Line Taxi is not only ‘By Thais for Thais’ because I will use them too
File me under the heading of a person who would never use an Uber taxi in Bangkok, no matter where I was or what time of day or night it was. They’re a disgusting company. I hate them.
Plus, now that Uber is illegal in Thailand, you’d have to be crazy to use them.
So, when I saw that Line Thailand was joining forces with the Bangkok Taxi Cooperative Network to create a mobile taxi-booking service that will rival the likes of Uber, Grab and Easy Taxi, I was thrilled.
After all, according to the slogan, Line Taxi is going to be ‘By Thais for Thais’, and I’m down with that. To the point that, for me at least, it certainly won’t be just ‘for Thais’ as I will definitely use them too.
So what is Line Taxi all about?
The trial for the service will kick off in September and will be available to users of Line Man, Line’s Thai food delivery app. Once it launches, users will be able to order a taxi just like they would through any of the other mobile-taxi booking services.
Line Thailand says there will be at least 8,000 taxi drivers signed up for the Line Taxi service when it launches, with another 12,000 or so drivers being added in the months after.
The service also does not require current Line users to download an extra app making it convenient to use, and only charges 20 baht per taxi. That’s above the normal taxi fee you would pay by just hailing one on the street.
Vitoon Naewpanit, president of Bangkok Taxi Cooperative Network also says all newly registered taxi drivers will be part of Line Taxi, with an expectation that more than 70,000 drivers will be with the service within the next two years.
And with Line Thailand’s co-operation with the Bangkok Taxi Cooperative Network, which currently has 60,000 drivers on its books, it seems to me this new Line Taxi service could very easily rival Uber, Grab and Easy Taxi and cause them no end of problems.
All I can say is “Yay!”