The number of users opting for taxis instead of ride-hailing has gone up by 40% of late due to the latter’s expensive fares during rush hours, according to Combined Taxi Across Malaysia president Kamarudin Mohd Hussain.
He said that while passengers rejoice whenever ride-hailing companies give fare discounts, they would turn to taxis when ride-hailing services raise their fares too much. “Ride-hailing fares can be raised (to suit the occasion partly) because the government has not introduced controlled fares (for ride-hailing services), as it has for taxis,” he said.
Speaking to The Sun, he said that the rush-hour fare hike stems from the way some companies take advantage of peak hours on the grounds of high demand. Making a pitch for taxis and their continued existence, he said that ride-hailing fares would continue to increase, and it will be impossible for it not to get out of control when the number of taxis decrease.
“The taxi service is a national land transport service that is fully controlled by the government, including the fares we charge,” he said, adding that taxi services are better compared with e-hailing firms, which are not controlled, and that the services are metered.
He said that services such as ride-hailing can benefit the industry and the country, but added that the government needed to do more to properly regulate such services. Failing to do so, he said, would make things “detrimental to business as well as taxi and e-hailing drivers.”
Consumers Association of Penang president Mohideen Abdul Kader echoed Kamarudin’s sentiment, saying ride-hailing services such as Grab should have ceiling fares just like taxis. He said that while Grab fares have not increased permanently at all times of the day, it has become very expensive during peak hours, public holidays and bad weather conditions, and at double or higher had become ridiculously exorbitant.
He said this was due to the fact that Grab now had fewer drivers. “If it deems it does not have enough drivers to cover the increased number of customers, they could very well hike up prices permanently. We hope it does not happen, because a lot of people depend on Grab to get around,” he explained.
He added that many other e-hailing providers, such as MyCar, Maxim and InDriver, have reasonable fares, but when a customer tries to book a ride, it takes forever to get one, or there would be none available. As such, Grab still has a monopoly on drivers.
The publication contacted Priority Communications, which handles Grab’s public relations, to ask how the ride-hailing provider sets its fares and what mechanism it uses for calculation purposes. However, aside from stating that Grab is currently observing a blackout period (a policy or rule setting a time interval during which certain actions are limited or denied), it said it was unable to obtain approval to comment on the matter.
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it’s time Grab pump in some cash like when they just got here (or was it Uber that was cheaper back then keke) to get the wheel spinning again. when it’s stalled, it’s not good for drivers, customers, and the company.
Did we hear Grab calling the gov to ban taxi because of this?
Gran have monopoly that’s y, simple solution is ***boycott ***to put grab dwn to earth n ultimately it will put dwn prices
Still remember the founder interview that he wanted to have something more economic price for Malaysian to replace Taxi. However, when he gets rich, he forgets his corporate value. This type of company sooner or later will be abadoned by consumers!
Sweet justice for taxi drivers! Suddenly all those who blasted them had rely on their services when ehailing became greedy. So those who had prayed and shouted for taxi demise, take back your words with a lot of humble pie. Hahaha!
I remember a horrible period before GRAB car in 2012 when you could hardly get a taxi in KL, and when you did the majority of taxi drivers drivers were dishonest and refused to put the meter on and wanted to charge 3 or 4 x the regular fare. GRAB care at least made provided the fares they quoted etc.
No, taxi drivers can piss off, the amount of them being scammers has allowed grab to rise in the first place. This is basic economics. I will keep hoping for taxis demise and keep my words. Stop using vpn to like your own comment
No, the amount of taxi drivers being scammers are still too high, which allowed grab to rise in the first place. I will keep hoping for taxis demise and keep my word on it. Stop using vpn to like your own comment too.
Since the name itself is Grab, so the company is Grabbing everything la. Even after the cake getting bigger, also Grab it all.
I applaud the rate hike to reflect our current variables. Our service will improve if we are treated as a service beyond that of public taxis short of limousines with better quality offerings. Our cars are better maintained and not for just anybody to be abused like pedestrian taxis. We have overheads with no concessions. Because it is our own cars, we accessorize them with better seats, ionizers, better ICE for Spotify i.e. the atmosphere is different than that of taxis. You also get better conversations if the driver is well educated. All these has intangible value hard to put into words.
The same excuses given by taxi drivers in the past when they want to raise flag off rates but although raised still service is the same. If we never believe them then why should we believe you now.
“Because it is our own cars, we accessorize them with better seats, ionizers, better ICE for Spotify i.e. the atmosphere is different than that of taxis. You also get better conversations if the driver is well educated”.
absolutely not…esp the chatty one
i just need u to drive me safely in comfort and fast to destination…no need and dont care of other pizzaz
We need professional drivers who know roads well & drive safely with acceptable fares.
If only they you could accessories your attitudes too because most grab drivers are extremely rude and unprofessional. It may be your car but you did make the decision to use it for business purposes. If you’re gonna hike prices and point out services that come with that particular business as the reason, it’s not logical.
File your complaints to Grab on all the incident dates for further action to be taken
So means can charge double ? FYI grab cars are all aging . A lot of them are in terrible condition . Before they were new as it was a new service . So how you gonna keep your car new ? Change car for us every 2-3 years ? Sorry buddy but you don’t seem to know what’s been happening with your own platform .
They have been bleeding ( called a burn rate) for the longest time since battling Uber . The prices they had were not sustainable . So now they have the market they raise the prices . Something tells me this is going to hurt them in the long run . It’s just an app . I’ll just use another app . The riders always come . Maybe a little longer . Taxis are gaining traction . Everything evens out . This time is pay the investors . They have been red lining too long . My 2 cents …. They raised it too much at too fast a rate . Now it’s obvious . People are going to find other alternatives now . So there u have it folks . It was all fake . The last few years you all depended on grab . Well it’s gonna cost you a lot more now cos grab ain’t subsidizing with losses for long . Not sustainable .
Is all demand-supply. if you don’t like it, use other medium (e.g. taxi, LRT/MRT) or considering buying your own car
Once the demand not there anymore, price will adjust accordingly
I’d disagree with that mate. How about people that don’t live near bus stop, LRT/MRT station, can’t take license (have disease that doesn’t allow them) you gotta think of them too. Taxi’s aren’t as easy to find as they were like before covid. People like those I listed are the ones that depend on e-hailing the most.
I had to take my elderly aunt from Jln Ipoh to UTC Sentul. Previously, Grab fare would be about RM8 to RM9 in the morning about 8.30am. It was RM22 today. I tried metered taxi under Grab but one asked to cancel as he was stuck in a jam. Another said his car broke down which sounded more like an excuse.We are under B40 and have hardly enough to survive. I have to depend on Grab to get my aunt to the hospital or clinic. With this exorbitant increase, how can we afford to do that.
This is practically daylight robbery!! What happened to GRAB? They have become TOO greedy and arrogant from its original objective. SHAME ON YOU!!!
Well at first taxis were at peril when GRAB came into the market now looks the tables are turned.
Really hope GRAB learns a lesson when passengers boycott it.
A price to pay for being GREEDY. Poor B40 citizens too. The goverment should look into these complaints on unethical prices eg. from RM 8 to RM22, unbelievable and flabbergasted.
Disgusted at GRAB.
U should try airasia rides. Previously I use grab only but this morning, I tried it because Grab was so expensive.
AA rides was faster getting driver and also cheaper. RM28 vs RM16!
sometimes i got Rm18 vs Rm40 for AA vs Grab, huge difference of Rm22
Ya I just notice the same journey of 9.6km that cost me RM13 had increase to RM25 wtf…
Haha thats the difference btw grab & taxi….taxi they can cancel the booking as they want. Thats why i will always use grab eventhough its a bit expensive….its law of demand & supply, peak hour = higher rates to cover the traffic jam …normal hour a driver can do 2 bookings per hour, peak hour bcoz of jam, they can only do 1 booking….do the maths
Try other e hailing companies options where you may get lower fare than Grab. Trust you can feel the difference in services render thereafter, good luck
You want cheap
You want new car
You want nice car
You want clean car
You want pick up in front your house
You want driver to act like your personal driver
You want driver comply to your every whim or you threaten him with low rating
You should pay up. Prices are transparent. You have every right to not take it. You became spoiled for choice and pampered. What happened to taking the bus. Oh right, buses now are only for banglas and east Asian blue collar workers. Locals are high class. “Why drive when so jam and parking so expensive”. You take forever to dig out your rm 50 note and complain if the driver is not happy about you holding his time. You knew the prices beforehand.
It’s a catch 22. The reason you’re seeing the high prices are… fewer drivers,yes lack of drivers. Many find the fares less than feasible after fuel, maintenance, loans and putting up with passenger attitudes. Many opted to just quit doing it and find other jobs. High demand less supply, price goes up. Cheap pricing drives drivers away. You think buying a car and driving yourself to work is EXPENSIVE, so what about the grab drivers. They live on a different planet where cars are free and maintenance is cheap?
Barrier of entry is higher than ever as cars has to be sent for annual inspection which can be unsettling and frustrating experience. Aditional vehicle insurance, monthly socso and psv license. It was easy back then, anyone with a car, driving license and smartphone can work.
Shall i/we remind you the “good old days”.
Stand at road side flailing arm, rain or shine
Price at the whims of the driver
Awesome smelling car
Badly maintained car
Driver refused to go certain place
Tampered meter
Driver with an attitude problem
Driver who “doesnt” know the way
Surcharge for extra passengers, luggage and 50% midnight
You ROCK bro! Couldn’t have said it better.
Passengers have every right to choose whichever e hailing company they wants to take a ride and not subject to stick to Grab for a ride knowing the price adjustment. I personally compare a ride which I took the other day at approximately 4.45pm between Grab and Indriver where Grab charged RM20/- where else Indriver requested for RM35/-
Why are passengers not making official complaints about other e hailing companies charging far much higher prices than Grab?
Exactly.. let them learn the lesson now.. pls try to take cab from the designated point. See if u could get 1 even if it takes an hour..
Passengers have every right to choose whichever e hailing company they wants to take a ride and not subject to stick to Grab for a ride knowing the price adjustment. I personally compare a ride which I took the other day at approximately 4.45pm between Grab and Indriver where Grab charged RM20/- where else Indriver requested for RM35/-
Why are passengers not making official complaints about other e hailing companies charging far much higher prices than Grab?
Prices for Grab are getting crazy. This is a service. Grab worked really hard to oust taxis, then now they monopolize the market and charge crazy fees. Need regulation on their prices. Customers should not be punished for lack of drivers, the long wait to get one is bad enough. Had to pay RM20 after waiting 30mins to get a car for just a <5KM journey a few days ago (I know.. I should've walked instead right..) Ridonkulous!
Imagine, you visit your local chicken rice shop. There is only one plate left, should they sell it at RM20 because of scarcity? Or if a cinema is running out of seats, do the prices go up?
Lack of DEMAND isn't an issue. It's the supply. So if you wanna be a driver, you'll still get rides.
Grab is taking advantage without any reason changes passanger so hight, they have taxi licence which based on distance travelling not day light Rubbery. Their driver are not helpful to passangers with load of shoping bags.
In this case buses and trains can charge bade on demond not distances.
Externally outrageous, government must look in to this abnormal charges by Crap not Grab.
This is practically daylight robbery!! What happened to GRAB? They have become TOO greedy and arrogant from its original objective. SHAME ON YOU!!!
Well at first taxis were at peril when GRAB came into the market now looks the tables are turned.
Really hope GRAB learns a lesson when passengers boycott it.
A price to pay for being GREEDY. Poor B40 citizens too. The goverment should look into these complaints on unethical prices eg. from RM 8 to RM22, unbelievable and flabbergasted.
Disgusted at GRAB.
E-hailing to me is just another version of “teksi sapu”. Another lost to our enforcement team.
Well its time for consumers to really appreciate what ehailing drivers was doing to meet their demands now. Such as pick them up at their doorstep.. takes forever to hop in their rides and let the drivers wait. Lets see if its convenient now to get their taxis by going to the designated point to get their taxis no matter it rains or sunny. And lets see how many taxis will be using their meters for their rides. Before Grab n Uber, taxis used to haggles their price from Rm 30 – 50 for just 10-15 mins drive. Isnt that why Uber n Grab became so famous? Oh not to forget the meter starts at Rm3. And the fare increase every 30 secs. So good luck if u have to be stuck at traffic at least 30mins to 1 hours to get to the destination.
Consumer have their own right to choice but the reason grab increasing the fares due to high demand and pickup at your location.
Taxi and ehailing driver both come with different benefits,
-You need to find the Taxi and if only the Taxi driver agree to deliver you meanwhile grab is only using apps and the driver will come to your place but nowadays too many driver quit being driver.
– If both come with same price it must come with same condition as well,
1. Both must use same pricing cost of fuel, taxi using NGV RM 1 +/- meanwhile grab using petrol Rm2 +/-
2. Both must come with 10 year old car terms but last year i took taxi at my hometown still using old mercedes benz with no aircond and the fare was markup.
If you think taxi is better then go for it..
Grab no longer been able to serve such demand with same equilibrium price all the time.
When we had Dego bike as taxi alternative all complaint.
When the we plan for more MRT everyone badmouthing the idea.
We have many e-hailing app mycar, air Asia ride, indriver and others but basically still works around with the same drivers.
Now we had Kumpool in subang, are we gonna badmouthing it or support the new initiative.
If you can’t stand the price..
1. just ride a bike
2. Walk Just few hundred metres to nearest bus stop.. wait for few minutes to an hour and you just need to pay RM1 to RM2 to reach your destination.
3. Just drive your own car and don’t worry about others..don’t worry much about B40, they can just take bus, ride or cycle or walking and then take MRT/LRT or commuter.. because in the end you guys won’t offer a ride or carpool. Just let them be. Even when grab last time offers grabpool everyone bitching about it. In Singapore they had grabshuttle and in Jakarta grab bike and gobike are really helping to clear the demand.. but as always we love to complaint rather then looking for solutions.
If grab too expensive then take airasia ride hail which is far cheaper. Just install another app. What’s the problem?
Aiyah why only complain on Grab why didn’t complain on other things.Today everything is becoming more n more expensive.Try complain to the consumer agency so that maybe we can live a more affordable life.Just that we can’t afford to pay we have to pin point somebody which so expensive.Doesnt make sense.If the grab drivers can’t make a decent living there will be also more expensive blue red cap roaming around.If u think grab is expensive u have the right to other ehailing which is available..I am sure other will try their best to service u and let me remind u of a hard time getting one..Reason why is because they can’t survive on that kind of low fare with far pick up,jam and far dropoff.We have to be considerate not only for ourself.Ya again nice car clean smell good comfortable professional service five star rating but with a 1 star fare.comon la..
No need to complain lot. We have many options to opt. If feel very high fare for e-hailing, can go for other options. Like walk to bus station get the taxi. Want even more cheaper can go for public bus. Maybe 70% cheaper then ehailing. We already matured don’t complain like kids. Compare what kind of service u receive from each platform.
Busses are a great option too! I tried using the bus because of the ridiculous prices grab has during office hours. Now my wallet is happy even though I hate waiting for the bus. InDriver also recently have updated their prices and it’s getting much difficult to find drivers.
Ride far for grab has gone kayangan. Ride from keramat to wangsa maju cost berween rm23 to rm27! It used to be rm9-rm11. Govt should quickly look into this matter as most rakyat depend on e-hailing service
From Setapak to Mid Valley (13km) , on Sunday afternoon cost RM31 and close to RM40 if in morning. It used to be not more than RM20. Its high time authority investigate them thoroughly and regulate their fare . This profiteering must not be prolong .
I’ve never seen more cars per family than in Malaysia. I’ve also never seen so many cars on the road with only one person inside. Traffic is your problem number 1. Grab is great. Yes, it has gotten expensive and yes it does have a monopoly but, you all have options. LRT, MRT, buses. My Mom is a judge in my home country and she still uses the bus to go to work every day. Not sure why public transport is not utilized more by people.
Grab is not greedy. Expensive prices are due to certain situations, say bad weather and so forth. For taxi’s before there was Grab they were very arrogant and cheating customers with modified meters.From KLCC to Bukit Bintang 10 years ago, they tripled/quadrupled the prices, and with an attitude of take it or leave it, customers really suffered at that time. Now with all the increase in grab prices, I still prefer grab due to their best services when compared to taxis.
Government print money (quantitative easing) and prices go up due to over money supply. Everything is now expensive but e hailing customers think that driver car maintainance and petrol is free. Stupid people complain about free market price but never complain about quantitative easing.
You want lower Grab fares, but lower fares means less drivers would want to do Grab, which means you wait longer due to lack of drivers. Take your pick.