Personal-car taxi apps must be registered before March 31
Personal-car taxis will have to be certified by the Department of Land Transport before providing public service, following the Ministry of Transport issuing ministerial regulations for hired cars via electronic systems BE 2021.
The move is expected to help the government to control and supervise safe service and create competition in the development of services under the same rules.
Chirut Wisanchit, director-general of the Department of Land Transport, revealed that there have been three applications for verification, namely, Hello Phuket Service, Bonku and Grab.
Currently, there are two verified applications -- Hello Phuket Service, whose main service area is Phuket, and Bonku, which operates in Bangkok and its vicinity. Both companies must have insurance for the driver and passenger within 30 days and must bring all vehicles that are in the system to be registered by July 2022.
The application under consideration, Grab, still needs to discuss how to improve the system in line with legal requirements, he said.
Any other applications that are in service but have not yet filed for legal certification must apply for certification by March 31, he said.
The department said it would enforce strict laws on both drivers who provide services through the app and system service providers as sponsors.