The founder of a Malaysian taxi cab company has called for the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and the Federal Government to make it mandatory for app-based ridesharing services like Uber, GrabCar, and MyTeksi to charge higher rates than regular cabs, as a precondition for them to operate legally in the country.
Shamsubahrin Ismail, who is the founder of and adviser to Big Blue Capital (M) Sdn Bhd, the parent company of Big Blue Taxi Services, told Bernama that ensuring Uber, GrabCar, and MyTeksi costs more for consumers to use would be the fairest solution for taxi drivers (and the companies that hire them).
“If the fare is lower than that of the budget taxis’, it will ‘kill’ the taxi industry because passengers will choose their services,” he said.
“A fare hike is apt (for Uber, MyTeksi and Grabcar services) as these operators practise ride-sharing compared to the budget taxis which impose fare on one passenger at a time.”
Shamsubahrin also suggested that Uber, GrabCar, and MyTeksi be registered under limousine permit requirements, and not the hire-and-drive system in place for traditional taxi cabs.
“The permit is appropriate as it won’t affect other taxi services, especially the budget taxis.”
He called on the Federal Government to impose these restrictions on ride-sharing services before declaring the popular smartphone-based companies as legal under Malaysian law.
Cabbies in and around KL have been fuming at the loss of business they’ve incurred since Uber and GrabCar began to become more popular amongst city travellers, culminating in several instances in October of cabbies “arresting” Uber drivers in the KLCC area for working their routes, and cab companies organising a march on Parliament last month, calling for the nation’s lawmakers to reshuffle SPAD’s top management and put an end to Uber and GrabCar’s increasing market share.
