His message was delivered to a meeting of taxi drivers, police and transport officials, where it was explained the rights of independent taxi drivers to pick up passengers.
Present at the meeting, held at the Phuket Provincial Government Center, was Adcha Buachan, Chief of the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO).
Vice Governor Anupap pointed out the recent incident in which four tourists returning from Phi Phi Island were forced to exit the passenger van they had legally ordered through an app and take another taxi operating as part of a “group” at the pier.
Following the incident many comments online openly called Phuket taxi drivers controlling tourists’ access to taxi services "mafia".
“This affects the image and reputation of the country and Phuket as a world-class tourist city,” Vice Governor Anupap said.
Mr Anupap also recognised that independent taxi drivers illegally using private vehicles ‒ not legally registered taxis ‒ to provide taxi services through an app has “caused controversy” and “affected the occupation of legal public transport operators”.
“Therefore, this meeting is being held to rehearse the use of public taxi services in the Phuket area, to clarify and understand the legal regulations and set guidelines for hiring, picking up and dropping off passengers of public service cars and taxis that are provided through the application,” he said.
“This is in order for the public hire car service providers to have knowledge and understanding of the different practices in order to create a good image of Phuket in the future,” he concluded.