'Don't rely on one or two brands, consider other e-hailing options'

An e-hailing workers group has urged users to consider using other e-hailing services instead of relying on the same “one or two brands” if they are concerned about spikes in fare rates.

The Malaysian E-Hailing Industry Workers Welfare Association pointed out that e-hailing services are more transparent as users are informed of the fare rate before they accept the rides and there are over 30 e-hailing operators to choose from.

“In fact, there are no issues of price hikes because e-hailing users can decide to agree or not (on using the service), and there are 32 e-hailing application operators in the market as of April which have been approved by the Land Public Transport Agency (Spad).

“Users should be more open and not rely on only one or two brands of e-hailing applications which may be seen as burdening e-hailing users,” the association spokesperson Jose Rizal said.

Jose explained that the increase in the prices of e-hailing rides is due to the “open market” concept of the industry, which is characterised by the demand and supply determining fare rates.

As such, prices may have increased recently due to it being the festive season, the latest Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal allowance, and the country’s transition into the endemic Covid-19 phase, he added.

At the same time, he reminded e-hailing industry players about the upcoming implementation date of the Social Security Organisation’s (Socso) SPS Protection for gig workers, which will come into effect on June 1.

“(This is) a friendly reminder to all e-hailing industry players to contribute and fulfil their responsibility as an e-hailing industry player,” Jose said.

Recently, unhappy passengers reported price hikes of nearly double the rate during regular hours for their usual Grab rides.

It was also reported that taxi passengers increased by 40 percent lately due to the expensive fares of e-hailing services.

When contacted earlier to respond to this matter, a Grab representative said the company was going through a “quiet period” and will be unavailable for comments until Monday (May 23). - Mkini