Enter the orange shirts – The capital’s crucial two-wheeled political class

Enter the orange shirts – The capital’s crucial two-wheeled political class – The Economist, February 17, 2011
…One reason why Mr Thaksin remains so popular is that he cracked down on the overlords. He also ensured that motorbike taxis were registered with city hall and that their drivers were issued with numbered jackets. After Mr Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006, the extortionists returned to demand their cut. The registration system unravelled as drivers traded jackets or dropped out and others arrived with unregistered bikes. Some jackets ended up in the hands of the “influential people”, who rented them out or sold them on for up to 150,000 baht ($4,900)…