Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan met with a selection of taxi driver representatives at the Damrongdharma Center (Provincial Ombudsman’s Office) to receive the formal complaint, submitted by Manatsanan Na Thalang, and hear complaints from the driver firsthand.
The key complaint was the use of personal cars as taxis in violation of the Land Transport Act (1979), Ms Manatsanan explained.
Legal taxi drivers were suffering because of people illegally using private cars as taxis, she said, adding that the drivers requested that the complaint be brought to the Phuket Governor’s attention so he could order the Phuket Land Transport office (PLTO) to take action.
Present at the meeting to represent the PLTO was Kornphithak Asanasuwan, who defended the PLTO’s action against illegal taxi drivers.
Every issue regarding taxi drivers that has been brought up has been met and resolved, Mr Kornphithak assured, according to an official report of the meeting.
A letter has been sent to the Department of Land Transport regarding issues such as the matter of registration and the large number of cars in Phuket being used as taxis, he added.
According to the Phuket Info Center, citing PLTO official statistics, as of Aug 31, 2023, there were 4,300 ‘green plate’ taxis registered in Phuket.
There were a further 6,800 “non-regular buses” (public service vehicles with no fixed route, meaning cars, vans and buses issued ‘yellow’ licence plates), as well as 600 metered taxis, 514 tuk-tuks and now 1,100 private vehicles permitted to provide taxi services through taxi apps.
However, Mr Kornphithak yesterday admitted that some people had been found using fake stickers to mark their private cars as legal ‘taxi app’ cars. All legally registered ‘taxi app’ cars must bear stickers issued by the PLTO to publicly identify the vehicle as legally registered to provide taxi services.
“If you find any, take a photo and contact the transportation office [PLTO] so they can check,” he said.
During the last fiscal year (Sept 30, 2022-Oct 1, 2023), the provincial transportation office had received more than 1,000 complaints about taxis and issued the full B2,000 fine and issued 90-day suspension of the driver’s licence in each case, Mr Kornphithak said.
“Every case in Phuket province will be like this, and proceed according to every law. This is for the benefit of the people of Phuket Province and is fair to all parties,” he said.
DOUBLE BARREL
Meanwhile, at a separate meeting held at the PLTO offices near Saphan Hin, local taxi drivers were warned of what behaviour was acceptable ahead of the upcoming tourism high season.
Present for that meeting was PLTO Chief Adcha Buachan.
Also present were Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Pol Col Jirasak Siemsak and Capt Pongsakorn Itsombat of the Phuket branch of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), which serves as the political arm of the Thai military.
Rounding out the meeting as intermediaries were Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Somprat Prabsongkram, who chaired the meeting, along with Subchacha Intharit, Director of the Phuket Damrongdharma Center, and Ratchadaphon Oin of the Phuket Tourism and Sports office.
Pol Col Jirasak made it clear that police will conduct strict random inspections of drivers.
Public transport vehicles “must be alcohol-free and weapons-free”, he said.
“This is to build confidence in tourism,” Pol Col Jirasak added.
“We ask for cooperation from public transport operators to enforce strict supervision of public transport drivers, that they have polite behaviour in both speaking and providing services to passengers] with a service mind [sic],” he said.
Ms Ratchadaphon pointed out that Phuket was expected to host more than 10 million tourists this year, which she said was a similar amount to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has prepared a document on what can and cannot be done when traveling in Phuket. You can scan a QR Code to view the information, which we would like to share with public bus operators and tourism operators,” she said. The official report of the meeting did not include the actual QR code.
“Take the information and publicise it for tourists to know so that tourists can follow it and travel happily in Phuket province,” she said.
Mr Adcha, as always, assured that the PLTO will be strict in taking care of public transport vehicles and drivers in ensuring that the drivers and the vehicles used are properly registered.
According to the official report of the meeting, the transport drivers present were “ready to proceed as specified by government agencies”.