The Land Transport Commission's (Spad) ex-officio status has resulted in piles of unsolved court cases involving taxi drivers, said Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

At a press conference in Bangsar today, she said this is because Spad does not have legal standing to represent taxi drivers in court.

"There are lots of backed-up summons involving taxi drivers because Spad can't technically go to court," she said.

She said that this was different when taxis were managed by the Commercial Vehicle Licencing Council (LPKP) which sits under the Prime Minister's Office.

nurul izzah pc 050112 01 According to Nurul Izzah, ( left ) the issue was brought to the attention of Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians by taxi driver associations who met with them after failing to find a solution through Spad.

"There is a fear of engaging Pakatan as taxi drivers survive on government handouts, but they have gone to Spad. They wanted to try the government first to find a long term solution," she said.

She added that the Badan Bertindak Pemandu Teksi-- a loose coalition which represent four taxi driver associations in Kuala Lumpur-also raised other grouses:

Spad's failure to meet with them on a regular basis to discuss their problems, as opposed to when they were under LPKP the authority met with them at least 10 times a year;

  • The failure of the coupon system, which not only excludes many taxi drivers from picking up passengers from certain destinations, but also raises total fares for consumers;
  • The issuance of executive taxi licence to monopolies which eat into the market for metered taxis; and,
  • Third party insurance which is not extended to taxi drivers, leaving them to foot the bill in the event of accidents.

The MP said the matters will be raised at a meeting set up between Spad chairperson Syed Hamid Albar, Pakatan Rakyat MPs in Kuala Lumpur and the taxi drivers representatives on March 7.

She added the meeting will for now focus only on the grouses of the 35,000-odd Kuala Lumpur taxi drivers.

"The taxi driver associations in Malacca and Johor are very active and want to join us but we have decided to focus on Kuala Lumpur first," she said.

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