Department of Land Transportation affirms Article 44 will not be used to solve Uber problems

BANGKOK, March 9 (TNA) -- The Department of Land Transportation (DLT) pushed forward with its move to crack down on illegal taxi services, while affirming that section 44 would not be used to solve problems concerning Uber. The Department Deputy Director General Nunthapong Cherdchu said that the department would beef up inspection of all public transportation like Uber to ensure that they are legally providing services, reaffirming that the department has no intention to use Article 44 of the interim Constitution. The Article gives Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-oca who is also the head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) absolute authority over matters of national security. He noted the reason behind the stricter crackdown is because drivers for Uber have been using their own personal vehicles to provide the taxi service, which is against the law in Thailand, since if an unfortunate incident had occurred with any passenger the authorities would have a hard time inspecting and tracking down the criminals. Mr Nanthapong said currently, the department is development a central application to provide public transportation services to the public to cater to the higher consumer demands at present, while planning to raise the service standard of over 100,000 taxis registered in the system to provide the people with better services. He said he would like to see the people use legal public transportation services, as taxi service providers would have to register their drivers, meaning if anything goes wrong the department would being to inspect the driver immediately, as there are attempts by some groups to presenting falsify information on public transportation, particularly on taxis, to attract the public into using more of the illegal taxi service. Moreover, the department has also proposed that two articles of the Ministry of Transport to be amended, including the section to raise the taxi service quality and convenience, as well as to allow VIP taxis to operate in the country to provide the public with more options. The department is expecting the new bills to be implemented within the next two months. Earlier, Thailand's transport authorities have begun a crackdown on drivers for ride-hailing services Uber and Grab and want the military government to ban them. (TNA)