Yes, the same old people protesting against the same old people. The only things that have changed in this latest taxi driver protest against app-based car hailing services GrabCar and Uber are the names of the cabbies’ organisation and the location.
Earlier today, some 50 taxi drivers from various associations in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor held a protest at the headquarters of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in Kelana Jaya and submitted a memorandum. The well worn reason is that the mushrooming of these “unlicensed taxis” have impacted their income, The Rakyat Post reports.
According to a rep from the Badan Bertindak Pemandu Teksi Bersatu, Rosman Rahmat, taxi drivers can no longer bear the hike in natural gas-powered vehicles (NGV) fuel costs and the goods and services tax (GST), while having to compete with unlicensed private drivers.
“We are forced to band together to help ourselves, this is the final resort as citizens of the country. We request that drastic action be taken against the unlicensed taxies. The applications of private car companies must also be stopped,” the 45-year old cabbie said, adding that the safety of the private vehicles and the identity of the drivers are unverified.
“Taxi drivers are not given a mechanism with regards to Social Security Organization (Perkeso), subsidies or insurance to face any eventualities that occur during their work,” added Raj Rajathinam from the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Taxi Driver’s Association.
The protesting cabbies also “trapped” a private car driver by requesting a ride via the MyTeksi/GrabCar app. The arriving driver, Suhaimi Abdul Manaf, saw his car surrounded by cabbies, who then urged SPAD to arrest him. “They told us they are going to take him to the depot or main headquarters to process him. Hopefully, they will take stern action,” said Jay Rohezan, the man who set up the trap.
According to SPAD’s 2014 survey, more than half the respondents said they didn’t feel safe riding in a taxi, and 50% said they were forced to take taxis which did not use the meter. Other common complaints were that it was almost impossible to get a taxi in bad weather and during peak hours. “People must want to take taxis. Otherwise, they will take the risk of going to unlicensed operators,” SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said last month.
While SPAD has seized private cars from GrabCar and Uber before, Syed Hamid concedes that enforcement was proving a difficult task, as the outfit had only 300 staff.
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Jealous taxi drivers got nothing better to do since people started using Uber / Grabcar. So are they going to protest again when the MRT is in operation?
I dont want to be rude. But they(taxi driver) should find another job. Time have changed. They should move on.
Support our local industry. Uber and GrabCar are haram. PERS1M is halal and we must support our taxi drivers!
Proton can’t sell their “super safe” car models and they beg government to help.
Lousy taxi drivers can’t keep customer due to their poor services and reckless driving. And they beg government to help.
I don’t see the difference between both but one same thing – tongkat.
they also used to protest again the GoKL buses because of “stealing” passengers from klcc to bukit bintang.
i guess they could go after MRT…
they should go after all public transport except taxi themselves. maybe also go after all car dealers so that they don’t sell cars and the people would ONLY take taxi.
They should protest at all car showrooms as well. These car distributors terang2 snatch their customers….
One look at them and you can tell why people hate taking taxis nowadays – the protesters look like drunkard gangsters who will mug passengers at any moment.
No matter how many times they protest, they still get no sympathy from the people, and everyone will say “padan muka” whenever bad things befall these taxi thugs. Doesn’t that say a lot about how much they’re unwelcomed on our streets??
To hell with these taxi drivers. The reasons they are in this predicament is due to themselves. Vast majority of them are rude, lazy and refuses to use the meters. No wonder most people went for Grabcar/Uber. These taxi drivers knows only how to complain and don’t know how to compete.
Taxi drivers: Uber and GrabCar is making us lose customers!
Customer: Ok how bout you improve your service first & stop cheating us
Taxi drivers: Nah…
Instead of protesting and whining, why not work harder to fix your rotten image instead ?
Do these protesters think the average rakyat gives a damn whether Uber drivers are licensed or not ? Heck, most of our Klang Valley taxi drivers are already criminals in one way or another, we would rather place our bets on Uber and GrabCar instead.
Don’t expect BN to save you guys, most of you voted for them anyway, deal with it.
I remembered one time i got caught in the rain and hailed for a taxi , from midvalley to desa pandan the driver was asking for rm40 bux …no meter….
im sure there are sour apples….
but from my own experience 90% of taxi drivers are a-ok , regardless of race …
myteksi app is brilliant, i reccommend it to anyone to try it , since im staying in desa pandan, the response time is less than 5 minutes, im still wearing my pants when the taxi arrives…
Worse thing is, using meter would bring it to RM40 as well or more..
Right now meter starts at RM3 for the first 1km, and 0.25 per 200 meters.. another 0.25 on 36secs idle.. stuck in a bad traffic with distance 12-15km would easily bring you to RM50..
A traffic free trip from LRT kelana jaya to TTDI (5km) already cost me RM12..
Not to forget, using myteksi automatically means RM2 to your bill. So, mininum charge is RM5. I used uber from phileo damansara to TTDI only costed me RM6.91
I myself is both rider and driver.
Reason i dont use taxi : smelly car, rude drivers, cheating meters and purposely step on the gad paddle without shifting the gear.
for the same price i’m paying, who would prefer to sit in an old saga compared to a new myvi/new saga or sometimes City/Vios if there’s luck?
Seriously? Why don’t the taxi drivers improve their service instead of whining about Uber/Grabcar? People won’t find other alternative if they satisfied with the taxi service. These are several issues regarding the taxi services which make them don’t want to get a taxi.
1. Some of the taxi cars are not in good condition
2. The drivers are not friendly and sometimes are PERVERT
3. They intendly to use the furthest way to increase the fare.
4. They declined the customers just because don’t want to face the traffic jam during peak time.
5. They just simply ridiculously mark up the price. They said ‘off peak’ fare.
These are some of the reasons. I have face all these kinds of incidents. I would say I prefer to get a ride on a Myvi from Uber instead of a Saga taxi.
You will take care your own car way better than your company car right? So the car itself much way better.
Uber advantages over taxi: cheaper and no midnight surcharges. Newer and better maintained cars too!
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I drove for Uber for about 1 month. One time got an Indonesian rider and he said share-riding service like Uber/Grabcar cannot survive back in his country due to efficiency and professionalism shown by the local taxi company there. To taxi drivers, step up your game before blaming others and asking for tongkat.
Pundek, drop dead already.
SPAD oh SPAD, buffet is served, but oh wait, those ancient Saga are safer? Why, cuz their metals are stronger than Volvo’s, right?
Those scums don’t use meter, what? No need take action? Genious!
the taxi driver with those earrings and tatoo looks like a rascal. If i’m the passenger, I wouldn’t want to board his taxi and most likely he is a cheat.
Hapuskan SPAD and this gangster and robbing taxi drivers! Grabcar and Uber are the best!
Any taxi drivers here?!
Listen Up!!
I am ok with you guys protesting for your so called rights la k but don’t just bark on something that you guys are not intending to improve at!!
Start behaving properly, don’t over charge & don’t behave rude to the passenger or any other driver on the road.
That GRABCAR/UBER driver has been given an opportunity to impore his income slidely more thats all!! You know NAJIB has played our back side right?
90% of these drivers are part timers & they get their customers based on app requests alryte.
Plus petrol price in Malaysia is uncertain all the time, maintainacr is being done by themselves. Cut them some slack lar!!
I am now very curious, if you guys have the balls to protest infront of SPAD all the time…
Why aren’t you guys locating the app providers office & make a protest there rather than endangering the GRABCAR/UBER drivers?
You guys still have the upperhand at this matter yet acting really foolish.
Get some educated fella to read about cities where UBER has failed to capture the market even with high offerings.
Learn from what their country taxi drivers have done to break UBER’s operations in a brilliant way…
Still thinking I am stupid & You are right… Keep on barking boys…
Frankly I don’t feel sorry for them. My experience with them are mostly disappointing. Many times meter is not being used and they told me to get out if I can’t pay the rate they want. They continue to prey on victims in rush of time. I only use apps like My teksi to call for one if I need a cab, my kudos to myTeksi as they make sure all registered teksi follow meter charges.
I support Uber/ grabcar because it’s time to let these thugs know the public don’t need their kind of services. Go fly kite!
Ill tell you readers a story of my cab experience few years back.
I got down from my bus in Pudu bus station, with 2 large bags and was heading to Kl station to take the train. The distance between pudu bus station and the ktm kl station is not that far. Perhaps a 20 minutes walk would do. But on that particular day, i was having a fever and carrying 2 heavy bags made it even worse, so I decided to take a cab.
Now, as i approached the cab drivers, i told them i would like to go to the train station, the first guy asked for RM40 ringgit. I said that was too much, he rudely replied ” u cari jalan sendiri la “. Then another cab driver said he will send me, when asked how much will it cost, he said, dont worry, we talk later. So assuming he would use the meter, i hopped in. Oh he did use the meter alright, but instead of just dropping me off near the Poslaju area as i requested which is much more convenient for the both of us, he took me for a spin in his cab, i still dont understand why we passed St Johns school. He dropped me off at the main gate of the ktm station and the meter showed RM40. He then calmly said, since we same skin, we must help each other out, he gave me a discount and asked for RM30. Now, i really had no mood to argue, i just calmly paid him and left.
Oh the story doesn’t end there, after getting on the train and arriving at my destination, Sg Buloh Station, I have to take a cab to my house, which is in Bandar Baru sg buloh. Its just a 15 minute journey from the station to my house if you have a car. There were like 5 to 6 cabs at that time, all lined up waiting for passengers. But its their wish if they want to go to that area or not. And if you are the only one thats going to that area, they will wait till they get at least 3 more people to the same destination. So, since i was the only one, I had to wait…i waited for nearly 30-40 minutes. At least 3-4 trains have passed the station. Finally there was 4 of us, and he took us to Bandar Baru. So how do you charge 4 heads when their houses are not far apart…well, he charged RM10 per head. Thats Rm40 ringgit just like that.
Whatever it is, as soon as I got back home, I made a promise to myself to buy a car and never to take public transport again. And thats the best decision ive ever made.
Totally understand your situation. I would rather not drive in peak hours, but in Malaysia we all need a car. I have used train, bus, taxi in my time. So unfortunate that they get away with this bad service.
Wow! I was in the same situation as you few months back. And guess where, yes, Sg Buloh station. I had to wait for another passenger and it was getting very late, so i decided to call up a friend to pick me up.
so we r going to have a white shirt rally i suppose…
i somehow get alot of satisfaction attaching a middle finger meme on top of each head in the picture above…
Fooking bunch of gangsters they are. I’ve not sat in any of their taxis at all in recent years when the saviour apps arrived to save me from these devils. I hope the crash n burn for causing us misery over the decades.
Lets face it, not only taxi facing competition. Competition appears in all other industries.
Competition is good for improvement and ultimately the consumers will be benefited. Not a bad thing though…
Padam muka
Pengkhianat negara membiarkan undang undang pengangkutan jalan dicabuli oleh pihak asing yang menjalankan perniagaan haram uber dan grabcar. Mana maruah penguatkuasa yang dipertanggungjawabkan untuk menjaga kedaulatan undang2 negara?
I’m a MyTeksi user also. Most of the licensed taxi fellow says MyTeksi apps is good as long as u accept trips as much as u can (unless the route is traffic jam in peak hours we can understand) and using meter as well as discipline. They giving incentive also.
Our problem starts with the licensing itself. Taxi licenses are given to people based on their political affiliations and not because of need. It is a very comfortable side income for these blood suckers, who live off the sweat and toil of the taxi drivers. Licences, which are obtained free from the govt, are rented for RM25 per day. On top of it, the driver has to pay for instalments , insurance, fuel and maintenance. There are days when they come home with no food to put on the table.
To many, cheating becomes a necessity.
I’m not condoning their actions, but just giving their side of the story.
Most of them is Bangla driver. Why support the cronies company that did not bring benefit to the people.
Let them complete and get a better services from them. Most Grabcar provide new vehicle.
Why do we take alternatives because these bloody suckers have screwed over time and again. Just look at the damn taxis they drive!!! Poor upkeep and looks like going to fall apart. Now with competition they have to buck up. Stop being like Jamal and his red shirts like a child that has been denied candy by his parents. Similarly, competition is good and the weak has to die so that efficiency can take place. Quit whining and move on. Consumers deserve to have alternatives not be held at gun point. So many stories have been told how bad Malaysian taxis are how people we cheated into paying more than what we should be paying.
Fix your cab problem and especially cab driver. They did not look pleasant to me. I would rather take Uber..