The government should not rush with its law amendment process to legalise ride-sharing taxi services next month, says a taxi service operator.

"The Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) needs to do more research to improve the system first. Study the whole structure," said Shamsubahrin Ismail, adviser to luxury taxi services provider Big Blue Taxi Facilities Sdn Bhd.

"Uber and GrabCar are good, but we have to look into the safety and legality of such a service," Shamsubahrin told a press conference in Ampang today.

"Don't listen to one-sided views. Listen to the people you never listened to before. Listen to those who have knowledge and expertise on the ground," he urged.

Shamsubahrin raised the issue based on an Uber taxi crash that killed an 18-year-old passenger in Singapore and the safety of teenaged girls who preferred to take the e-hailing service.

"The (Singaporean) family of the deceased girl had to go through other means to claim their losses. The car driver did not possess a vocational licence, nor did he go through (proper) training," he said.

"I am worried. Lots of young women, dressed in sporty clothes and shorts, take Uber. They don't know the drivers and the government has no record of them," Shamsubahrin (photo) added.

The cabinet has decided to legalise ride-sharing services and to revamp the traditional taxi service. The government also plans to table a law amendment on this in Parliament in November.

'Discuss with taxi operators first'

Shamsubahrin wants the government to bring such a law amendment to Dewan Rakyat only next year, after discussing the matter with the regular taxi service operators.

He also urged the government to drop its effort to help Proton by making it a compulsory for budget taxi drivers to use Proton models.

"(Proton has) many cars, that are unsellable. It is able to sell cars because there are those forced to purchase it... It is now compulsory for budget taxi operators to use Proton cars," he lamented.

"All the Proton cars on the streets for taxi are a bad choice. The cars can't even go up Genting Highlands," he added.

"The government has to stop helping Proton because Proton has only one good model for the industry - the Proton Inspira."

The budget taxi models available include Proton Iswara, Saga, Wira, Exora and Waja.

Speculation is rife that the government is considering the compulsory use of one of these Perodua models for the budget taxi service, Shamsubahrin said.

The government, he added, should consider using Proton Inspira for the budget taxi and ride-sharing Uber and GrabCar services.

He proposed that the government also allows multi-purpose vehicles above two litres to be used for the blue cab or luxury taxi service.

He also said the Road Transport Department (RTD) should take action against illegal e-hailing services, including arresting such service providers and confiscating the vehicles used.

This was the decision reached, he said, after a discussion with legal experts who said private cars widely used by the share-riding operators would fall under the juridiction of the RTD.

There are currently 77,000 taxi drivers registered nationwide.

It is expected that there would be 150,000 new individual permits holders - Uber, Grab and the normal taxi drivers - in the next three years.