The Land Public Transport Commission will not allow any vehicle older than five years old to be registered for e-hailing or taxi services. This is among the new regulations set to go into force when amendments to the Land Public Transport Act are passed through the Dewan Negara and come into force as law.
Once registered with SPAD, the vehicles will be legal for operation until their seventh year. This regulation will also apply to taxis, ensuring that commercial vehicles are always up to standard with minimal defects. Of course, drivers (from both e-hailing and taxis) will still have to bring their vehicles in for an annual PUSPAKOM inspection.
Other regulations require e-hailing apps to include a driver rating system, GPS tracking, and SOS panic button. The drivers are expected to attend customer service training and health screening; in addition to receiving background checks for criminal records.
The five year rule doesn’t change much for e-hailing services. It was originally conceived by Uber when it first started, and has been adopted as the standard for ridesharing services. On the other hand, the maximum seven year rule may end up putting a cap on the amount of time that drivers are able to keep working for e-hailing services.
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Regulations binding taxis have also been loosened, giving more power to the drivers. Any model of car will be legal for use as a taxi; provided that it meets the New Car Assessment Programme for South-East Asia (Asean NCAP).
In addition to this, taxi drivers will enter into a profit sharing agreement with the taxi companies for advertisements displayed on their vehicles.
Amendments legalising e-hailing service like Grab and Uber were approved by the Dewan Rakyat last week; and are set for a reading in the Dewan Rakyat during its next sitting.
[Source: The Star]
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