According to a report by CNA, Malaysia and Singapore are currently in talks to allow eligible cross-borders taxis to drop off passengers anywhere in either country rather than at designated drop-off points.
“We recognise that there is demand from commuters for more convenient cross-border point-to-point (P2P) services,” said Singapore’s senior minister of state for transport Sun Xueling. “This will provide greater convenience to commuters from both countries,” she added, responding to questions whether Singapore’s ministry of transport will facilitate more P2P transfers given the setting up of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
At present, Singaporean cross-border taxis are permitted to pick up and drop off passengers only at Larkin Sentral in Johor Bahru. Meanwhile, Malaysian cross-border taxis can only do the same at Ban San Street Terminal in Singapore.
It should be noted that Singapore- and Malaysia-registered taxis are the only licensed providers of cross-border services approved by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Agency (APAD). Each country is given a quota of 200 taxis offering such services, with the LTA saying in July that there are about 300 licenced cross-border taxi drivers across Singapore and Malaysia.
Foreign taxis in either country are only allowed to pick up passengers at said designated points so they do not infringe into the local P2P market. This is to minimise foreign taxis cruising around empty and potentially carrying out illegal trips. Both countries are looking to provide commuters with more convenience by way of additional pick-up points.
Sun pointed out that the use location tracking, including ERP 2.0, and other measures are being considered to prevent illegal trips by cross-border taxis within Singapore. In September, the LTA said over 100 foreign-registered vehicles have been investigated this year for suspected involvement in illegal cross-border passenger transport services.
Sun revealed that the LTA has impounded 107 vehicles whose owners were providing illegal services, and that they can face a fine of up to SGD3,000, six months’ jail or both. Repeat offenders face stiffer penalties and their vehicles are liable to forfeiture.
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inbound to singkie, singapoe is a small urban island where public transport is widely avaialble. it may not be exactly point to point or to doorstep in all cases, but certainly widely available.
but going the other direction into malaysia which is a huge rural country , lets say singkies wanna travel to melaka or genting or Desaru, there isnt any option to go there using MRT or LRT. so this is where dropoff to doorstep is more important.