Last week, it was reported that taxi drivers were apparently returning their vehicles to their respective companies in huge numbers, with the number bandied being as high as 10,000. Now, those involved in the taxi business say there is a possibility the RM230 million industry may collapse in the next 16 months, buckling in the wake of pressure from ride-hailing services such as Grab and Uber.
According to industry insiders, taxi firms are expecting losses in revenue of up to RM60 million loss by year end if the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) doesn’t step in to save it, The Sun reports.
A taxi operator said the industry is experiencing rapid decline, with an increasing number of new taxis sitting dormant and existing taxis being returned by cabbies unwilling to continue driving. Avenue Drive managing director Abd Razak Abd Aziz said that on average, the industry has been suffering between RM15 million and RM20 million losses every month.
“The business was bad post-GST. With Uber and Grab in the picture, we are suffering even more. Take for example, a new Proton Persona taxi with a cost of RM50,000 each. Imagine, if one operator cannot lease out 50 Persona taxis or have them returned (by the drivers); RM2.5 million lost is just for one small company,” he told the publication.
“Think about the big taxi operators and the whole industry, as there will be some 20,000 abandoned taxis in the coming months. Think about loss of income by taxi drivers and also taxi operators having to service bank loans and other costs,” he said, adding that in the case of his company, around 20 taxis had been returned by cabbies since July and there had been no takers for 60 new taxis since early this year.
Another taxi operator said that the playing field was not lever between taxis and ride-hailing services. “Please ask SPAD what it is doing by allowing Uber and Grab to operate illegally, without Puspakom inspection and other things,” said a spokesman for Uptownace.
Meanwhile, an industry professional reckons that many taxi operators won’t survive beyond 2018 if ride-hailing services continue to offer lower fares. “Cheaper fare is the primary reason why many passengers are ditching taxis and switching to Grab or Uber. It is already affecting cabbies and taxi operators badly,” said Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) liaison manager Y.S. Chan.
The Sun said that checks it had conducted at several taxi company depots in Rawang, Selayang, Kepong, Ampang, Pandan, Seri Kembangan and Shah Alam had revealed that around 1,600 taxis were parked within these premises.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
good waiting for it die
Finally there is a way to exterminate the cockroaches from breeding
There is a song, it was by John Lennon, performed by Beatles. The title starts with Let .. ..
Anybody?
Now Rakyat need show the Malaysia cronies company we still waiting for the next cronies to die in this industry!!!
Sure there be alot of Innova in blue selling the next 16 months
No Improvement in Education + No English = No Job …. only good Juara Kampung and Katak Bawah Tempurung…. refuse to change scared to change …. continue to vote BN just to get Rm500 a year….and your future generations will be taxi drivers never knowing how to fish
Now teksi drivers are paying for their sins. This what happens when you fetch a Mat Salleh visiting Malaysia in KL Sentral and charge him RM300 to go to KLCC during non peak hours.
Not one Mat Salleh kena. Not two. But hundreds of Mat Salleh kena.
What you do to others, you will get back. Law of karma.
While I am anti-samseng-taxi, your story go from RM100 to RM300 now?
They charge RM50-80. Which is still cutthroat, but that is what they charge.
Teksi drivers used to threaten that they will not vote BN if gomen don’t comply with their wishes
Hello bodoh bodoh drivers, Khazanah and LTAT have invested hundreds of millions in Uber. U think they care for u?
Ha ha ha. Padan muka
Most taxi driver never support BN.
kzm, sound more like taxi drivers are being played out.
Khazanah employees probably maybe kena scam by samseng taxi drivers and was amazed with Uber’s services, that is probably why Khazanah decided to invest on UBer.
Judgment day for you samseng taxi drivers !
Kami masyarakat moderate…majoriti Pemandu Teksi adalah bekas tentera dan polis.
Hargai laa jasa mereka.
They can always drive for Uber and Grab. Better than being victimized by taxi companies with political ties.
Kita tak menentang pemandu teksi tp Kita menentang konsep 1 pemimpin umno ada 20-30 permit teksi. Memaksa pemandu membayar rm50-60 sehari. Seterusnya pemandu perlu menekan penumpang utk membayar Sewa dan untung utk byr duit petrol, makan minum dan Sara keluarga.
Lately, I was in a rush to collect my new Royce.
I boarded a red taxi.OMG……..people say,they dont use the meter.
This 15 year old proton Wira has NO METER at all!!!!
This boneshaker spewed out tons of smoke,but the fare was ok(lump sum).The driver could be your datuk,70plus..
Let the whole industry collapse…and all migrate to taxi apps…..the fittest will survive.
How? The Royce chocolate got melt?
Ha ha ha S, that’s a good one. More like the chocolate got ROASTED.
Gua lg tension dgn teksi bikin kecoh pegang sepanduk kasi sesak jalan
It will never collapse. It will just flush all the shit out leaving those honest hardworking ones behind.
I fully agree with this statement, the result of ride sharing apps is just another business venture and also most importantly the own doing of rude taxi drivers and those who overcharged and purposely use a longer route
This has to happen because our teksi drivers are lazy to the core. Half the time, instead of driving around looking for passengers, they are parked in a group under a tree and smoking and relaxing. This goes on for hours. All smoke, relax, minum the, talk about aweks and about chics for hours.
No wonder you cannot make money.
Then our teksi drivers get involved as accomplices of pimps. Every teksi driver tries to persuade male tourist and male Malaysians whether they want kongkek.
They do this, cause they get commission from the brothels and spas and massage parlours. So, they will try their level best telling you about how many different girls they have of different races.
Malaysia is now known as a sin capital of Asia because these cab drivers have been working hand in hand with the pimps.
So, when you play with dark side, you kena makan lah. Now, you suffer lah for the sins you have done.
You may be right. It means 99.99% will be flushed.
True. Those privately owned taxis still can survive when they earn rm80 per day. No problem. But taxis bought at 50k is like a bull$hit. They are supposed to be tax free.
Aiseh, just ditch your taxis and join Grab and Uber. Why susah-susah….. If you can’t win, then join them!
Nobody gives a rat’s ass about a disgusting industry that is the malaysian taxi cabs. worst in the world. a national embarrassment.
sila meninggal.
yo this is the nature of business abang, if no such ride sharing, how many millions you make every month? diam diam saja, now not tak cukup makan baru come out talking. If cannot do big business, do small small also can earn living la, no need to have so many cars to lease out.
Just allow bank loan for taxi drivers purchase their own cars for Uber/Grab usage. Who need middle man for leasing expensive lousy cars.
This will weed out those who use the AP and license given as a print money scheme. We need to smarten up our taxi industry and I believe a good and healthy competition will just give us the users and consumers what we need.
Please let it collapse. Please.
Uber and Grab, time for you guys to take over and keep up the good work
Good…another reason to celebrate…
Like any other business, there is a risk of competition and possible collapse if you can’t compete. Why must this taxi business be any different?
Is time they wake up from thinking they had a sure-win business.
Start innovate, get rid of the thugs, improve quality of service, stop refusing customers and follow meter.
Do the basics before you demand help. Otherwise nobody will shed a tear if you collapse.
What a good news!
Why do we/SPAD think about the taxis industry when they are the ones who started bullying people with their nonsense? I mean look at the time when there is no UBER or GRAb, what happen to us?? being cheated at by them so easily and now the whole nation have to stop and think about taxis’s driver and operator cant get enough money for them? how about us paying the taxes? does anyone have to stop and think about us. Please stop this nonsense. just because you are running out of income we have to come and support u? for what exactly? nak selamatkan taxi untuk apa? if u want us to support u, u change yourself first, like most of the people here said BE COMPETITIVE AND CHANGE YOUR WAYS OF THINKING. Takkan semua nak orang ajar!!!!
Great news! Uber and Grab pls don’t hire them.
Best news of the day.
how come i feel that SPAD would rather want it collapse than help the current taxi industry?
SPAD is not stupid honestly, they can choose to let things happen naturally and now they are doing so.
don’t worry, when uber and grab offer low price, their drivers will ditch them too….
so taxi drivers ditch the industry and followed by uber and grab drivers. that’s when no taxi or e-hailing app in malaysia.
now everyone can drive.
12 months ago they also said the same thing. last year they staged protest and created lots of problems too. problem is they are still surviving…. why?????
Good!
Let them die a natural death !!
the word “TAXI” only relevant during dinosour period =)
if taxis are not in our drive way, the ecosystem of traffic will be much more civilized.
People say banks will die too
Great news! Finally.But why take so long? Can reduce to 6 months time? One have to be sacrificed for the good of many.Remember your past hooligan attitude towards consumers? Eat back what u gave to us! Now it’s our time to sing out very loud and proud.Listing out your bad services would take 1000 pages.Finally you’ll out of world’s number one ‘Worst Taxi Drivers in the World’ by UK websites.Urging all Malaysian to boycott taxi drivers! All hail Grab and Uber! hahahahaha
‘Selamatkan Pemandu Teksi’? Tak malu ker harapkan org lain selamatkan diri kau? Sendiri cari susah sekarang hadap la susah yg ko bg kat org lain.Aku gumbira.
I think the worst part on taxi’s in Malaysia is that they can choose not to pick you up. That’s why I would use Uber, for the certainty I will get somewhere, not just a cost saving.
Gov should give individual permit to taxi drivers. Currently the taxi companies are charging rm50-60 / day to taxi drivers to use the company’s taxi. Crazy. May all the taxi company owners bankrupt.
if can show who boss behind those taxi companies, picture will be clear loh~~~~
They need to save themselves.
sorry but no pity here. Let the taxi industry and permit holder cronies suffer a slow and painful death hahaha
You deserve to collapse for driving Malaysian lives in your lousy Proton models. Blame that Proton creator for starting all these mess! Don’t blame Grab or Uber. Blame Proton!
Wtf is this? Nobody blame p1 for that expensive taxi fare
If I am proton, i will offer a Grab Car tax free loan for Saga, Perdana so the real hard working driving can continue find a living.
To pay RM 50/day to ‘loan’ a car VS paying rm400-500/mth to OWN a car. And they blame uber/grab/public for bleeding the taxi drivers. Seriously? It’s just a taxi company, it’s lived out its usefulness. It’s not something we cannot live without and government shouldn’t be protecting it, it’s not a bank.
I think most of the taxi driver who return the taxi are now UBER or Grab driver. Instead of paying RM50 to taxi company, they can earn it with UBER & Grab. Not to mention for Rm50/day about Rm1000 a month they can get a better car with it and it belong to them.
Well deserved, you taxi gangsters. For so long you have been a monopoly; rampantly cheated, refused to take passengers, refused to use meter, drive dangerously & behaved like thugs, all these while getting away with it. Today, you aren’t able to compete on a level playing field. In business, there will always be competition. If you’re not competitive, then you deserve to bungkus. We, the rakyat, are fed up with your antics. Either buck up or get out. We have no sympathy for your predicament today.
Good riddance! We won’t miss you!
Where can collapse? Kan hari tu baru dapat Tayar 1Malaysia.
Tayar pun jual
Guess the rakyat wins now
once Uber or Grab car start to picking up the business, Gov sure will imposed tax and this make sense to effectively manage the industry.. no more taxi or kereta sapu.. and the end this is win win solution..
Taxi drivers are very selective of where we want to go. If they think a destination is dificult, they reject in a rude way. Majority of us now reject you!
It’s payback time for the rent seeking feudal lords. They won’t lose money because of the profits they make pre-Uber and Grab. Just sell the taxis and permits to the drivers for a small sum and fold up. This is one way to repay society.
The cause to your problems fellow taxi drivers –> Proton creator. Period.
I have no pity for these companies, they live off these poor taxi drivers because they have no avenue to drive their own. Now they can via Uber and CRAB and thats why they are returning the taxis to these blood sucking companies. Why rent when you can drive and pay to own your own car. Almost all these taxis cars don’t have airbag for the drivers and argue Puspakom is safe for all!
Vote from taxi drivers? Get real, there are more Rakyat using taxis than taxi drivers and the Rakyat prefers Uber and Grab. Please listen to Rakyat rather than these hooligans taxi drivers and companies.
Just wondering! When the demand is high, GrabCar and Uber increases their pricing from RM25 to RM60 from Sunway Pyramid to Pavilion KL.
Will there be an alternative in the future?
If no one cared much for Nokia, don’t see why they should for taxi drivers. Welcome to the world of business where competition only favors the fittest
That’s taking the scenario a bit generalised… Nokia even Blackberry have great financial base backing their business… but its the new technology that disrupts the industries like never seen before. It is the innovation applied not just to ‘reform’ the readily available products but ‘transforming’ them with new tech… to become more of what is before.
The taxi industry needs innovation and transformation… which Uber n GrabCar might happen to be… no need to be hostile about it… but whose to say this will stay as it is for another 5 years… some cities are developing rent n drive eCars on ur own… just swipe ur credit card n the car unlocks n u can drive automatically from where u r to wherever u want to go. Not saying it will catch on… maybe it will maybe it wont… only time will tell. But the thing is ALL CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.
The solution is rather simple really… open up individual taxi licenses tagged to their taxi car. The drivers will need to undergo proper n extensive training… n they need to bring their cars in to be inspected to comply with regulations before they are given permits. Govt can have the taxi car inspected yearly and have their license to drive their own taxi revoked if they do not abide. As the same if the drivers received too numerous summons then they can have their driving license n taxi car permit revoked. There should be a quota system in place… new taxi applicants only given when there are any rescinds thus maintaing the number of taxis operating… n the govt will always have a database of the drivers and the taxis on the roads.
Good. Sila meninggal.
I saw grabuber car have a number plate
FYI, Uber and Grab only operate in major cities – KL, Penang etc. Smaller cities like Seremban, Arau, Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar etc got no Uber & Grab services. So, these 80’000++ registered taxi in Klang Valley can balik kampung and cari makan there la.
The red taxi is getting the karma……for all the misdeed they have done.
For that, I can only offer them 2 words
“PADAN MUKA”
16 months?! Why does it take so long? Why can’t it be tomorrow for these ‘cekik darah’ to collapse?
Padan muka. For years ripping off rakyat. Biar teksi driver mampus. Masa hujan takada teksi. Depan klcc no pakai meter.subang parade tak pakai meter. Sial puik ludah muka teksi menipu
Pasal 16 bulan? 16 hari lagi suka
Hello SPAD,
Which one you want to save? Save the taxi industry (a.k.a crony business) or save the rakyat?
Served them right because thats exactly what the people wanted. Was told more than 90% respondents in The Star survey said they prefer taxi’s are gone for good. Poor service and car condition, cut throat, cheat passengers, what more the foreigners whos being charge RM100 from Times Square to KLCC in non-peak hour..
It is about time. They have been making money the lazy and easy way. Wake up. Now change, join Uber or Grab Car or die a painful death. Taxi users have had enough of it.
no sympathy for the devil
Ok, now paultan use new picture, no more HTC with RM10, but still HTC phone. :) Did paultan collaborate with HTC?
No, just that our Anthony Lim is an HTC fanboy :)
Glad to know taxi will go mampus but please don’t wait 16month, effective immediately would be good. It was more than 10 years ago I took taxi from Klcc to area nearby (can’t remember the building name) for interview, its within walking distance but I cannot go to due to heavy rain – maybe around 4km. I have to take taxi and the driver charged me more than rm20. No choice I paid. From there onward I didn’t take taxi. Some don’t even want to pick you up, they choose who they want to take. Not surprise the bad practice the same, now the wolf cry for mercy?
As a fellow human, I felt no other feeling other than sympathy towards the taxi guys. Set aside their past deed (if indeed true), the thought of having to lose ones portion of income and having to finance existing loan already sent shivers down my spine. Pray that government to do something to help ease their suffering. Pray for fellow Malaysian tobe emphaty and understand others hardship.
Not competing on fair ground? Yeah… It’s extremely unfair to Uber and grabcar’s drivers, they can’t wait for the potential passengers at all the taxi stands in town like the conventional taxis, they can’t pick up passengers on the street or may got beaten up gaw haw by the barbarians taxi drivers. If talk about fairness, please grant the Uber and grabcar drivers the same right also.
Oh, poor throat cutters taxi drivers, even the battlefield is favorable to you, you also can’t win, do you see how inadequate you are?