It appears that even with stiff competition from ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab, some taxi drivers are still engaging in the time-honoured tradition of overcharging tourists – the Malay Mail reported that two French tourists were charged RM800 for a trip to Putrajaya and back, when they really only wanted to go from Suria KLCC to Masjid Negara.
One of the victims, Sarah, said that they hailed the taxi at the shopping mall and asked the driver to take them to the mosque, but the latter refused to switch on his fare meter and proceeded to go on the detour. The incident, which occurred around 6 pm on Saturday, prompted the tourists to lodge a report with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), providing the registration number of the taxi and a photo of the driver.
“The victim claimed the taxi driver involved instead took them to Putrajaya first before going to the National Mosque,” an SPAD spokesman told Harian Metro. “Upon arriving at Masjid Negara, the taxi driver forced the victims to pay RM800.”
The spokesman said that according to the information received, the driver took advantage of them by using a further route when the distance between KLCC and the national mosque was just six kilometres, adding that the tourists paid the sum out of fear. “SPAD is now tracking down the taxi driver involved for further action. Such actions affects the country’s image in the eyes of foreign tourists,” he said.
The Harian Metro report did not specify the type of taxi used; however, a budget taxi has a RM3 flag fall inclusive of the first kilometre and a 25 sen rate for each subsequent 200 metres, putting the theoretical cost of a six-kilometre journey at RM9.25.
Meanwhile, a trip with a Teksi1Malaysia (TEKS1M) with a RM4 flag fall and a 30 sen charge every 200 m would cost RM11.50, while an executive taxi with an RM6 flag fall and a rate of 20 sen for every 100 m would have cost the tourists RM16.
Even accounting for the alleged detour to Putrajaya, the trip – which would have taken between 69 km to 78 km to get to Masjid Negara – would have cost anywhere from RM88 to RM99.25 in an budget taxi, RM106 to RM119.50 in a TEKS1M and RM142 to 160 in an executive taxi.
This comes as Uber moved to show the calculated fare for all trips upfront this year, joining Grab. Would such an incident encourage you to switch from using taxis to ride-hailing services? Sound off in the comments section after the jump.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Hidden due to lowcomment rating. Click here to see.
Conspiracy? Mr Karam~ which planet are u from?
What the hell are you talking about? Never learn to read properly?
Karam is hired by teksi association to give stupid comment here
What u mean Uber/grab paid the taxi driver… I think ur logic is or common sense is totally out.
Maybe datuk samsu double crossed us? Corporate espionage, war between rundown 1993 Iswara gang and myvi hipsters, these are juicy stuff.
Why would they do that? They are already taking over the biz of all taxis.
Buang itu taxi driver keluar Malaysia !!
HIGH TIME WE PHASE out red cabs …in 12 months.
Help those retrenched cabbies ,apply for Uber and grabcar.
Red cabs or blues…..an EXTINCT BREED now.
Even a chimp,if given enough training ,can BOOK a Grabcar to kentucky Fried Chicken.
Bodo albert, any cabs can join grab la
Majoriti taxi driver ialah pesara tentera dan polis.
Perlu bayar duit petrol, sewa teksi, makan minum & Sara keluarga.
Hargai la sumbangan mereka.
Memang hargai….tapi tak boleh tipu passengers !
Only following the good example of our country’s leaders in lying, cheating and stealing. Only difference is that one can get away with it (so far) and the other (if a legitimate taxi driver) will be caught.
Yeah agree…that particular leader up north…under market value right…spot on
And u wonder why people prefer to use ride sharing services. Good job. Malaysia indeed boleh.
I have personally witness a spunky lady who refused to pay the exorbitant amount charged by the taxi driver & came down from the taxi & run to the condo guard for safety.
This type of taxi drivers will tarnish the image of our country & i hope SPAD/authority will put them behind bars to teach them a lesson.
Judging from this story, it will not end there & it will happen again & again bcos we all know what happen as No Further Action(NFA) is the norm.
SPAD cant put pipu behind bars cuz they not polis
Read my comment john. It say # i hope SPAD/authority will put them behind bars to teach them a lesson #. The authority here refer to anybody in authority & that include PDRM. Do i have 2 spell it out 4 U all the time !
just take uber/grab, secure and protected
izzit the blue taxi infront of KLCC lobby..i tot that one is ok…no wonder our taxi the worst one in the world lor…
unlikely because that one you book at counter.
most likely it’s those Red Taxi waiting at the front entrance outside KLCC. you know when you see 10 taxi drivers nothing to do stand there look look see see ask “Taxi?”
there’s some budget taxi lepak in front of BSN near KLCC. usually, those kind of people who are waiting for their victims, errr, i mean passengers.
When I read this, all I think about is what kind of punishment should be given to the cabbie. First thing that comes to mind is allowing public shaming and beating. Let the French tourist beat the cabbie in the public and then let the public taking turns to beat the crap out of the cabbie. Best record the entire punishment on video and publish it on YouTube. The cabbie well deserves this kind of punishment. They’re thugs.
Personally this is the attitude and isolated problem.
Spad has already addressed the plight of the taxi drivers, and the government has step up their efforts to stop these taxis from charging crazy prices. Governmetn has spent crazy amount of money to help educate and support these taxi drivers, however this has still not help reduce the taxi drivers attitude.
Again, please dont blame government. This is just an isolated incident.
– Faiz Roslan CEng
Topkek, isolated incident?
Dude, you put your brain in your knee? This incident is one of many if not reported or unreportes case since early 90’s. these legal thug driver extort passenger and some even robbed and rape a passenger and made headline every single month and every single year!
Heck even we got award for world worst taxi services ever!
With the uprising of Uber and Grab is the reason why consumer choose to switch and that’s why these ripoff are angry since their illegal scam are now busted
Probably you benefit from this to even shrugged it of as isolated incidents
People had enough
Gov knows they cant be changed, and they trying to blackmail by threatening to en block sapot Party Hard. So Gov dun gip an F to them, and sapot Uber instead. Let them RIP slowly & painfully while pipu take MRT LRT & buses
How about no psv no puspakom no white and black uniform. This car used jalan raya la.if uber charge rm250 what to say sarah
Why gov need spent crazy amount? …its money cannot solve the problem ? No !!….. the answers is .. Execution ! … we all knows like Dr. Evil case , why he can makes loud everywhere … because semua taxi company lah or any related , taxi industries are big money…they never care abt passengers complains ! And the worst thing are….gov tot wit crazy spent can solve problems, never take immediate actin to taxi company ! Tangkap dialah apa takut !!!! Then the victim like you and me nak blame siapa .. Dr . Evil lagi ??
Nobody blamed the G also. Why so perasan?
That’s the whole point why people boycott regular taxis.!!!
UBER IS THE BEST MAN..
No shame at all charged tourist with that kind of amount rm800 is not sikit u know
I know an Expat who used to live in Kuala Lumpur. He told me that once he got drunk and hail a taxi home. He said the usual cab fare is about 10 MYR. That night, the taxi driver tried to charge him 150 MYR. He tried to beat up the taxi driver. He got pulled away by the security guard. That was nearly 10 years ago.
It will happen again. I guarantee it
I did have the similar experience, since i traveled with family and small kids i gave up and pay the requested amount, normally a trip with meter taxi from KL down town to sunway lagoon will cost me around 60-70 rm, in reverse to go back from sunway to KL i easily catch a taxi in front of the mall, the meter run so fast, so at the end i have to pay more than 150 rm… such marathon meter are still a lot to be found in KL if you are not carefully
Crooks like these give the country a bad name.
Taxi drivers should not think they can cheat passengers by taking a longer route. With Google map anybody can check how long the route should be.
Protest…Protest…asked people banned uber and grab and let teksi unethical charge…
Hey taxi driver,
You thought youre smart enough? Information in on customer hands now. Google Maps, Waze, Uber and GrabCar will be their reference and surely they will know in instant if being con by you.
So go to school again please.
What differant uber charge rm80. B cos spad control fare price. Spad and uber olso go to scholl kid zania tadika again.
Obviously, you need to return to tadika. What a load of gibberish.
Poor taxi drivers. Just cause of a few bad apples, the whole tree is rotten. Too bad. Just take uber/grab for a fixed fare. Pity those innocent taxi drivers that will suffer cause of all this. Definitely Gonna lose their jobs next year as time will be harder. Rip taxi
Some of the taxi drivers don’t really care about the public opinion think and how the industry goes. In this tough environment, they might as well try their luck to cheat tourist money for their own benefit, if success they call it a day and better luck tomorrow.
Without an immediate action on setup a proper call center by penalizing all this wrong doing, more will come.
Taxi drivers complain that services like uber are stealing away their customers.. maybe, just maybe, this is one of the many reasons. They are dishonest and will try anyway to scam/con their ways into everyone’s wallet.
Unless the authorities are serious and send a strong message, this will never end. This is just one reported incident. Imagine the countless unreported ones. This incident requires a long jail sentence for the taxi driver concerned.
dont worry sarah from france.. we will revenge and punish these taxi drivers for you by banning from using all red cab driver!
red cab driver are you ready to suffer yet?
so taxi drivers bila mau protest? do a press conference to say that uber / grab blackmail you guys la…. always very good in giving excuses, right?
shame on these sick drivers
The taxi driver should be malaysian ambassador…now they turned to be malaysian crook.
Better return the extra charge to that tourist…or fine the taxi driver…overcharging, because low number of customers wanted to use taxi? Those refusals are what they reap from what they sowed.
“I charged RM800 becoz I got 4 wifes, 6 kids, wanted to by Iphone, enjoy-enjoy, and becoz barang barang naik harga….”
Last week I’ve waited for my friend at KL Central arrival hall. while waiting for him I saw this Arab couples looking for taxi to one of the hotel in bukit bintang and the taxi driver just shouted RM 60 to take them there. I was like what bukit bintang is less than 10km from KL Central. And the unfortunate couples left with the dishonest taxi driver.