The statement issued this week by AoT Phuket claiming security reasons as the need for “approved” drivers only to serve passengers at the airport was as embarrassing as it could get. No one believes that.
Worse, the fact that the statement did not even mention the multi-million-baht concessions AoT has provided to selected taxi “co-operatives” for exclusive rights to serve passengers at the airport screams loudly as to what AoT does not even want mentioned in public.
On the security angle, for some reason AoT believes it needs to enforce greater security measures than major international airports such as London Heathrow, where all drivers are allowed to enter airport grounds.
The AoT security-reasons claim also plainly contradicted the fact the general members of the public can drive their vehicles onto Phuket airport grounds.
AoT just can’t seem to make their mind up, except for the fact they want to maintain their stranglehold on the money to be made on taxi services provided to tourists arriving in the country via Phuket airport.
The statement was issued in response to the challenge laid down by Bolt taxi driver Suriya Thongsamak, who simply asked for officials to explain exactly which taxis may pick up tourists at the airport.
So strong is the influence of the relationship between AoT and the ‘airport taxi groups’ that officials would not even do that. They left it to AoT to respond to, and AoT wouldn’t even answer the question without some ‘fancy dancing’ sidestepping.
The response by AoT was so inadequate, it wasn’t even pathetic: it was outright shameful. If anyone hadn’t noticed, the statement by its very nature dismissed entirely the need for taxi drivers to register with Department of Land Transport if they want to serve tourists at the airport. Apparently the enforced registration of taxi drivers throughout the country which has so many times proved instrumental for police in tracking down suspects for rape, assault and other crimes, is just not good enough for AoT. They will maintain their own list of “approved” drivers , thank you very much.
Yet probably the most embarrassing aspect of the statement by AoT was how much it insulted the very tourists Thailand is hoping to attract to spend money in the country to help support the economy.
The tourists involved in the incident that sparked Mr Suriya’s challenge had already made their choice. They had ordered their taxi through an app in order to avoid the taxi drivers at the airport. Being stopped and, albeit politely, ordered to exit the van by a man in a military-looking uniform was their first experience in Thailand after leaving the airport.
The incident left a clear impression on the two young tourists. They chose to drag their luggage to the main road in front of the airport to order another taxi from there instead of using the ‘mandated’ taxi drivers.
But it is not just these tourists AoT is insulting. It is all the other potential tourists who, just like the two Mr Suriya was stopped from transporting, use the internet and already know about the taxi situation at Phuket airport.
And this comes just weeks after four young Israeli women proved exactly the same thing after their experience at Ratsada Pier.
It also comes after the very tourists Thailand is trying to lure spent the past two years being forced to live most of their lives online. If Thailand tourism figures were concerned about a poor image being presented to the world through social media before 2020, today in a post-COVID world the potential impact for bad news to spread online has increased exponentially.
AoT and those working to support the exclusive taxi rights at Phuket airport just do not want to learn. We all know why. Yet, the ongoing concession agreement in the end may end up costing Phuket, and the country, a whole lot more than a handful of individuals will make.
Maybe officials higher up, and not benefiting from the AoT money-making taxi scheme, might want to consider that.