‘Cabbies should direct anger at SPAD, not Uber, GrabCar’

A taxi driver says private chauffeur services are not to blame for his misery.

PETALING JAYA: A Facebook user has alleged that the culprit responsible for the misery of taxi drivers like him is the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), not private chauffeur services like Uber and GrabCar.

In his online posting yesterday, Iwan Dani said he had four reasons for blaming SPAD for this predicament.

Topping his list was SPAD’s predisposition to “force” taxi drivers to rent taxis from what he claimed were “crony companies,” which would charge more than RM1,500 per month for a Saga BLM.

He added, “Considering that the monthly payment for a BLM is less than RM500, every month these cronies are effectively leeching RM1,000 from each driver, all because they hold the permits that SPAD refuse to grant to drivers, ie, the poor sods who are actually doing all the work.”

He also alleged that SPAD allowed only “certain parties monopoly on lucrative pick-up locations.” He said that to be allowed to pick up passengers from KLCC, a monthly “levy” was required. At other locations like KLIA, Terminal Putra, Subang Airport and Rawang KTM, he added, only “association members” were allowed to operate.

“Passengers are forced to use the taxis there instead of using one of their choice. Hell, I can’t even pick up my own mother from KLIA using my cab,” he said.

Iwan also accused Puspakom officers of “abusing their authority” and related how his taxi failed an inspection once because the tint was declared “illegal” even though the readings showed it was within the stipulated limit. “Yup, they can actually fail you simply because they want to.”

He also picked a bone with SPAD for “arbitrarily changing the permit validity period” of his taxi. He explained: “My taxi was originally permitted to operate until 2020. However, this validity was suddenly changed to 2017, reducing my car’s useful economic life by 30%.”

Iwan posted these comments in light of videos that have surfaced of a group of taxi drivers harassing Uber and GrabCar drivers in the vicinity of KLCC following the declaration by SPAD that their services were illegal.

He wrote: “Given the above, I’m perplexed as to why these cabbies are angry at Uber when their wrath should have been directed to SPAD, instead.

“I can only deduce that the cabbies most affected by UBER and GrabCar are those dishonest black sheep who refuse to use meter and always trying to fleece their customers.”