What will become of Cambodia’s endangered tuktuk drivers?
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:06 am
This South China Morning Post article sees Cambodia's tuktuk drivers as an endangered species.
What will become of Cambodia’s endangered tuk-tuk drivers?
25 June 2017
What will become of Cambodia’s endangered tuk-tuk drivers?
25 June 2017
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/a ... uk-driversIn hubs like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, the home of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex, drivers at nearly every street corner in the capital can be seen soliciting passengers, sometimes to the consternation of tourists. According to the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), the largest tuk-tuk union in Cambodia, there are approximately 6,000 drivers in Siem Reap and 10,000 in Phnom Penh.
“I do not know what to do because the business is like this,” said Houn Nithon, a 40-year-old driver, in reference to the crowding of drivers in tourist-heavy areas. “They work, I work, it’s just the market. Before I could make US$20 to US$30 and now it’s cut down to 50,000 riel (US$12.30), 40,000, even 20,000.”
That was the end. It was an odd collection of taxis that picked me up and most drivers were short on English but at least they knew how to use their smartphone GPS systems.