PAKATAN HARAPAN MADNESS - INCREASING THE COST OF LIVING - Open Letter to Minister of Transport

I received this via email from reader Koh.  Thank you very much.

Dear Minister of Transport, YB Anthony Loke,

I read with dismay the recent announcement made by your good self on April 11, 2019 on the burden of regulations to be imposed on e-hailing drivers with little or no consideration for our well-being. The arbitrary requirements (refer to footnote below) will not affect the e-hailing operators or companies at all but only the poor drivers. If I may put it simply, you are essentially enriching the various government agencies and private companies involved with RM160M at our expense, making 200,000 (1 million affected ; 5 people per household) of us poorer by RM800. 

Personally, this might be an eye opener for me to determine if it is at all worth it to continue as an e-hailing driver. Needless to say, RM800 is a lot of money when one has to go through each day on the proverbial basis of ‘kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang.’ 

Based on a standard fee of RM0.35 per minute and RM1.20 per kilometer job ride, I would have to clock 3430 mins over 1001 kilometers on the job to reach this earnings of RM800 and this hard-earned money goes straight to Puspakom/Perkeso/Insurance Companies/Clinics etc. 

I would need at least 2-full weeks or more (8-hours a day) to clock 3430 minutes/1001 kilometers. 

Cost of living (bread & butter issues) matters most to the common man in the street. 

Would the authorities care to consider the wellbeing of 1 million citizens by lessening this burden of regulation on e-hailing drivers? 

An e-hailing driver. 

Footnotes:

1) PSV License (6-hour training)

2) Puspakom 

3) Perkeso (Socso)

4) Insurance 

5) Medical Check-up (we have passed a medical check up before being accepted by the E-hailing Company/Operator)

6) Fire Extinguishers (Is this necessary? We are not carrying Oil & Gas. Do you have the Stats to prove that it is needed?) 

KOH

My comments : 

This will eventually increase the fares for e-hailing. The cost of living will go up again. Congratulations Pakatan Harapan. 

The e-hailing cabs offer more efficient and usually cheaper mode of hired car transport - than the regular taxis. That is the whole reason why the e-hailing has been so successful all over the world.

1. When e-hailing, there is usually more than one 'cab' which will respond to your e-hailing. The consumer has choices.

2. You know the number of minutes for the e hailing cab to arrive, even before you choose the cab.You can accept or decline a cab.

3. The fare from A to B is fixed and known in advance.  The cab will not take round about routes. 

4. You can even pay through your smartfone. Payment is easy.

All this gives more choice to the consumer. This creates more competition. Competition creates more efficiency and ultimately benefits the consumer. In the end we all progress.  

And it is all a function of technology ie information technology. 

But what does the government do? You want to make the playing field "not level" again. By imposing extra costs that really benefit the monopolies, oligopolies and the cartels that dominate our economy. 

And Mr Anthony Loke,  now driverless taxis already exist. 

How are you going to deal with those?

Obviously hire taxis are entering their Twilight Zone.   

Hire taxis are reaching the end of their life span.

Here is my suggestion YB Anthony Loke.

Dont gamble at the horse races.  You will lose your money.

But if you have to gamble then pick the right horse.

The right horse is new technology, efficiency, competition and lower costs (for everyone).  Also known as progress. These horses will win.

You interfere in progress, you will lose.

p.s.  Since Merdeka in 1957 exactly how many taxi cab passengers from Perlis to Sabah have suffered any type of burns or died of burns while riding in a taxi? Do you know the answer?