It’s been reported that the commission earned by taxi and ride-hailing companies has been capped at 20% of the total fare, following complaints that these services were charging drivers up to 25% in commissions. According to The Star, transport minister Anthony Loke said that the maximum commission rate was previously set at 20% for private vehicles and 10% for taxis.
“The surcharge rate is also limited to twice the fare charge,” he said, adding that the new law is an extension of regulations already passed in parliament last year, which legalised ride-hailing services like Grab. Loke also said that there would be a one-year grace period for these companies to comply.
We’ve already reported on the other regulations set to be introduced, including a requirement for ride-hailing service providers to register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia and Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia, as well as drivers to apply for a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) license and conduct annual Puspakom inspections. All vehicles must also have a minimum three-star ASEAN NCAP rating.
“We have also standardised the periodic inspection of vehicles to once a year after the vehicles are three years old, for both taxis and e-hailing, instead of once every six months for taxi services only,” said Loke. All service providers must also provide insurance coverage for drivers, vehicles, passengers and third parties, and that drivers must undergo a six-hour training stint costing RM200, he added.
On top of that, ride-hailing companies have to prepare a code of conduct and guidelines for driver complaints, which will be audited by the government. Passengers, meanwhile, will have to upload their proof of identity, such as their identity card or passport, to their apps to ensure driver safety.
Lastly, existing taxi drivers wishing to join ride-hailing services will be provided a RM5,000 grant to purchase a new or used vehicle, which will also be applicable for drivers whose mortgage contracts with taxi companies have ended, and who wish to continue driving under individual permits.
Loke said that the rising number of ride-hailing trips in Malaysia shows the popularity of these services. “It went up from six million trips a month in 2016 to 18 million a month this year. We have 200,000 registered e-hailing drivers and of the number, 50,000 are full-time. As for taxis, we have 67,000 of them nationwide, of which 52% are individually owned,” he said.
In other news, the transport ministry is also working with the Anti-Competition Commission to investigate Grab for possible monopoly after merging with Uber’s Malaysian business in March. Conversely, Grab said that it would have liked the government to consult the industry before announcing the regulations, as it would affect hundreds of thousands of drivers.
“We have just been alerted of the ‘regulatory suggestions’ and have yet to receive the formal operational directive,” said Grab Malaysia country head Sean Goh.
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This Government is so good. Always looking for ways to protect the rakyat and give the rakyat cheaper fares.
Today is a happy day also, we Malaysians are told our broadband will be upgraded 10X the speed. Thank you PH for caring for the rakyat.
I save so much of money every month now.
Calon menteri sepenggal
1) syed
2) kula
3) maszlee
4) ah loke
5) lge
6) gobind
This ah loke transport minister sooo kuat kerja…. making us forgot to buy and enjoy Musangking this musim durian…Ohh waittt
What Ah-Loke did is on-par with Singapore. Taxi driver pay lower commission while passenger also benefit with a lower fare.
I support ah loke with this one though. But when the taxi bosses angry, idk if he will change his words. So far for the current gov, flip flop happens a lot
Saya syorkan setengah penggal saja. Memang dah cukup teruk.
Saya syorkan ambik balik yg lama…
Separa penggal pun dah cukup parah, bro
25% to 20%, err yeaahhh. “Save much money” Lols!!
Meanwhile Nikkei reported that the international business community has a dim view on Malaysia’s economy with PH in charge now. What a difference, from positive to negative, forwards to gostan.
well, Ant Loke should let the market decide on it’s own, let the competition begin, let both the e-hailing & taxi have a healthy comptition.
MOT just have to regulate the rules of the game will do ….
there are much more thing for you to worry dude….
MOT new name is Money-making On Top. Do you think Loke cares about other things?
Here he is trying to make it fair for both taxi drivers and Grab drivers.
He is also rooting out kopi-O licenses.
And getting rid of those stupid “special” plates that only allows others to take money from govt.
He’s working for you, stupid.
Imposing more regs onto Grab drivers instead of liberalising taxi isn’t being fair to both, you stupid. It’s just giving taxi cronies more to smile about.
The same with clamping on people’s accessibility to get license. That’s only being fair to driver schools, not the people.
And the “special plates” are still on sale, only the money goes into his pocket instead of deserving NGOs.
Need I say more that his main priority is to make money?
Wakeup and smell the sh*t that’s wafting from New Malaysia.
Jonathan, the spelling mistakes need to go….
Just too many in this article.
can you please stop reusing the photo with the thumbs up and use more relevant, updated photos?
RM5,000 grant to buy a car enough meh? a carbon road bike also is that price already lor. need to give at least RM10,000 grant.
also the RM200 for training is ridiculous. Why should i pay to earn income?
I remember a documentary about those having to pay b4 getting the chance to earn income… oh wait that was about migrant workers. So are Grab drivers now same category as foreign workers? In their own country?
if you want to do your business or become self employed, naturally you need to invest your own money first. is this a difficult concept for you to understand ?
YB Loke, talking about level playing field! why only taxi drivers get 5k grant for purchasing new car?
Grab monopoly? what rubbish are you talking about? isn’t taxi services a direct competition against Grab?
the rakyat don’t owe taxi drivers a living. if they can’t survive then join grab or move on to other jobs.
please make principled decision instead of political decision to please the taxi drivers like the BN gov did.
doesn’t the explosive growth in Grab/Uber tell you somthing? people just DON’T want taxi, the rakyat prefers ehailing service.
if the taxi industry can’t innovate and reinvent itself to be competitive, then left it die a natural death.