Monday 10 August 2015

The future of Uber and traditional taxi service in Thailand

Many people who live and work in Bangkok would have once bad experience in different aspects about most of taxi drivers who tend to reject passengers with several claims and provide service only for someone they are satisfied to make a trip within desired areas and routes. Undoubtedly, I am often one of those passengers, and that provokes me to support Uber taxi service in Thailand although this service turn into be withheld now, and it seems there is still no certain future of Uber service.

According to “Uber given new taxi licence despite hostility” (2015), Uber, an app for hailing a taxi as a trip requested, in Nottingham has received an official license from Nottingham City Council to provide legal service—other cities in the UK have also been given a licence, while demonstration of taxi drivers against Uber have also occurred in many countries—Canada, France, Hongkong, India, South Africa and the US. Nevertheless, now Uber is encountering with legal action by the GMB union since it is limiting basic rights to its drivers, and some traditional taxi drivers are not considerably satisfied due to unjust competition and loss of personal flexibility.

Currently, Uber has become a controversial issue in many countries due to taxi driver’s hostility. Therefore, it is somewhat interesting to figure out suitable solutions for making it possible and effective service. In Thailand, Uber has also become illegal and unavailable service, but it used to make most of Bangkok’s people satisfied because it is a new alternative as well as good innovation for public transportation service for consumers, whereas problems of traditional taxi service as said earlier still remain unsolvable.

It goes without saying that controlling taxi-service system is necessary and important to ensure safety, quality and efficiency of service. As far as I know, there are different ways to control, including limiting the number of taxi, controlling fare or styles of service and so on. Admittedly, there would be no the best solution. Instead, it depends on the current situation and designed policy and strict management. Reformation of the related organizations may be a potential way to address this problem.

To focus on dealing with Thailand’s taxi service problems, now there is no systematic management for the service in terms of company that hires chauffeurs as employees—as the bus system does—and the use of booking system on a mobile in order that taxi will not wait for passengers anywhere for a long time without income. In addition, using IT system and GPS may be good solutions for making high-efficiency service. Perhaps, the government should also study from the case studies in other developed countries and adapt them to improve the system complying with the city’s change and other related public transportation systems.

Regarding Uber taxi, banning it may be just claims in the aspect of law, and people cannot get any benefits of this action as long as the department of land transport of Thailand cannot confirm that regular taxi service is good enough and response to people’s demand of commute in Bangkok. On the other hand, it is limiting feasible alternatives that can help make a system in which taxi-service entrepreneurs can compete in terms of price and quality, and additionally people would not have more choices to get pleasant taxi service. Do you think Thailand should reconsider Uber service and also reorganize taxi-service system?
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Reference
Uber given new taxi licence despite hostility. (2015, July 31). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-33732614
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18 comments:

  1. Anonymous10 August 2015 at 01:50

    I agree with the article. Thailand's transportation is quite unsystematic, especially taxi services. If this issue can solve, it might help people in term of safety and convenience.

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    1. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:50

      In fact, now Thailand should pay much attention to taxi-service problems. We both would not like to see news about these and even experience them by ourselves. However, fortunately, there are a lot of alternatives for commuting in Bangkok like BTS, MRT which are quite safe and convenient too.

      Thank you very Mei for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete
  2. Peter AUA10 August 2015 at 06:48

    I'm not sure I agree with Feem when he writes that "It goes without saying that controlling taxi-service system is necessary and important to ensure safety, quality and efficiency of service." Uber was not controlled, and as far as I could see, it was safe, of high quality and efficient, which is why it was so very popular with users.

    In fact, perhaps the problem with taxi services are that there is too much government interference to control who can get a taxi licence? My suspicion is that free markets manage these things much better than government regulation, which is best at creating opportunities for corruption and other abuses.

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    1. Peter AUA10 August 2015 at 06:50

      I've only just started my morning coffee, and already I've written my two daily comments! Maybe I should write a new response post - there were a few news stories over the weekend that caught my interest enough that I emailed them to myself as reminders.

      Delete
    2. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:52

      Even though you have different views from mine, your idea is somewhat creative since it is probably true government inference could cause the taxi-service problems. The solution regarding free markets may be one of the effective ways to make good management of taxi-service system.

      Thank you very much Peter for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete
  3. Anonymous10 August 2015 at 17:36

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Anonymous10 August 2015 at 17:37

    From my experience, I have used Uber twice. Uber is more safety than thailand's taxi because when I use Uber it shows the driver's profile which is include chauffeur's photo and the respond from passengers. Incontrast, taxi is not have a respond from passengers or profiles(taxis usually have their profiles but many times that I took a cab their profile photo is not same as drivers). I mean they use others profile.

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    1. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:53

      Although I have never used Uber before, I still agree with you. Often, most of traditional taxi drivers neglect to provide updated or real information of such as their photos and other profiles despite being very important to passengers in terms of safety or in case of emergency. So, it was not surprised me that Uber service which care about this can highly ensure the safety to their passengers, and thus people prefer it to traditional one.

      Thank you very much Ter for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11 August 2015 at 22:02

      I have a promotion code for Uber, if you want to try it.
      Download the app and put my promotion code in it you will get a first free ride.

      Promotion: qolje

      Delete
    3. Unknown11 August 2015 at 23:23

      Thank you so much Ter

      Delete
  5. Unknown10 August 2015 at 18:48

    I think Thai government should make Uber be legal to increace competition between Uber and others taxi drivers. This measure will prove that why many Thais turn to choose Uber instead, for example, Uber's drivers have never rejected passenger's destination and we can check driver's personal infomation, which is safer, if others taxi drivers still limit their route, they would not have much passengers, so they will learn to provide greater services than the past to increase their competitive advantages, but if they do not do, they may lose their income.

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    1. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:54

      Your opinion is similar to mine. Uber should be gotten legal license as traditional taxi service was in order to fairly compete in the system. If there is high competition, what benefits passenger can get are better, safer, cheaper service. So, the problems as you said could be reduced or even effectively addressed.

      Thank you very much P’Ling for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete
  6. Anonymous10 August 2015 at 21:26

    I just used Uber last night that is really more convenient, safer and cheaper than traditional taxi. Especially, I cannot communicate with driver in Thai, but Uber can let the driver know the place where I want to go.

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    1. Peter AUA10 August 2015 at 21:30

      I've never tried Uber, but it sounds good. Maybe next time I want to do somewhere not on a BTS / MRTA route I'll try it.

      Delete
    2. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:55

      Joyce...Right!! Uber service can provide you more benefits than traditional taxi services’, and this is the main reason why people tend to use Uber when they need a trip. I am not sure whether Taiwan has any problems regarding Uber. If so, it would be a normal situation that happens as in Thailand or other countries.

      Thank you very much Joyce for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete
    3. Unknown10 August 2015 at 22:56

      Hi Peter,

      To go anywhere without taking BTS/MRT and even without driving a personal car in Bangkok seems a bit challenging and exciting. If you take a motorcycle taxi, it is easy and very fast but quite risky for your life. If you take a bus, it is money-saying but often too crowded and slow. If you take a boat, it is quite okay but sometimes risky for being wet or falling into river. Maybe, walking is the best one but it is not a good idea for long distance.

      Delete
  7. Unknown10 August 2015 at 23:50

    For me, I agree with Uber taxi. My home is located at Pratunam market (maybe it is the biggest and cheapest clothing area in Thailand) where is a horrible traffic jam. Moreover, because of shopping center, Pratunam is crowed by multi-nationality. When I and my mom want to go outside, we always get in trouble with a taxi which wants to grasp only tourists. As well as backing home, because of traffic jams, we are always denied by the drivers.
    After a campaign (or a law) which prohibits refusing passenger is allowed, it seems that the second problem is solved, in fact is not.
    That are reasons why I want to try an Uber taxi.

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    1. Unknown11 August 2015 at 23:25

      My mom has also similar experience about that problem. She often goes shopping at Platinum fashion mall, and complains about taxi drivers’ refusal of passengers, especially in the afternoon. The drivers usually claim that they need to either gas up the car or return the car for changing driving shift. That makes her spend less time shopping in order to avoid those claims of taxi drivers in the afternoon. I also agree with you that that campaign seems practical but it does not at all. We still are facing with the taxi-service problems as usual. Thus, Uber should be given license to help deal with these problems.

      Thank you so much Poy for your attention and comment on my post

      Delete

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