The government and relevant enforcement agencies have been urged to suspend the permits/licenses of taxi drivers who participate in illegal gatherings, which were held to allegedly demand justice over the disruption caused by e-hailing operators such as Grab, the New Straits Times reports.
Malaysian Public Transport Users Association (4PAM) president Ajit Johl, who proposed the matter, said cab drivers who organise demonstrations are giving off the impression that they are not willing to reflect upon themselves and improve their service.
He said taxi drivers, who were once regarded as ‘small ambassadors’ of the country, are instead appearing to act like gangsters and trying to cover up their own failure to compete in an ever-developing market by pointing fingers at the government.
“Good, let them have gatherings or demonstrations because this will only prove to the rakyat and consumers that this group of people will never wake up and rise from their failure in offering high quality taxi services. Their image is bad right now, as seen by the rakyat, so organising demonstrations or gatherings will only affect their own livelihood,” said Ajit. “The best way is to rise from failure and improve their service so they can regain the trust of public transport users,” he added when commenting on a proposed peaceful gathering.
The gathering, which is scheduled for October 24 at Padang Merbok, was called for by Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail, founder of Big Blue Taxi and an outspoken voice for taxi drivers in the country, will apparently see over 3,000 taxi drivers from around the country gather to make their case heard for the alleged injustice caused by e-hailing operators .
They also called for the sacking of transport minister Anthony Loke and Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) CEO Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah for their failure to solve the issue, hence angering taxi drivers.
In continuation, Ajit added that these taxi drivers should come to terms that choices made by the public today are somewhat driven by technological advancements and the change in business models, especially in the transport industry.
He said the concept of e-hailing was more transparent in terms of payment, user feedback and safety aspects (newer, safer cars in general), hence making it the preferred choice among consumers.
“Previously, when cabs were needed, they (taxi drivers) were selective because they had the upper hand in controlling market patterns, but all that has changed with the emergence of Grab and Uber.
“Since back then, the attitude of a majority of taxi drivers have not changed – they are harsh and rude – this includes the way some of them behaved when attending the discussion session with prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad the other day. If they can be rude to a father figure of 93 years old, what more with consumers,” he said.
In addressing the issue, the government has resorted to creating a level playing field, in that both ride-hailing drivers and cabbies will be subjected to the same rules and regulations. The process will be implemented in stages to ensure smooth operation for all parties, and will begin on January 1 next year and expected to be completed within a period of six months.
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New Gov. and Rakyat should weed out these parasite! they’re just thugs working under cronies! Let the market decide e-hailing wins or taxi! Do you see those sundry shops owner organise demonstrations when their rice bowl affected by hyper-market??? Do you see hardware shop owners organise demonstrations when Rm2 shops swallowed their revenue???
All these problems is because the lazy teksi drivers are making so much of noise, threats and walkouts. Jealousy is the No 1 cause here.
Hello teksi drivers, you guys are so lazy. All the time want to be pampered and want bantuan all the time. Typical Putrajaya mentality.
Try to work hard and if can, go join Grab. Nobody is stopping you from joining Grab. Why must you be jealous? Go join Grab and make money like the Grab drivers.
Don’t just lepak bawah pokok and sembang with other teksi drivers for hours. All the time smoking under the tree, chit chatting and looking at girls.
Be like the NTUC drivers in Singapore. They work non stop. 12 hours non stop they are driving looking for passengers.
You are lazy, how you expect money to come to you? If you spend like 6 hours in the day sleeping under the tree, smoking non stop inside a parked teksi……of course money won’t come to you.
Cehh.. Bodo sombong smrt
During the previous 60 years of corruption, these people got a free ride in life. Just goyang kaki and like their own kind, expect money to fall onto their laps.
Now, new regime, fair play, we all have to work hard for our money. Pls wake up abang abang.
Both taker & giver should be punished.
Previous gomen open the door for e hailing service la bangang. malaysia is one of the first country to legalize e hailing service
The people wants e-hailing services. It’s as simple as that. You cannot stop technological disruption. Good or bad, they will come and everyone, taxi drivers included, must adapt to remain relevant. If there’s anyone to blame for this mess, it should be the taxi drivers themselves for wanting to remain the same way as before
Pity Grab drivers now subject to all sorts of regulations and fees just because teksi guys are jealous.
Grab and Uber gave the rakyat clean, not smelly teksis and honest system.
We the rakyat got fed up with cheating teksi drivers. Even I myself have been asked to pay RM300 for a ride from KL Sentral to KLCC which took a mere 10 minutes.
Malaysians were fed up with the cheating teksi drivers. All the time refuse to pick up passengers because of suka hati. Jam means or rain, tell the passenger don’t want to bring them. If bring them, even 1KM, they charge RM50
Rakyat got fed up with all these cheating. Then refuse to use meter. Those who use meter also, 9 out of 10 meters got gadget inside that can make the meter move faster. When JPJ want to inspect, then they remove the gadget, thus no detection.
We have had enough of cheating by the teksi abang abang.
Oh yeah, don’t forget about the huge number of dirty teksi drivers who talk dirty to women and try to peep into their skirts when they collect money.
Until today teksi drivers are non stop digging their nose and using 2 ten sen coins to cabut their bulu janggut at traffic lights…..time to change la
Totally agree of all your comment….but the last paragraph…I do that some times also la…how….but I am not driving taxi…hahahaha….
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Remeber laat time they so LCLY blocked Bukit Bintang and even polis cannot do anyting..nw padan muka boleh balik Tongsan ini kali-lah
But some of them not originated from Tongsan. Those from Tongsan balik Tongsan, but might need some different destinations for the others…. Maybe Indon and India?
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Dunt forget most of them drive like thugs chg lane without signal and always like looking for a fight
Even at even level playing field, taxi driver will still lose out.. Foreign tourists are just too familiar with GRAB.. just let them collapse and revamp themselves
Ban taxis in Malaysia. They give this country a bad image. They are like tourists from China.
Just close down all online taxis lah then problem solved. It’s that simple!
#BOYCOTT TRADITIONAL TAXI IN MALAYSIA FOR 1 MONTH
They helped Bapak so now Bapak is helping them. The end of rideshare here is near and the pipu has voted for it. Congrats.
The government should strip away the datukship of Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail. He is the culprit of causing unrest. We will boycott Big Blue Taxi until his datukship being strip off.
I have been driving teksi since 2005. I am against ehailing services but then since it is already here, we have to accept it. We have to improve our teksi services. I suggest ehailing private cars undergo same procedures as teksi requirements like PSV, Puspakom, insurance etc. The fares us fixed on apps shud not be too low. Those approved private cars operating as ehailing shud have stickers to identify themselves as ehailing services.
and why don’t you embrace the technology and be a grab driver instead of a traditional taxi driver. the future of taxi is e-hailing and ride-sharing. if you don’t start embracing it, then will be like nokia.. can tutup kedai
If teksi drivers think they have it bad, just look at newspaper/magazine. See how the mighty NST/Star/MM/BH/Utusan all have fallen. Malay Mail even had 2 editions daily back in the 80s, perhaps the forerunner to today’s instantaneous news. Add to that, today’s Citizen Journalist who reports what they see, what they think; no longer do you have to work for a traditional print paper/magazine to be a journalist.
Heck, even what you’re reading here in Paul Tan is the new Car Magazine. Do teksi drivers think they can roll back time? Do teksi drivers think they can halt technology & progress? Those that stubbornly want to stay the same as the bad old days better just Balik Kampung Tanam Jagung. Dinosaur too went extinct despite being the strongest & biggest beast.
you talk about level playing field, can grab drivers enjoy subsidized NGV, subsidized tyres, lower toll fare ? can they pick up passengers from road side ?
I have not taken taxi for years and nothing is going to change that.. be gone taxi..
End of ridesharing? John could you stop pulling “facts” from out of your behind?
What’s so wrong with John’s statement? When industries gets over regulated to the point it benefits it’s competitors, then the players will exit the business. Much like how before Madey national car projects, there were many brands being assembled here but almost all gone due to regulations and rules implemented to benefit his “babies”. The same goes for banking & services industries as well.
John foreseen that but you didn’t. So what’s his fault?
The reason is very simple – Proton cars. Nobody wants to sit inside a noisy and lousy dirty Proton taxi car. Replace all the lousy proton with more supreme Toyota Perodua cars, people will choose taxi.
These gangsters aka cab drivers are really insane.. They literally want a free hand where they can do anything they want without repercussions.. Grab n Uber opened the rakyat’s eyes to good quality ride hailing and these punks want us to go back?? The ones at times square refuse to use meters for any ride, they have “fixed” prices which are absolutely insane and since they don’t have common sense they want us to not have other options other than them punks.
These guys paint very badly on Malaysian cabbies over all attitude, not all of them, but majority behave the way the president act. IBoikot them esp those from langkawi , blue taxi and KL. the are really a nuisance on the road.
Tolong hapuskan Taxi di M’sia skrg.
-Kotor
-Jijik
-Benci
-Perompak
-Angkuh
It’s ironic to see the picture with the note “Grab Beroperasi Tanpa Garis Panduan Dan Undang”. Even if the taxis have rules and regulations, are they operating following the rules? Charging high prices without using Meters and refuse to take u to the destination if the place is jam or the driver don’t feel like going there. All this is in the taxis rules and regulations? Grow up and listen to what the consumers want before u start complaining about grab or Uber. If your service is good I’m sure people will still be taking taxis.
While grab sits quietly while this is going on hoping no one notices. An exploitative corrupt company that milks it’s drivers dry and keeps them under daily threats of suspension and termination. Takes massive chunk of driver earnings. Doesn’t provide any welfare. Drive and drive and be grab slaves, that’s their business model.
you dont like grab, you are free to quit grab and work for taxi or their other competitor.
Taxi. I’ve been cheated by you during the time when their is no Grab. Even a short trip during my travelling in KL which is less than 500m. It cost me RM20.00 ~ RM25.00. From KL city to KLIA cost me RM150.00 ~ RM200.00. After Grab was introduce, short trip only RM6 ~ RM8 (sometime even cheaper or free if using promo code) While to KLIA only RM75.00 (with toll). I never use Taxi because they always charge me higher price. Let everyone to decide which is more cheaper and comfortable.
A group of funny people. If really so free to protest better use the time to earn more money!