“We want to be in a regulated environment, a world where, in the future, this sort of business model will exist and will thrive,” said the Korean-American who became Uber’s general manager for Southeast Asia in February in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post.
Mr Park wasn’t around in November when the Department of Land Transport (DLT) declared Uber illegal in Thailand. But it’s now his job to convince regulators that taxi rules used to outlaw the technology start-up are antiquated and in need of update.
“We are trying to force a square peg into a round hole,” he said. “When these regulations were written, this business model didn't exist.”
The DLT made headlines late last year by banning the company and then fining a handful of drivers several thousand baht. But after the new year, the crackdown was forgotten, talk of the ride-matching app’s illegality disappeared, and drivers were signed up with increasing frequency.
Uber Thailand’s general manager Waenyod Wongtrangarn said since it launched in Thailand in April 2014, it has recorded 1.96 million services requested.
“You can’t say either way,” Mr Park said when asked if Uber was illegal under current laws. “It’s pretty grey.”
One reason the tempest may have dissipated was Uber quickly launched behind-the-scenes negotiations with transport regulators on a new law that would recognise smartphone-based ride-sharing services as a regulated industry.
Negotiations have intensified under Mr Park, with the most recent talks occurring in recent weeks, he said. Uber and the DLT are discussing a framework to legalise ride-sharing services, similar to one adopted in May by transport regulators in the Philippines.
The Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Bureau memorandum permits Uber, GrabTaxi and other app-based transport services if they secure a franchise and comply with documentary requirements. It also requires operators to adorn their cars with distinctive markings, limit passengers to seven and issue receipts.
“The specific regulations will look different here,” Mr Park said. “It’s not like we’re saying ‘here’s the Philippines model’ and trying to enforce that. What the Thai and Philippine governments want and how they view their transportation networks may be different.”
While Mr Park may see the Philippine model as a template for Southeast Asia, it’s not certain it will even hold up there. A House of Representatives committee is considering overruling the agency and banning the service until lawmakers pass new, formal laws.
“It’s a transition,” he said of the Philippines situation. “We have to work with the government to make sure we are in line with [its new requirements]. When you take a big business that has been operating for a while and you introduce a new set of regulations, it takes a little bit of time.”
Mr Park has his hands full elsewhere.
In Indonesia, Uber has come under attack for establishing itself as a foreign-owned e-commerce company, which allows it to forgo obtaining a taxi licence and complying with tax rules.
In Malaysia, where Mr Park is engaged in negotiations similar to those in Bangkok, the chairman of the Land Public Transport Commission told The Sun newspaper that Uber “is offering the kind of service we cannot legalise”.
In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City has continued its crackdown on “illegal” Uber drivers, collecting US$31,000 in fines already this year. Mr Park declined to discuss the Vietnamese developments.
Part of the problem for Uber is the widespread perception that the company barges into new markets and asks permission to do so afterwards. It’s viewed by some as a cowboy operating high-tech “gypsy cabs” and trying to privatise taxi services.
Mr Park rejected the suggestion that Uber’s perceived shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach was aimed at forcing Thailand’s government into approving a now-entrenched service.
“We are not trying to force the government into anything,” Mr Park said. “We are trying to have a proactive and productive dialogue into what the future looks like.”
In many ways, Uber has taken over traditional functions of transport regulators. It recruits, oversees background checks on and trains drivers in a classroom at its Asok headquarters in Bangkok. It eschews meters for home-grown GPS-based fare software, and it maintains its own “feedback loop” to monitor the satisfaction of both passengers and drivers. It also takes all responsibility for ensuring safety.
Mr Park said he would not be opposed to the government handling some of those chores.
“If there is an efficient, reliable and effective way for us to do these things working with government, I would love to talk to them about it,” he said. “But we would have to know it was good.”
Until then, Uber plans to keep the pedal to the metal in Thailand, which has ranked at or near the top of its fastest-growing markets since the launch of Uber Black in February last year, Mr Park said.
Since then, it has launched a seasonal Uber Black service in Phuket and the low-cost Uber X in Bangkok in October. The company next plans to bring its Uber Pool car-pooling service to the capital, allowing drivers to separately pick up four people headed in the same direction, with passengers splitting the fare.
“It’s very hard for me to imagine five years from now an Uber-like business model doesn’t exist in Thailand,” Mr Park said.
“I think public transport, the skytrain, all these things are important. I think taxis are important. But I don’t think we would have demand for this, or see it growing at the pace it is, if it wasn’t convenient and if people didn’t feel it was safe.”