CityNews – The Nakorn Lanna Cooperative who manage the Red Songtaews in Chiang Mai have announced a total overhaul of their services that will be rolled out this month and completed by August 30 after a new policy was announced at the Sustainable Urban Transport Conference.
At the Chiang Mai Sustainable Urban Transport Conference on June 5, a new policy was announced that will reorganise songtaews around the city. All songtaews must now be re-registered as commercial cars (Car 30), all existing standard routes will be removed and they will be limited to staying within the second ring road.
All songtaews will now be free to drive anywhere in the city and must not charge more than 30 baht per person. If the songtaew is hired privately, the price should not exceed 200 baht and the driver must not pick up any other passengers during that trip.
All drivers must also attend a training seminar, after which they will receive a QR code and online account that contains the driver’s profile, prices and regular routes. Passengers will be able to scan the QR code and leave comments and rate the driver’s service on their profile.
There are currently 2,345 registered red songtaews in Chiang Mai that must comply with the new regulations by August 30. This week, over 400 are expected to complete the registration and attend the seminar.