A taxi industry representative claimed today that the one-year grace period granted for e-hailing service providers and drivers to comply with the same regulations imposed on taxi drivers is too long.

Big Blue Taxi founder Shamsubahrin Ismail said this was as the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) already has a system in place to ensure compliance with the decision announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke last week.

"We clearly object to the one-year moratorium period.

"That is too long, because e-hailing companies did not just start one or two months ago, but have been around for three to four years," he told a press conference held at his Shah Alam home this morning.

The taxi industry standards that e-hailing services need to meet include registering with the Companies Commission or Cooperatives Commission, using vehicles that meet the Asean New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) three-star rating, and sending vehicles over three years old for annual Puspakom inspections.

Shamsubahrin also said that all unregistered e-hailing drivers should have immediately ceased operations upon the minister making the announcement.

"They should have immediately stopped driving. We cannot accept the one-year period.

"If it was just a one- or two-month grace period maybe we could accept it, because all e-hailing drivers should have been prepared to immediately register themselves.”

Registration system

Spad, Shamsubahrin stated, has no excuse to allow for the one-year moratorium, as they can expand their existing taxi driver registration system to include rideshare drivers.

"All they (Spad) need to do is just to speed up the system or slightly modify its configuration," he said, demonstrating that the system is accessible through a mobile application.

Shamsubahrin pointed out that the current system also allows for the verification of whether vehicles can operate as taxis or rented cars.

As for enforcement, he suggested that Spad issue stickers for e-hailing services, similar to conventional taxis being identified through their colours.

And where fares are concerned, Shamsubahrin said that Putrajaya’s move to level the playing field between taxi and rideshare drivers should extend to a to a "fare regulation" system.

In his proposed system, rideshare drivers should change the same metre rates as conventional taxis – currently set at an RM3 base and a 10 sen increase for every 100m.

The system would also prevent e-hailing services from implementing surge pricing during peak hours or periods of high demand.

Keeping up with the competition

Shamsubahrin noted, however, that the 70,000 or so taxi drivers nationwide should also change their attitudes to keep up with the 200,000 e-hailing drivers in the country.

"Maybe they (taxi drivers) can start to make sure that they look more presentable... speak to customers politely, maintain their cars properly.”

When met later, a Grab driver who only wished to be identified as ‘Wan’ lauded the one-year moratorium, saying it would prevent a sudden drop in numbers of e-hailing drivers and pushing up its charges further.

Wan also recalled how one of his passengers had agreed to pay RM163 for a 40-km ride from Sentul to Setia Alam, which he estimated would only cost about RM60 at standard rates.

"I double checked and realised that the surge pricing charge was more than RM100, but the customer cannot argue because they had been informed of the rate (in-app) before confirming the booking," he said.