Uber still waiting to make it official with Thailand

Though the ride-sharing app is popular and beloved by Thais, Uber is still technically illegal in this country.

The San-Francisco based tech company has called on Thai lawmakers to work on making their operations in Bangkok legal; an objective they are trying to meet in every country they operate in.

Although the ride-sharing apps have been increasingly popular in Bangkok, the city where taxi drivers have a reputation for rejecting and overcharging passengers, no legal guidelines have been set up for them as drivers have reportedly been arrested from time to time for using a private vehicle to operate public transport service.

“There is a big difference between unregulated and illegal business,” said Chan Park, general manager for Southeast Asia of Uber.

Though Uber is available in 70 countries, it’s only currently legal in 12 of them including nearby countries such as Indonesia, The Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Uber reports positive steps towards the legalization process with Thai authorities, but they want to see the matter taken care of as soon as possible, according to the Bangkok Post.

To expand their customer base to students and seniors, Uber has offered a cash payment system when it was previously required a credit card to sign up.

The company also aims to reduce their average wait time for rides from 7 minutes to just over five and a half and hope to reach a 3 minute wait time by next year.