‘System, not cabbies to blame’

Malaysia's poor taxicab system and not its cabbies are to blame for the cut-throat fares they charge, a PKR man says.

PETALING JAYA: Taxi drivers, a PKR leader suggested, are not to blame for the cut-throat prices that they are infamous for.

Instead, Wilayah Persekutuan PKR deputy information chief V Ravindran said that Malaysia’s taxicab system was so full of problems that drivers had no choice but to up their fares.

“The problem is that taxi drivers are cutting throats because they are pushed to do that. They’re not getting enough money, there are too many permits being handed out, and the [economic] cake is getting smaller and smaller,” he told FMT.

He said that even though there were thousands of cabbies in Kuala Lumpur (an estimated 37,000 in 2011 according to the Malay Mail), the government was still giving out taxi permits.

Ravindran also alleged that the government was giving these permits to retirees and former military personnel, which in turn flooded the market.

He also attacked government measures such as the the Teksi Wanita (female-driven cabs), which saw dozens of additional female cabbies enter the market.

On top of that, he said that cabbies also lacked job protection schemes and workers’ benefits such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Social Security (SOCSO).

All these, and various other concerns, he said, forced cabbies to push heavy prices on their customers, leading to more dissatisfaction for all involved.

Ravindran said that if the government did not care about cabbies, it would not come up with ideas like the Bantuan Tayar 1Malaysia (BT1M).

However, he said that cabbies did not need tyre vouchers, but a better system to work with instead.

Kuala Lumpur’s taxi drivers were said to be amongst the worst cabbies in the world. The UK-based LondonCabs website claimed this in a list of 10 locations.

Unhappy passenger

In a related matter, expatriate Joyce McLaren, 54, told FMT that she had no idea why local taxi drivers – especially those in the Klang Valley – overcharged.

She said that a counter selling taxi coupons at 1Utama shopping centre’s new wing would often charge her a flat rate of at least RM20 to take her to her Bandar Menjalara home.

“That is far too much! It should at the most be RM15, and even then it’s because I give a tip. But when I ask them why do they charge so much, they just laugh,” she said.

Now, she said that although the counter was no more, cabbies would still slap a RM18 or more fee for her journey. To add insult to injury, they would supposedly ask her if she was happy that they were offering a discount.

“Who is authorising them to charge this or that? Where do their directives come from?… I don’t mind paying for quality, but here the cabs can be quite dirty, and sometimes the drivers smell like they haven’t showered for a week,” she said.

McLaren also said that taxi companies never seemed to take action against their staff, adding that they always promised her that they would “look into it”.