Last month, it was announced that all Grab and e-hailing drivers will have to undergo the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) course and get the PSV license, as required for taxi drivers. The period to comply is from January to July 2019. Vehicles over three years old will also have to undergo inspection.
That was announced by transport minister Anthony Loke as part of the government’s move to regulate the e-hailing industry and create a level playing field with taxis. Taxi groups have long complained about the ease of which one can be an e-hailing driver, with no need to comply to the regulations that they are subject to.
Before the announcement, Loke met with Big Blue Taxi adviser Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail (pix above) – one of the most vocal individuals championing taxi rights – at parliament to discuss issues. Now, a group of claiming to be the rightful representatives of the taxi driver community has criticised Shamsubahrin for claiming to be their spokesman, Malay Mail reports.
The group that calls itself Gabungan Teksi SeMalaysia (GTSM) held a gathering at Padang Merbok in KL this morning. They want to know what was discussed between Loke and Shamsubahrin, threatening action if they are kept out of the loop.
“Who are you? We are the real taxi drivers and we are the ones who should meet Anthony. This guy, Datuk Shamsubahrin, he is not a representative for taxis. We are disputing why Anthony Loke asked Shamsubahrin to meet him to represent us taxi drivers,” said Fazli Fathil, president of the Elite Driver Kuala Lumpur group, an association under GTSM.
“What you promised and discussed, we have no idea. If nothing is done in 14 days, we will make a petition and hand a report to the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the meeting and its contents,” he threatened.
According to MM, the meeting between Loke and Shamsubahrin was seen as a move to pacify the latter, who had at that time threatened to organise a mass gathering of taxi drivers in protest of e-hailing laws the government had passed.
Separately, more than 100 taxi and rental car drivers gathered in Penang this morning for a protest against e-hailing services, The Star reports. The group’s spokesman C. Supramaniam urged the government to ensure a level playing field between taxis and private cars.
“The current situation has greatly affected our livelihood. Now, in a day, we are only able to make between RM30 to RM40 from an entire day of work. How are we suppose to survive?” he said to reporters at Bagan Luar. The group wants regulation to be imposed on Grab drivers as applied on taxi drivers.
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Hidup Shamsubahrin hero malaya!
Taxi drivers in Penang from dulu dulu till today don’t use meter. Up to them to quote you an exorbitant price. You tak suka, boleh jalan kaki.
Dibenarkan lansi.
Serves you guys right. Only got yourselves to blame for your predicament today.
That bald guy is so funny XD
Feel want to ketuk his head. Ketuk gao gao
Do a simple google search and you can see Datuk Shamsubahrin was sentenced to 10 years jail in 2016. he was actually convicted. But because he knew many connected people in the previous corrupted Government, he managed to have complete freedom and not serve his prison sentence.
I think high time the new Government enforce the court ruling. He has cheated before and he is cheating again now.
All these requirements for our Grab drivers is because the lazy teksi drivers are making so much of noise, threats and walkouts. Jealousy is the No 1 cause here. All the lazy teksi drivers dengki the Grab so much until the Government has no choice but to impose all these on Grab drivers.
Hello teksi drivers, you guys are so lazy. All the time want to be pampered and want bantuan all the time. Typical Putrajaya mentality.
Try to work hard and if can, go join Grab. Nobody is stopping you from joining Grab. Why must you be jealous? Go join Grab and make money like the Grab drivers.
Don’t just lepak bawah pokok and sembang with other teksi drivers for hours. All the time smoking under the tree, chit chatting and looking at girls.
Be like the NTUC drivers in Singapore. They work non stop. 12 hours non stop they are driving looking for passengers.
You are lazy, how you expect money to come to you? If you spend like 6 hours in the day sleeping under the tree, smoking non stop inside a parked teksi……of course money won’t come to you.
Now with all these requirements, rakyat will suffer again. Less people will want to be Grab drivers because of so much of requirement…..we get less Grab on our streets
What is new? So typical of them cheating and lying
Teksimen now found that after heeding Master Korni advice to sapot PH, they have been forgotten while Master Korni gets his rewards from Gov.
Lolz! The korni feeding frenzy has begun!
Shamsubahrin self appointed rep and fought for the cabbies. as annoying as he is, he still fought for them regardless.
that’s why these cab drivers aren’t appreciative.
Then who he is? Shahrizat’s in law?
Looks like Ong Kian Ming long lost brother. Also talks like him thinks like him, only nonsense outputs.
Habiskan Grab! We rakyat need teksi. Grab is nothing but an unsafe and illegal transportation.
“We rakyat need teksi” More like We (teksi) drivers need passengers
Said no one ever
Anthony Loke kena play out liao..could be political conspiracy
Rules or policies ensures a ‘level-playing field’ to benefit customers who directly or indirectly voted them in, thus customers decides suitability not representatives.
One thing i did not understand. Why they demand same stringent rules for e-hailing when they could ask to loosen the rules for taxi driver?
Oh man, I heard so much about taxi drivers wanting e-hailing drivers to be regulated.
So when will the taxi drivers be regulated then? I really wish JPJ would work with various taxi companies to compile a list of taxi drivers profile that we can access via app or web. Then we can report or rate drivers according to their behaviours. Users can report drivers who cut queues at traffic light, not using meter, blocking road by queuing in front of bus stations outside train stations or shopping complexes.
One last thing is that they should ban premise owners from setting up illegal embargo that only allow taxis from certain companies to pick up riders.
Can paultan change his scary face to normal presentable person. Really scared to c his face merely resemble to v famous animal starts from m…….. Key
Tired of these people already..
$30 to $40 per day? Nah … it has to be per ride or per cheat! I can never forget … Mid Valley to UiTM gate cost me $84. It’s not possible for a taxi driver to earn only $30 to $40 per day.
Taxi drivers also got to be rated by passengers.