The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has outlined its plans to improve the taxi industry in Malaysia. The Cabinet-approved Taxi Industry Transformation Programme (TITP) is geared to regulate e-hailing services (Uber/Grab), while providing existing taxis new opportunities to remain sustainable and competitive.
Quite a few points have been announced, most of which are set out to “resolve long-standing structural issues besetting the taxi industry” and to create a fair playing field that benefits drivers, operators and passengers. It’s said to be a clear way forward for the industry to “evolve towards a more sustainable future by being responsive to market forces.”
The TITP is underpinned by four key principles: leverage on technology, improve taxi drivers’ income and welfare, improve taxi drivers’ service quality and conduct and rationalise taxi fares.
As a start, e-hailing (Uber/Grab) will be regulated as an intermediary service under the Akta Pengangkutan Awam Darat 2010 (APAD). Once passed in Parliament, e-hailing companies will be required to be incorporated in Malaysia, and all e-hailing drivers will need to have a Drivers’ Card issued by SPAD.
Vehicles providing e-hailing services will also be required to comply with compulsory road worthiness inspections. Regulations will also be imposed on e-hailing companies and drivers to ensure that legitimate policy objectives like compulsory insurance coverage and safety requirements.
From September 1 onwards, SPAD will issue individual taxi licenses under the metered taxi class and hire cars. Qualified taxi drivers exiting the taxi rental (pajak) system will receive a cash grant amounting to RM5,000 from the Government to help them purchase a new vehicle.
Speaking of a new vehicle, taxi license holders will have much wider options, as vehicle models for taxis will be liberalised – no longer limited to select models like the Proton Exora and Toyota Innova. All models with at least a three-star safety rating by ASEAN NCAP will be approved, to accelerate the replacement of ageing vehicles and reduce costs for taxi drivers and operators.
Taxi rental contracts will be standardised, with operators to include a rent-free day for Puspakom inspection, annual and sick leave, first party vehicle insurance and deposit refund at the end of the contract. Taxi operators will also have mandatory KPIs, with fleets required to be linked to a dispatcher (mobile application, in addition to phone bookings, web booking or radio booking) to increase drivers’ earning.
For added safety, SPAD will impose a new set of stringent screening processes on taxi and e-hailing drivers, including health checks, criminal records, traffic offences and violations of SPADs Operating Licence conditions. SPAD will also work with the JPJ to monitor taxi drivers under the new Kejara Demerit Points System.
More importantly, the metered fare structure for taxis will be rationalised with the current budget fare. New TEKS1M fares will have a minimum charge of RM3, plus surcharges of 25 sen/200 m and 25 sen/36 seconds, down from the existing rates of RM4, 30 sen/200 m and 30 sen/36 seconds respectively.
For taxis picking up fares at airports and terminals, the existing zonal fare will be replaced by a distance based calculation to ensure consistency and fairness. Post-rationalisation, fares to certain destinations will go up, while others will drop considerably. Refer to the table above for examples.
Lastly, metered taxi licence drivers will have the option of applying a dynamic pricing structure, which allows them to use the meter for street-hails, or a different e-hailing fare structure if they provide e-hailing services.
Big changes ahead, then. Dear paultan.org readers, what do you think of this?
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Bezza? Hell no
I rather be in the new Persona
Got six airbags and VSC
Bro,Im driving Bezza .. Bezza is actually good good .. i think the best malaysian car so far (referring to the price and features) … Its a fuel save car and eco-friendly too .. I really hope Bezza taxi can be on the roads .. Looking forward very much ..
Bezza lampu belakang ciplak Saga … ceh !
All taxi drivers should use Proton! If not we protest like taxi drivers! My boss said only one type of taxi should be allowed and that is Proton!
U see, most taxis on the road are old Saga and Iswara. That shows how reliable they are. Why change to new cars if Proton can reliably take passengers to Nirvana?
If no one could force you to eat nasi lemak, why could you force others to use Proton?
First time know the taxi drivers are communist!
HAHAHA, they charged me RM50 from KLCC to Time Square. After i rejected, they wish me luck and ask other taxis not to take me.
Yes its good, if you have been driving a Beca all your life ..
I’ll have whatever you are smoking
I wud like to intro u to my gud fren from Nirvana. He has special package tailored for u
yes its called … a very “Different” package ?
Dear John, its bad to curse some body who can afford a new Perodua Bezza with NCAP 4s and feeling proud of it. Who doesn’t want a better imported car?
He just voice up his driving experience for few months and feeling it serve him well in term of fuel economy and comfort. Most of Malaysian know that Perodua makes quality car and can last for 15 years, that’s stated clearly in the sales figure every year.
Hope Malaysia car can continue to survive in the bad economy.
See price of Biza.
See topkek.
Topup abit.
Can get safer Iriz.
How safe is Iriz, bang tree also drivers die.
But once you get a Proton, your saving account forever not safe. Don’t play play with Proton quality. After the garage and tow truck expenses, Proton drivers can’t even afford Nirvana.
john up there kosong lah! What do you expect?
now only you know ah that john is a rude kurang ajar person?
Nice comment. Just i wish people would open their eyes to used car options instead of supporting the local car nonsense.
55k for a 5-star ancap with all the bell and whistle. wait! it’s an A-segment car!! NO. NOT WORTH IT
SPAD should enquire why majority of Uber drivers are not using Proton. Taxi drivers fully support Proton. When we take taxis, it means we support Proton and our local industry
Give tax exemption! RM50k for a Honda Civic taxi or equivalent please. At same fare, they can bring home more money. Cut out leeches and cronies like that Datuk Shamsu.
”at least 3 star ASEAN NCAP”? Is SPAD still lives in the 90’s? Make a max 5 star la plus make the age of the car max 10 years. Still doubt the taxis will use meters though
Then only Preve and topkek Persona2.0 can be taxi lor. Next u will say this is another plot to plotek P1 right? topkek betui
Mana CH1841 dah pegi?
But taximen still support PPB. So means:
Support taxi= supportPPB= supportTun= support Party Hard support nationalisation= anti liberalisation= anti Uber/Grab= anti SPAD= anti NajibBNGov.
U make the choice.
I’m fine with uber drivers having to go for inspection and what not but what I won’t be happy about is if SPAD starts to regulate the fares for Uber & Grab aswell. They can’t do that can they?
Thanks to that idiot Proton creator, 95% of the lousy garbage Proton models serving the country taxi has zero safety and putting our lives at danger. Totally zero airbags, no abs, cars that have been running for 20 years and going to fall apart anytime and still want to carry Malaysian lives? You think malaysians are fool izzit? Malaysians have rights and we can choose who we wish to pay for the taxi service. Why pay higher fee to sit in a junk Milo tin can car with zero safety and occasional no aircon and the drivers cannot even be bothered to fix or use the meter?? when we have the choice to pay for good service offered by grab or uber driver? At times we even got lucky when the driver came by in an Audi A4 with 9 airbags and SRS system!
Seem like you get angry to the wrong man. I’m also very upset with the current taxi operation. I don’t think that taxi company willing to provide the most high spec proton for their taxi is it? So when Uber/Grabcar comes, then now they become crazy.
in fact, proton has given out many benefit to the industry. by their vendors, creating thousands of jobs for malaysia.
the problem here is the taxi crony. this poor fella driving the old car just dont have enough money to get a new car and this big crony wont help or assist in any means.
i am a uber driver myself btw. my uncle is a taxi driver. we have no bad blood or whatever cause he is a honest driver.
most of lancau driver is from the golden triangle area. lol
dei once again, the bezza looks like it can terbalik anytime now . . .
Hahaha… that’s the best I’ve heard so far in describing the Bezza…. you are spot on… its really bad design… the butt is sticking up too high and its body is narrow
So…. when will the protest be held?
PPB says together with Ber… oh wai
Together with Ber…. wait a minute
i think its a good move from SPAD for the taxi driver. But, the government need to regulate more on UBER. This apps make we lose our money. Do TAX uber in order to prevent cash from flowing out of the country
LOL…make “we” lose our money..apa england ni?
asyik asyik komplain…..find extra job and work extra harder….larrrrrre
Please don’t use this rendered pic again.It is an eyesore.
Please please dont use bezza..ugly shit ,eyesore car
if SPAD wants to improve Taxi driver’s lot here is some suggestion for them :
1. taxi vehicle is for commercial use so they should only be used for that purpose only. in that point it will reduce the rate of wear and tear if it was to be used for personal or home use.
2. to support point 1 above, introduce taxi depot at various location about city area. this taxi depot should serve to provide secure parking area and also reduces the driver’s travel distance to where they prefer to pick up and serve public
3. this taxi depot also can be a mean for authority to conduct regular check of taxi condition. attend to public complaints.
4. as for the taxi drivers, please provide them with incentive such as free cleaning service for those that log in and store their vehicle 5 times a week consecutively… who don’t want clean taxi !!!
5. perhaps proton or perodua might setup service center there for immediate repair and perhaps if gov do intend to provide some form of subsidy, they could use this channel to get it thru.
Hopefully by separating personal and commercial use of these vehicle, we could see taxi in much better shape on our roads.
cheers
You taxi driver to buy and do maintenance on two cars? They barely afford one.
Taxi depot? Good point but taxi company will not do it because they want to put the liability to taxi drivers.
You are right, taxi company don’t need this kind of taxi depot instead they should have their own.
As for cooperative based or individual owner based which this proposal is intended for… perhaps these proposal can be further improved based on those with experience driving taxi… I am just a taxi rider…
cheers
“All models with at least a three-star safety rating by ASEAN NCAP will be approved”
Basically you can’t use exora / perdanaccord.
They weren’t tested by asean ncap.
First thing first….stop giving permits to companies/operators instead gives permits to the drivers/individuals. This way the government can control them. If they dont buckle up and improves their services,the permit will be revoke like using the merit and demerit systems.
close SPAD down, this is a redundant department that make transport minister useless and consolidate cronies power and none constitutional..
Malaysia gov is very good at this: talk ambitious poor enforcement. Plan is plan on paper. Before call me a basher, think for a second, if they can’t regulate every existing taxi driver to run on meter and selective on client what make you think they can enforce further, as ambitious as mentioned above!
many such examples i.e AES (spend spend then only realize law incompatibility), GST (quick to collect fail to refund) … and not least, our ‘best’ education in the world as claimed by gov!
time based charge? they will drive very slow and choose the most far route…that’s what all that ‘gangsters’ does….that’s why uber become more popular….
it has been implemented like a decade ago… they use distance based fare if the car is moving. and the time based if the car is stuck in jam. long time ago, people complaining about taxi drivers refused to go to their destination due to traffic jam and in the other hand, taxi drivers also complaining that they will lose if they’re stuck in jam just to ferry that passenger. imagine you work 8 hours, and they drive also 8 hours a day.. if they stuck 1 hour in every trip, that means they are only making 8 trip and surely it’s not enough to cover the rental for the day alone… they have to drive long hours everyday. hence the introduction of time based fare and special lane for taxis and buses to avoid them stuck in jam…
Then they should also have time-based deduction for the passenger. Say the taxi promised 10minute could reach, but end up 20min, then is a free ride.
If taxi can’t keep that promise, use distance based charge.
Otherwise, say goodbye to taxi and hello to Uber/Grab again.
The title should called SPAD LPPL Taxi Transformation Programme.
Even Uber driver cannot give promise like that la, use Gps also. Uber driver bomoh ah? Can know where is jam when accident happen? If late, Uber can give discount?
Do we think taxi drivers have so much money to go thru all these regulations and then lower the fares. I don’t think we’re being realistic here.
Hope the rational to legalise is to bring the “teksi” service to UBER/GRAO quality/price level and not the other way around.
Well, this is good news and all, but the biggest problem is still very much the attitude of most taxi drivers themselves. You can change the taxicabs easily, the drivers much less so.
Also, I don’t approve of the 3-star ASEAN NCAP prerequisite… what rubbish, SPAD may as well approve every car then ! … it should be 5-star ASEAN NCAP or nothing (in other words, ESC or nothing).
Anyway, the rakyat have already won. After years of putting up with abysmal, overpriced and downright life threatening taxi services, we now have a solid alternative. Yay for competition.
By trying to help everyone, they are helping no one. Should have had a clear policy of retaining uber/grab only with minimal regulation.
There needed to be an evolution not a snails pace change.
What a load of crap!
E-service lah, level playing field lah… and all nonsense.
Not a single word or initiative about get rid of those thug drivers that never follow meter!!??
If it is going to be the same monkey behind the steering wheel, nothing will change.
You have regulations to control the hiring to ensure safety of the passengers.
You have regulations to ensure safer cars on the roads.
You have regulations to ensure welfare of the drivers.
But where’s the regulation to ensure that the drivers use the meter and are not overcharging again? isn’t that the main problem they should be resolving?
The Grab and Uber are open to the taxi drivers too.
The only people who are really complaining are the taxi company owners coz they are the one that would suffer the most. These are the people that have victimized the drivers via their cut throat license fees and turned them into thugs in order to provide food for their families.
Grab and Uber should just go out and recruit the taxi drivers and free them from their evil bosses.
We don’t want uber/grab to recruit thugs.
Sorry to say this but anything that comes out from SPAD with you know who helming it, is and will always be a washout idea devoid of intellectual input and output. Just goes to show again, kau-tauing to the Taxi industry.
The plan sounds good on paper – at least at face value. I personally have no in-depth understanding of the taxi industry in Malaysia to be able to say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I would think that allowing taxi drivers to go into business directly instead of being forced to lease vehicles from taxi companies is a very good thing.