A woman taking a Grab motorcycle taxi says her ride became a nightmare when she and the driver were attacked by two "win" motorcycle taxi drivers off Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok late on Tuesday night.
On her Facebook page, the woman, using the name Hataiwan Yasuta, wrote that she was "very angry, crying and my morale gone" after she was attacked by two men who tried to hit her with a thick wooden stick after her short trip from Asok Intersection to Ratchadaphisek Soi 3 Road.
Luckily, she wrote, the driver also managed to avoid being hit.
After filing a complaint with Huai Kwang Police Station, she and the Grab driver decided to find their attackers. They believed them to be motorcycle taxi drivers in the Asok area. This eventually led to police making two arrests, the woman said.
The complaint laid against two motorcycle taxi drivers accused of trying to injure a Grab passenger, filed with Huai Kwang police, who later arrested two men. (Photo from Facebook Page Hataiwan Yasuta)
The two men were charged with acting in a threatening manner and assault, she said in an update to her post. She said they admitted the offence.
The woman earlier wrote she used the Grab ride-sharing service after finding no motorcycle taxi queue, or win motorsai, near a university in the Asok area.
On the way, she noticed two men on another motorcycle following them. They had covered their faces and tried to hide a length of wood they were carrying.
When her motorcycle stopped at the destination, one of the men suddenly struck out at her and the driver with the length of wood, but fortunately missed, the woman wrote.
"I could not remember their vehicle registration plate, but they used the yellow one, showing it's a win motorsai," the woman said. The yellow plates are for registered public transport.
Her report is the latest incident in the ongoing conflict between taxi drivers and drivers working for ride-sharing services provided by Malaysian-based Grab and San Francisco-based Uber.
The regular drivers accuse the ride-sharing services of stealing business from them.
The services are also deemed illegal by authorities, because the cars and motorcycles used are not registered for public transport.
"But do they dare to slap a passenger in this way?" the woman asked.
Her post drew many comments, mostly denouncing the attack. One shared with her a similar experience, saying she was forced to leave a Grab motorcycle taxi to take the win one, but instead she ran away.
