Three motorcycle-taxi drivers were hurt when they and ride-hailing app driver brawled again in Pattaya.
The latest in a string of fights between traditional taxi motorbike drivers and those working for the upstart Bolt app, the Jan. 25 melee outside the Arcadia Beach Resort on Thappraya Road Soi 7 saw three 37-year-old “old-school” drivers sent to the hospital.
Anan Kaewwichien got hit in the head and groin with a steel bar, Noppadol Karnsommut got hit in the face with a baseball bat and Monthon Liewseng injured his hand punching a Bolt driver.
The fight began when Anan was waiting for customers outside a convenience store by the resort instead of his taxi stand 50 meters away. Three Bolt drivers pulled into the store’s parking lot to wait for customers as well.
Anan said he told the Bolt drivers to follow the terms of a peace treaty between low-tech and high-tech motorbike drivers and wait at a designated spot away from the taxi stand. The Bolt drivers told Anan to go back to his own stand. Things went downhill from there.
Security guard Putchong Nongpa, 40, said one Bolt driver pulled a steel bar out of his jacket and the baseball bat appeared out of nowhere and the fight was on.
Sunee Chonchedchuwong, head of the Chonburi Land Transport Department, said an investigation is underway. Pattaya police chief Pol. Col. Kullachart Kullachai said he had no plans to arrest anyone, deferring to the DLT’s authority.
