The revived push to eradicate illegal taxis came at a campaign launch and assembly of officers at the airport late yesterday (Feb 21), led by Pol Col Phisit Sawatthaworn, Commander of Tourist Police Division 2, along with Pol Lt Col Ekkachai Siri of Tourist Police Division 3.
Joining the campaign launch were officers from Phuket Provincial Police, Phuket Immigration, Phuket Vice Governor Adul Chuthong, officials from the Phuket Provincial Administrative Office (PPAO), senior officials from Airports of Thailand Phuket branch (AoT Phuket) and from the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO).
Present in person for the campaign launch were Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Sinlert Sukhum and PLTO Chief Adcha Buachan.
The campaign launch by Tourist Police came one week after officers from the PLTO began inspecting taxi operators at Phuket International Airport last Thursday (Feb 15).
The inspections came before the PLTO had publicly announced that three new taxi app operators had become legal to operate in Thailand, namely: TADA, Maxim and Lineman.
The three newly approved taxi app operators brought to 11 the total number of taxi app services now deemed legal in Thailand: Hello Phuket, Bonku, Asia Cab, Bolt, Grab, Robinhood, AirAsia Super App, InDrive, TADA, Maxim and Lineman.
The aim of the checks was to jointly investigate the illegal use of private cars to transport passengers, which the PLTO called “black plate” operators, the PLTO explained last week.
“Phuket is important, about 50,000 people arriving in Phuket via the airport every day,” said a release issued by the Tourist Police announcing the campaign launch yesterday.
“There are many Thai and foreign tourists. To take care of safety and facilitate tourists in every aspec, Tourist Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Saksira Phueakum has ordered all Tourist Police stations to continue to integrate forces with local agencies to jointly crack down on illegal hire vehicles, especially in main tourist cities,” the release added.