The Department of Land Transport (DLT) continues to refuse to work with ride-providing apps such as Grab and Uber as they pinpointed, stopped and fined 18 drivers for the popular — yet still not legal — ride app Uber yesterday.
The DLT worked with police and soldiers in the project. Over the course of the day, 18 drivers working for Uber were fined THB2,000 each for using private cars for public service without official permission and another THB2,000 for wrongful use of their vehicles.
Not only were they fined far more than they likely earn on even the busiest day, they were also placed on an DLT list of offenders and can have their regular driving licenses revoked if they continue driving people in exchange for payment. They have also been directed to attend a government class on attitude and the law.
Yesterday’s display by officials was the biggest operation against the ride-providing apps, which also includes Grab, reported Bangkok Post.
According to the law, private cars aren’t allowed to give public ride services for payment.
Since late 2014, the government has penalized 83 drivers
Despite that, Uber continues to try to find a way to legalize their services in Thailand and have even gone as far as recently broadening their service areas to include much of Chonburi and Bang Saen.
