Thousands of unregistered GrabBike motorcycle taxis will be removed from service in mid-July by order of the Department of Land Transport (DLT).

Grab Thailand recently notified its driver partners that it is required to expel drivers who use motorcycles which are unregistered for public transport service within 30 days, which falls on July 15.

Grab Thailand said this would affect tens of thousands of driver partners, who would lose their livelihood.

Grab has to follow the DLT demand that GrabBike drivers must have public transport driving licences and their motorcycles be registered for public transport service.

The drivers are also required to provide service only in the area where they are registered with the DLT,  with fares at the same rate as applied at motorcycle-taxi queues, according to the DLT.

The move would affect hundreds of thousands of regular passengers, who would have a more limited choice of transport, Grab Thailand said.

Grab will again meet with the DLT this week and ask it to consider ways to alleviate the impact and the timeframe.

An online petition has been launched on change.org in opposition to the move.