The checks were conducted at Phuket airport from 4pm to 6pm yesterday.
According to a post online by the PLTO, the checks were conducted in collaboration with the Phuket branch of Airports of Thailand (AoT Phuket), the Phuket Tourist Police and the Sakhu Police
The aim of the checks were to jointly investigate the illegal use of private cars to transport passengers, which the PLTO called “black plate” operators.
Specifically, the officials were looking for people using private cars as taxis, in breach of the Motor Vehicle Act and the Road Traffic Act.
The officers yesterday caught two people illegally using private cars to provide taxi services, reported the PLTO.
The officers also marked 21 charges levied for infringements of the Motor Vehicle Act.
The checks yesterday came before the PLTO shared a public notice issued by the Department of Land Transport (DLT) quietly announcing that three more taxi app operators were now deemed legal in Thailand.
The DLT posted its notice on Wednesday (Feb 14). The PLTO shared the same notice at 7:15pm last night (Feb15), more than an hour after the checks at Phuket airport had ceased.
The DLT notice was issued in order to recommend that people use taxi services through electronic systems that are legal, “for safety in traveling Including also receiving services and fair prices”.
The notice included three new taxi app services now approved by the DLT, bringing to 11 the total number of taxi app services now deemed legal in Thailand, as follows:
- Hello Phuket
- Bonku
- Asia Cab
- Bolt
- Grab
- Robinhood
- AirAsia Super App
- InDrive
- TADA
- Maxim
- Lineman