Chartered van operators call for exclusive law

Chartered van operators call for exclusive law

Operators claiming to control 100,000 chartered vans nationwide gather at the complaints centre at Government House to petition the government against its measures to put chartered vans under the same tough regulations governing public vans. (Photo Chanat Katanyu)
Operators claiming to control 100,000 chartered vans nationwide gather at the complaints centre at Government House to petition the government against its measures to put chartered vans under the same tough regulations governing public vans. (Photo Chanat Katanyu)

Operators of chartered van services are calling on the government to enact a new law that would allow them to exclusively govern their operations.

The group, which claims to represent more than 100,000 vans for hire across the country, is arguing the chartered vans should not fall under the same category as public and inter-provincial vans owing to the differences between the services.

Because they are put in the same category as public vans, charted van operators are required to follow a new set of regulations which seek to monitor and control speed limits, drivers' working hours and parking.

The rules include the requirement that public vans install special devices to monitor speeds, they drive according to speed limits, and that they keep in the left lane. The new rules are due to be fully enforced by the end of the year.

Yutthana Intrayuth, representative of the group, said those rules are hurting the chartered van service, which is popular and used for business trips and tourism purposes. Chartered van companies ply non-fixed routes, so they should not be subject to the same rules that govern public services.

There are more than 100,000 chartered vans across the country with half of them operating in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces.

A petition seeking amendments to the Land Transport Act has been submitted to the government and the Transport Ministry. A copy will be forwarded to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).

According to Mr Yutthana, one urgent demand is that the requirement of a global positioning system in each van be scrapped.

The chartered vans are more like limousine and taxi services and should not be restrained by speed limits of 90 km/hr, to which passenger vans or buses must adhere, he said.

He also called for leniency on the speed limit rule until a new law is enforced.

"VIP vans cannot limit their hours of operation like passenger buses because they don't operate on fixed routes. The speed limit should also be flexible," Mr Yutthana said.

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