Taxi drivers in Penang are seeing red over the government's indifferent attitude towards their plight and for ignoring some 30 memorandums calling for an increase in metred fare rates.

"None of the authorities or officials have bothered to reply our memorandums, let alone hold a meeting to find solutions to our plight.

"We cannot understand the government's apathy," lamented the Federation of Penang Taxi Drivers Associations secretary Osman Majid.

The federation, which is the umbrella body for the1,500 registered and licensed taxi drivers, also wants the state government to widen their travelling boundaries to cover the whole peninsular.

The federation believes its demands are justified due to the 35 percent leap in petrol price over the past eight years and the existence of pirate taxis, known as taxi sapu .

The drivers have demanded for an automatic RM3 opening charge once a passenger boards a taxi and additional 10 sen for each subsequent 100m-travelled.

They also want a 10 sen charge for every 30 seconds of stoppage caused by traffic jams, RM5 surcharge for each airport-bound trip and an extra RM1- per minute for waiting, call-in and use-of-booth services.

Their demands also include a flat rate of RM20 per hour on tourists who want to tour the state and that such passengers must be required to hire the taxis for a minimum of three hours.

The drivers also want the government to allow them to drop passengers throughout the Peninsular, although they agree to pick passengers only in Penang.

Strong protest

Under the present system, taxi charges are an automatic RM3 for the first 2km and 10sen for each subsequent 200m, with another RM1 for a minute of waiting and 10 sen for each subsequent 45 seconds of stoppage caused by traffic delay.

Taxis can also charge an additional RM1 for call-in and booth services.

Apart from the increase in petrol prices, Majid said the cost to maintain a taxi has also increased by three folds over the years.

According to him, what irks the members most, was the government's apathy towards their plight.

He said memorandums have been submitted to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the Entrepreneurial Development Ministry, Transport Ministry, the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board and the Road and Transport Department.

Implementation of the metered taxi fare system in Penang had been postponed on three occasions due to strong protest from the federation members. It was finally implemented in Jan 2000.

However, taxi drivers have consistently defied the metered ruling, leading to heaps of complaints from the public.

" Taxi sapu are eating into our pockets. It is difficult to earn a decent income under the present metered system, let alone compete with them," said Majid.

The federation plans to submit another memorandum to the prime minister and it hopes to meet him to resolve their dilemma once and for all.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini 's Penang-based stringer.