Despite uncertainty and the need for decisions to be made regarding taxi app service in Thailand, development of the market bodes well for continued growth due to the smartphone revolution.
Booking apps such as Uber, GrabTaxi and Easy Taxi have drawn the ire of Thailand's traditional taxi services. Pornprom Satrabhaya
The Land Transport Department last month warned people not to use Uber Technologies Corporation, a California-based ride-sharing service provider, saying the smartphone app service was illegal and its drivers were not registered or insured for driving commercial vehicles.
The department will today meet with operators of three app-based taxi booking services — Uber, Malaysia's GrabTaxi and Brazil's Easy Taxi — to discuss relevant regulations to settle mounting complaints from traditional taxi services.
Easy Taxi and GrabTaxi insist their services are legal since their cars are registered as taxis. Their drivers have also obtained commercial driver's licences.
Nattapak Atichartakarn, chief executive of Easy Taxi Thailand, said the market for automated taxi service in Bangkok was worth an estimated 100 million baht a day, based on 100,000 vehicles making 10 trips a day at 100 baht a trip.
"After the first year of operation, we believe automated taxi booking still has room to grow in the coming years, as Thailand's smartphone penetration stands at 40%," he said.
After launching a year ago, Easy Taxi now has 8,000 vehicles in its network.
The number of users in Thailand totals 500,000, mainly teenagers and first-jobbers.
Easy Taxi is now expanding into corporate users and professional services such as hotels and restaurants, Mr Nattapak said.
Vee Charununsiri, deputy general manager of GrabTaxi Thailand, said his company was willing to meet with the Land Transport Department.
The company is ready to collaborate with Thai regulators if that will help to address social issues, he said.
"We've done things in such a way in other Southeast Asian countries where we faced the same challenges," Mr Vee said.
He said Thailand's app-based taxi market experienced exceptional growth after beginning service in Bangkok last year.
GrabTaxi has since extended its service area to include Pattaya.
The company has 60,000 taxi drivers in its Southeast Asian networks.
Downloads of the GrabTaxi app have surged to 2.5 million, Mr Vee said.