Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Vice-Governor Dr Sommai Preechasilpa, along with a variety of officials, mainly from the Transport and Marine Departments, gave the briefings and took questions.
The meeting was less combative than previous ones, with Australian Honorary Consul Larry Cunningham praising Phuket Police for their swift action in catching the killers of travel agent Michelle Smith, and he and his British counterpart Martin Carpenter delivering complimentary reviews of the OrBorJor hospital.
German Honorary Consul Dirk Naumann, one of the staunchest critics of official inaction, praised Gov Tri’s team for taking action to correct the chaos in the island’s transport sector, though he wondered why previous governors had been unable to make any headway.
Teerayut Prasertpol, chief of the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), and Phuriphat Teerakulpisut, the Director of the Marine Department, explained the current status of campaigns to bring order to taxis and jet-skis.
Mr Phuripat said that the number of registered jet-skis had increased from 219 eight years ago to 286 now.
Their activities are restricted to only five beaches: Kata, Karon, Patong, Kamala and Bang Tao, only. All of them, he said, are covered by damage insurance of up to B50,000, so that tourists will not have to pay for repairs if they damage a jet-ski.
Mr Teerayut said that the process to register illegal “black-plate” taxis was continuing. Currently 1,277 applications for conversion to green plates are in process, while another 1,338 are in the queue.
He noted that some black taxis do not qualify for conversion because their engines do not meet minimum capacity rules of 1,500cc or because the drivers are still making payments to the bank. (Banks generally do not allow private cars bought with loans to be used as taxis.)
One of the consuls asked why the black taxis could not be reregistered as metre taxis. An official of the Transport Department said that Phuket’s economy is not like that of Bangkok, and there is not enough demand for metre taxis.
As a result, black taxis will be converted only to green-plate taxis.
Mr Teerayut said, “We will provide English lessons to taxi groups. After drivers have been registered, they must wear neat clothes such as T-shirts, long pants and shoes. The cars they use must have their name in Thai and English on the doors, along with a sticker bearing the number of the Transport Department complaints hotline.
He added that once the black-to-green conversions are complete, his department will set about bringing order to the motorbike taxis and tuk-tuks.
The Transport Department has recommended a price structure for fares to and from the major centres of the island. Once these are agreed they will be displayed inside every green-plate taxi.