like other unsolved problems this country has been facing for decades, the safety and reliability of motorcycle taxis are being addressed through authoritarian means, using nationalism and a perceived threat to national security as a pretext to ban services by foreign operators who have more innovative solutions than our inefficient and incompetent regulator On Tuesday, civil servants at the Depart of Land Transport(DLT and City Hall as well as Metropolitan Police and army officers ordered GrabBike and UberMoto, two popular smartphone-based motorcycle taxi to stop accusing them of public trans port regulations What regulations have these companies, whose mobile apps allow customers to request rides and apply to work as drivers, violated? According to Col Kanthachai Prachuabaree, deputy commander of the 1st Division, Guard, who attended the meeting, e services were illicit and a risk to national security as they triggered conflicts between both the firms' drivers and conventional motorcycle taxis registered with the state The firms also failed to pay taxes in line with the law and their businesses stole jobs from Thais, he claimed. One wonders what army personnel have to do with regulating motorcycle taxi drivers.