The Department of Land Transport is going undercover to catch Pattaya Uber drivers in the act.
Somchai Rachkaew, chief inspector for the DLT’s Chonburi office, set up a June 13 sting operation at the Baron Beach Hotel. Using Uber Technologies Corp.’s smartphone app, officials hailed a ride.
When driver Sunthorn Pimpadhamma, 39, pulled up in his white Toyota Camry, transport officials fined him 2,000 baht and threatened to revoke his driver’s license for three months if caught again.
Thailand’s government has been at war with Uber and other smartphone-enabled taxi-hailing apps for three years, insisting those that use private vehicles to provide public transport are illegal. Taxi drivers must use commercially registered vehicles and have a commercial driver’s license, the DLT maintains.
Uber – which operates both the luxury Uber Black and discount Uber X in Bangkok – has flourished despite the supposed ban, as the government has put in a half-hearted effort to enforce its regulations.
A new front in the battle opened in February when Uber launched in Pattaya. The arrival of the Uber X service has been met with waves of vigilante justice by drivers of metered cabs, who long have been able to grossly overcharge passengers due to lack of competition.
Rather than go after the cabbies for overcharging, the DLT has decided to launch a new crackdown on Uber drivers.
