Singapore authorities are open to ideas to improve commuting between Johor and the city-state, however there are no plans for fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services, the Singapore land transport authority (LTA) has stated, reported The Straits Times via The Star.
The Singapore LTA made the clarification after a meeting between the acting transport minister of Singapore, Jeffrey Siow and Johor chief minister Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi. The Johor MB was quoted as saying that a cross-border ride-hailing service was among several proposals discussed.
Meanwhile, the acting transport minister of Singapore was quoted as saying that the issues discussed included cross-border transport, the importance of safeguarding the interests of drivers and platform workers, and how the LTA has been enhancing enforcement against illegal passenger and delivery services.
The land transport authority of the city-state noted that there is an existing cross-border taxi scheme (CBTS), which allows a licensed fleet of up to 200 taxis from each country to ferry passengers in both directions, according to the report.
These taxis are allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at one designated point in each country, the Singapore LTA noted. This is Larkin Sentral in Johor Bahru for Singapore taxis, and Ban San Street Terminal in Rochor for Malaysian taxis.
“Today, the existing quota of the CBTS is not fully utilised. In view of commuter demand for more convenient cross-border travel, we will encourage full take-up of the quota of licensed taxis. In any adjustment to our cross-border point-to-point transport regime, our key priorities are to better meet commuter demand while safeguarding the interests of our taxi and private-hire drivers,” the Singapore LTA wrote.
Meanwhile, the Singapore LTA and Singapore bus operators are reviewing a request from the land public transport agency (APAD) of Malaysia to begin the operation of cross-border bus services from Johor Bahru an hour earlier at 4am, instead of 5am. The Singapore LTA said that it is assessing if the operating times of these services can be adjusted to address passenger crowding in buses early in the morning.
“A key consideration is that the first buses should match the starting time of our local bus and MRT services when they arrive in Singapore,” it wrote, adding that it is “exploring with cross-border bus operators the possibility of bringing forward the bus start times slightly, as well as engaging private bus operators on their interest to operate earlier services at higher fares.”
In June, the Johor state government was in talks with ride-hailing firm Grab to further streamline travel between the state and Singapore by updating the cross-border travel agreement, and discussions also explored potential cross-border collaborations involving the Malaysian and Singaporean transport ministries, alongside the role of Grab and other public transport providers, Onn Hafiz said at the time.
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