Taxi drivers demand govt end Grab service at airport
published : 22 May 2025 at 07:20
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Online Reporters
Drivers of regular taxis have threatened to begin blocking entry and exit points at Suvarnabhumi if the government fails to shut down the Grab ride hailing service at Bangkok's main airport.
About 50 taxi drivers protested outside the parliament on Tuesday.
They are demanding the government close the Grab service lounge at Suvarnabhumi airport and threatened to blockade the airport if it failed to act by Wednesday.
The protest was fuelled by the government's decision to allow Grab drivers to open pick-up and drop-off points in the airport.
Protesters said most passengers now hailed drivers via online platforms, which was bad for drivers and operators of public taxis.
They were asking Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit to fix the problem.
Some app drivers had caused damage to tourists, but news reports sometimes mistook them for public taxi drivers, a taxi driver association said.
The association needed the government to decide between Grab and taxi drivers.
If the government did not respond on Wednesday, they would start blocking entrances and exits at the airport, protesters said.
Vocabulary
- association: an official group of people who have joined together for a particular purpose - สมาคม
- block: to stop someone/ something from moving through or along something else - ปิดกั้น, กีดขวาง
- blockade: an action that is intended to prevent people or goods from moving from one place to another - การกีดขวาง; การกีดขวางการจราจร
- damage (noun): physical harm caused to something which makes it less attractive, useful or valuable - ความเสียหาย
- fuelled: caused something to increase - กระตุ้น
- hail: to signal to a taxi or a bus, in order to get the driver to stop - เรียก
- lounge: a room or area in a place such as an airport where people can sit and wait - ห้องพักสาธารณะ, ห้องนั่งเล่น
- mistook (verb): when something was not understood correctly - ซึ่งเข้าใจผิด
- operator (noun): a person or company that runs a business - ผู้ดำเนินกิจการทางธุรกิจ, ผู้ประกอบธุรกิจ
- protest: a meeting or rally, sometimes forceful or violent, of people who strongly disagree with something - ชุมนุมประท้วง
- protester: someone who shows that they disagree with something by standing somewhere, shouting, carrying signs, etc - ผู้ต่อต้าน, ผู้ประท้วง
- threaten (verb): to say or indicate that you might do something bad or harmful, especially in order to make someone do something - ขู่เข็ญ คุกคาม ทำให้กลัว
