV), because they take up to 30% of commission of the taxi-fare, don't pay correct taxes & fees to the government and use drivers who don't have any taxi license and cars without taxi meters.

and you think Thailand's taxis pay the correct taxes ? you are smoking some good dope or are living in a Pollyanna world , hmmm.... maybe both .

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In the County court, Melbourne Australia today 18 May at 11.30 a.m UBER won thier appeal to operate. The taxi directorate was ordered to pay all costs. This is a good thing as they provide a far better service and the taxi industry will have to clean up its act dramatically. Cleaning thier vehicles, taking a shower, learning English, dropping the rude arrogant attitude and charging a reasonable fare will be a start. Thais should go down the same path but with the taxi mafia the courts may get stacked against them.

".....charging a reasonable fare will be a start"

Taxi fares in Oz are set by regulation, as are vehicle age, equipment and insurance standards, and penalties are high for non-compliance. Drivers also have to have an operating authority, which requires regular medicals, driving history and criminal history checks.

When UBER decides that demand is high, the double, triple or more their prices. And as they reduce profitability for operating a cab, high demand periods will occur more frequently. What are you going to do when UBER decides your normally $50 fare is now $300, call a cab? I hope he tells you to take a hike, but of course, that would be illegal under a regulated industry.

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"The two providers may be considered as criminal influential figures for illegally operating public transport services, he added."

It was not too long ago it surfaced that criminal influential untouchables extorted money from the orange drivers for years. Surprisingly nobody heard of those guys again…

Now that they had a chance to clean up this section of public transport and replace it with reliable and fair priced services, they cry foul. No surprise when greed and corruption is considered a tradition.

Btw- is isn't it time for a new expensive "Investors Welcome" campaign?

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Uber depends on exact addresses to work....This is a deal killer for most non-Thais,

who try a make sense of the Thai address system....

Plus many places Taxis are very cheap...

I dont ever see Uber being more than a backwater curiosity in Thailand...

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Uber depends on exact addresses to work....This is deal killer for most non-Thais,

who try a make sense of the Thai address system....

Plus many places Taxis are very cheap...

I dont ever see Uber being more than a backwater curiosity in Thailand...

And I guess "in front of the 7-11" isn't good enough.

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All the nice comments about Uber aside, they are aggressively trying to get a big market share. Hence their pricing is reasonable and their service is outstanding.

The minute that Uber has a major market share established, this will all change, of course. This is just an investment phase to try to control the market. I agree with Thai government on this.

Like in China where they gave drivers generous commissions and hand outs first to lure them in and later stopped that and charged drivers for a percentage, it is called economics.

Let it be.

If that happens, then they leave the door open for GOOBER taxi services to do the same thing to them.

Fair competition is a good thing, market disruption is a good things and consumers will decide who wins in the end.

If we just let one group have the market to themselves then we fail to progress and service deteriorates.

Let UBER put taxi Drivers out of a job. They are generally hopeless.

This simply ignores the basic economics pointed out by luckyman.

No question that fair competition is a good thing in any market. But the likes of Uber, Amazon, and their ilk are anything but fair. There are numerous articles discussing the economics of these enterprises, and their being nothing like traditional capitalism. The fact that these companies are economically driven by investment, as opposed to sales profit, they disrupt the traditional model in a way that ultimately harms the free market.

Simply put, they are able to use the tens of millions invested by venture capitalists to create an unfair competitive edge in the market place, dislodging competitors who must make a profit on sales (or service). Ultimately, this is not fair competition. In the end, these companies will be forced to return to a traditional profit model, at which time their pricing will need to reflect traditional sales and profits. But by then, their competition will have already be liquidated, allowing them to price their products and services at less than competitive rates.

As for myself, I cannot imagine using Uber or Grab, when I can literally walk 30 feet and instantly engage a motocy or taxi at rates I find reasonable with service I find reasonable.

All that said, I am perfectly happy to let Uber and Grab enter the marketplace on equal footing, especially since some of their patrons feel that they offer superior service.

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... "traditional motorcycle taxi services which are governed by rules laid down by the National Council for Peace and Order" ... rules? What rules!

Translation: Motorcycle taxis are run by some sort of mafia and they don't like it when there's competition. Doesn't really matter if it's government mafia or regular - it's the same everywhere, somebody is making money off of allowing others to be a taxi.

I love that Thai authorities are so naive about this - don't they read the news? Uber has legal trouble everywhere they go, and it's always for the same exact reason: Some incumbent lobby which benefits from the current, significantly worse taxi scheme, doesn't like it. Be it the NY licensing scam, protected workers in Paris, or whatever is going on in China, Uber is fighting uphill battles everywhere. And they're winning most of the time. I am sure in Thailand they'll eventually pay off the right people enough to make it all go away.

Took my first Uber in Bangkok recently, it was awesome. It was late and we were in a popular tourist spot and nobody would take us for a fair rate and/or with meter. Uber took 1 minute to arrive, and got us to our destination for all of 71 baht, and I didn't even have to produce a wallet, wait for change, etc - just get out of the car. The car was also nicer than most taxis.

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To understand the problem a person has to *follow the money*!

Who is getting their cut and who is unhappy.

Progress, free economy, competition, or what is good for the consumer, are not even a consideration.

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UBER in Saigon is great. Somehow Vietnam does not view them as an attack on their sovereignty. Tax them, regulate them sure .... but what happened to Thailand's Digital Economy goals? Such a coarse response feels of protectionism for hire.

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Why not give them the chance to get that special driverslicense (which allows one to drive against traffic) and the vest?

If they obey all the rules they deserve a fair chance on the market.

This has nothing to do with "a fair chance" and all to do with maintaining status quo and not taking money/power from the present system. Once again, Thailand choses corruption over a modern future.

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Uber depends on exact addresses to work....This is a deal killer for most non-Thais,

who try a make sense of the Thai address system....

Plus many places Taxis are very cheap...

I dont ever see Uber being more than a backwater curiosity in Thailand...

what a joke! Can enter an address in Thai or English and the uber driver uses GpS . Jeez. Some folk!
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Why not give them the chance to get that special driverslicense (which allows one to drive against traffic) and the vest?

If they obey all the rules they deserve a fair chance on the market.

You are perfectly correct but the police, army don't get money out of it.

He explained that motorcycle taxi drivers must have a special license, a vest, an ID card and their vehicles must be registered for use in public transport services.

The one time fee to apply is 7000 Baht, the jacket is 1500 Baht and 1000 Baht per month forever. With Grab and Uber the army and police will loose that money. Any way the money paid by the normal motorcycle taxi drivers to the police/army is protection money.

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If thailand had brought it's taxi service into line & up to date then competition would not be a threat.

problem as always is greed & corruption, greedy taxi companies hiring out the good as scrap cars to low income drivers & police & government officials gaining income from flexible rules that slowly are burying thailand politically & financially ...

Will only get worse as greed & lies are number 1 , no logic, no justice, no common sense & no care ...

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unfair to the traditional motorcycle taxi services!

Yeah, the competition would all but destroy the "traditional MC Taxi Services"...their services being all to well known...

The Public has once again been given the patronizing treatment by the current government...

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The only reason for that is because taxi motorbikes are undercover cops and the ones that are motorbike taxi are the biggest thieves out they over charge you they are rude and they don't know where there going so I'd say bring Uber in and get rid of the motorcycle taxi because they are corrupt

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... "traditional motorcycle taxi services which are governed by rules laid down by the National Council for Peace and Order" ... rules? What rules!

Wait ... they're looking for them ! Sa kroo na khap !

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