Dego Ride motorcycle taxi ‘won’t be legalised’ – Liow

Dego Ride motorcycle taxi ‘won’t be legalised’ – Liow

The government may have legalised the likes of Uber and Grab, but it has no plans to do the same for motorcycle taxis. This is because of the high number of road accidents involving motorcycles in Malaysia, said transport minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, reported by The Star.

“Even when SPAD tables the amendment, they (Dego Ride) will not be legalised. We are not against Dego Ride, but we are against this mode of transportation, where motorcycles are being used to take passengers. It will create higher risks for road users,” he said, adding that over 60% of road deaths involved motorcycle accidents.

“During the Chinese New Year Ops Selamat this year, 151 deaths out of 257 on the roads involved motorcycles. Although the number of deaths is fewer than the 158 recorded during the same period last year, it still accounted for over 60% of accidents, which remains a worrying figure,” Liow continued.

Dego Ride – which provides a Whatsapp-based “taxi-motor service” like those seen in Jakarta and Bangkok – has so far been defiant, previously saying that it would continue operating in KL, and that there were no laws to prevent it from doing so.

Dego Ride motorcycle taxi ‘won’t be legalised’ – Liow

The minister said Dego Ride should not try to “challenge” the law, adding that there were laws such as Section 23 of the Road Transport Act that bars motorcycles from being used as taxis.

“Under this Act, our enforcement officers can take action against the motorcycle rider. We will even pose as passengers to catch them in the act. Section 16 and 47 of the SPAD Act states that any company wishing to set up a taxi service must have a commercial licence from SPAD. Dego Ride does not have a commercial licence. It has never contacted us and never applied for it,” he stressed.

In response to the stop order, Dego Ride wants a chance for it to show its safety record, which it claims is flawless. The company’s founder and CEO Nabil Feisal Bamadhaj said they had not had any accidents since operations started three months ago. “If the issue is about safety, until today there is no accident involving Dego riders,” he told mStar Online.

Last month, deputy transport minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi sung the same tune. “So far, no licences have been issued for motorcycle taxi riders, if they conduct such a business, it is illegal,” he said, adding that riders who provide such services could be charged for misusing their personal motor vehicle licences for commercial purposes.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • Hot dog on Feb 14, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    so….. pizza delivery boy oso illegal lah ?????

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 15
    • azrul on Feb 14, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      Why, is pizza made of human?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 0
    • Albert on Feb 14, 2017 at 1:55 pm

      Dego ride must ask this question” Who owns Uber ?”
      In Bolehland,it is not what u know.It is WHO U KNOW.
      uBER,gRABCAR ARE ALL ILLEGAL still.But no one dare to touch them.
      The politician uses some LAW to frighten Dego.
      Uber and grabcar..then comes under what law?
      We are returning to the 50s and 60s cowboy town era.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 10
      • Yep. We shud be like Taiwan, just ban all of them.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 1
        • Shamsubahrin on Feb 14, 2017 at 3:51 pm

          Dego akan mewujudkan lapangan persaingan antara pemandu e-hailing dengan pemandu teksi konvensional untuk pengangkutan awam yang lebih cekap dan menawarkan harga lebih berpatutan. Thumbs UP!

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 6
          • Sila dapatkan lesen perniagaan, lulusan SPAD, & insuran untuk penumpang, baru buat business. Sini bukan indomee.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 4
          • Faiza on Feb 15, 2017 at 9:34 am

            Grabcar Uber takde lesen & insuran. OK saje ..

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 4
  • Do the courier, fast food, coffee shop and vehicle part delivery staff have commercial motorcycle licenses? This looks like a typical example of someone who can afford an iPhone using laws to stop the use of cheap Android equivalents.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 10
    • Carrying live humans is not the same as carrying goods, dun u agree?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 5
      • If motorcycle taxis are not allowed, these passengers are going to ride their own motorcycles into town. So, there will be more congestions, and more accidents (with half an hour a day on the road, one cannot beat a person who rides five hours a day in terms of danger sensing and avoidance). Another possibility is they buy their own cars and drive into town, which make everything worse. And they pay $$$ for an expensive private vehicle, which is bad financial management, not because they are bad, but the society forces them to adopt a bad approach. Lastly, public transport, I am referring to big infrastructure such as trains and buses, cannot cover most places in a town. This is a fact that everybody knows. So saying that we can rely on these to immediately make every corner in town accessible is completely false. What happens when we insist on something that is wrong? Everybody buys a car or rides his or her own motorcycle to town, which is what is happening.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 5
        • If u ride own motor, u get covered by own insurance. If ride others (ie Dego), err….

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 4
          • Insurance is very easy to solve….. Just look how Uber and Grab got from no insurance to with insurance, with no one noticing….

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 4
          • Problem is, they may not have it (yet)

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 3
          • It’s only illegal if you pay for their service.
            Other than that, you’re just like any other pillon riders, texting your brother to pick you up and send you somewhere.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
      • Hot dog on Feb 14, 2017 at 6:24 pm

        We can see so many motorbike are carrying passenger everyday everywhere right ( ofcos motorbike can carry )? , so why ban dego ? its bcos many motorbike accident cases ?? If govt so so worry motor passenger safety reason, should it be govt ban all motorbike to carry passenger ??? I believe Dego did apply some kind of business licences or what to run the business …govt should more review on it .. i would say Dego is clean , passengers safety always priority!

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 2
    • Kelembapan ekonomi dan peningkatan jumlah rakyat yang menganggur akibat hilang pekerjaan antara faktor pendorong kepada peningkatan jenayah.

      Pemimpin negara perlu membantu golongan terpinggir ini seperti membenarkan Dego Ride. Salam 1M

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 4
  • TokGuru on Feb 14, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    I have to agree with this move

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
  • DR shud either be like Grabuber or we Taiwan u.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • isengard12 on Feb 14, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    IMO, innovation is good. Competition is good. But ride sharing based on motorcycle is surely is hard to pick up. It encourages more vehicles on the road (so does Uber/Grab) in a way. So how is this going help envision the idea of improving the use of public transportation?

    Uber/Grab can flourish because cab drivers themselves are not behaving properly. For DeGo, the future looks bleak. Just IMO

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • C. P. MOHAN on Feb 14, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    Transport Minister says dego ride will not be approved because of the “high number of road accidents involving motorcycles in Malaysia” and the PM approves a racing circuit in Kedah for “Mat Rempits”.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 3
  • applegreen on Feb 14, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    Pada cuaca tengahari yang panas, sanggupkah anda memakai topi keledar yang telah dipakai oleh ramai orang walaupun sebelum itu idola anda (hafriz or harvinder) yang memakai topi tersebut?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 2
    • lilytan on Feb 14, 2017 at 2:26 pm

      At least the dego pilot cant openly flash his penis unlike oober

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 4
    • pink apple on Feb 14, 2017 at 5:25 pm

      dia bg hair net laa before each ride..jgn komen kalau tak tau hujung pangkal how the service works..kan lg bagus duduk diam bang..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 4
    • Not about that. Its actually so many people wore the same helmet. Even if kena kutu also nobody know.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • They allowed piilion riders to wear own helmets if they so wish

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
    • The key word here is choice. So let customer choose for them self. Sometimes even in hot weather people still op for bike to get job done fast.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • It will only be legalised if…
    1. Khazanah holding stakes in the company
    2. Minister launching his own version

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 4
  • Albert on Feb 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    This politician said ‘DANGEROUS”
    lAST WEEK,a man with 2 kids die cos his bike jatuh and ran over by lorry.
    3 on a bike is illegal and dangerous….thousands do this illegal thing each day.He should be joining JPJ,to enforce the law instead.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
  • Anonymous on Feb 14, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    If the concept of motorcycle taxi is illegal… how bout labeling it ‘ride-sharing’… or ‘community-commute’… ‘ride-pool’… ‘trip-together’…?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2
  • I am of the opinion that if riding motorcycle and carry a pillion is in fact legal in Malaysia, why then Dego Ride is unable to operate due to safety reasons?
    I think the ministry shouldn’t over generalise and simply brush it off by saying it is against the law, but instead highlight the real issue and give the operate chance to adress the issue. Because i do see it as a viable transport for the congested city.
    So what’s the real issue objectively. Safety? It is no more dangerous than what we are already having on the road. An please don’t lump all the rempit fatality stats into the people who generally commute more carefully.
    And our ministry is not really in the position to lecture anyone on safety. We have super old vehicle (or even super old taxi) that are still allowed on the road. Some makes you wonder how they could pass puspakom.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2
  • azrai on Feb 15, 2017 at 9:03 am

    Last two years they also says UBER and GRAb are haram. Today? :-)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 2
 

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