E-hailing drivers hit ‘dead end’ again

PETALING JAYA: Many e-hailing drivers who do not own the vehicles they are driving are unable to renew the vehicle’s road tax, causing some of them to drop out of the pool.

And this has led to many frustrated commuters, as they have to pay more for their rides with fewer drivers on the road.

This came less than two weeks following the government’s regulation for the e-hailing industry on Oct 12 that required each e-hailing operator to enter the vehicle owner details into the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) database.

“I have been using a relative’s car for e-hailing. The road tax is expiring soon but I could not renew it. I was referred to JPJ and then to Land Public Transport Agency (APAD).

“My attempt to renew was rejected as I was told the names of the car owner and e-hailing driver in my e-hailing vehicle permit (EVP) did not tally,” said a Grab driver who wanted to be known only as Rozads.The 43-year-old from Batu Caves claimed a JPJ officer told him that his e-hailing operator did not input the car owner’s information in the system.

“Now, I have to do it again before I can be on the road,” he said, adding that he is unable to work as his road tax is expiring today.

Rashid Mat, 41, who is based in the Klang Valley, ran into the problem last week.

“My car is registered in my wife’s name. But since her details are not in the system, I was not allowed to renew the road tax, which expired last Friday.

“I have submitted all the relevant documents to Grab while applying for my EVP, and I don’t know what went wrong.

“It is frustrating as I have not been driving for days and I have no other source of income,” he said.

Malaysia E-Hailing Drivers Association president Daryl Chong, when contacted, said the latest glitch was likely due to an oversight by e-hailing operators (EHOs).

“We need to understand that the onus is on the EHO to manually key in the details of the drivers and their cars into APAD’s system while applying for their EVP. Based on APAD’s feedback, the problem came about when the car owners’ information was missing in the drivers’ EVP.

“Car owners’ details such as name, MyKad number and vehicle chassis number were unfortunately left out of the system by some EHOs,” said Chong.

“Without the information, the system will flag the application by saying the car owner is different from the e-hailing driver, and rejects the renewal,” he said, adding that drivers using cars registered under their names were unaffected.

“EHOs should stop blaming APAD or JPJ, and update the missing information quickly,” he said, adding that passengers would have to bear with longer waiting times and higher fares, especially during peak hours, as many part-timers had stopped driving since Oct 12.

“The subsequent confusion caused by seemingly contradicting statements from the Transport Minister and his enforcement agencies earlier has also put some drivers off the road. With this latest issue, the situation will only get worse,” he said.

Meanwhile, MCA Civil Society Coordination Bureau chief Ng Kian Nam, who is assisting a group of drivers, said “thousands of drivers” had been forced to stop driving due to road tax renewal problems since Oct 12.

He called on the ministry to do away with the many “troublesome processes” for drivers, which were over-regulating the industry.- Star