Land Transport Group Wants Government To Set Up National E-Hailing Platform

Penyatuan Pemain Industri Pengangkutan Darat Malaysia (PPDM) is demanding for the government to develop a nationwide ride-hailing platform to mend the country’s damaged taxi ecosystem. It represents association leaders, operators, and drivers in the land transport industry, including those involved in taxis, busses, lorries, e-hailing, and p-hailing.

According to PPDM’s memorandum to the Prime Minister’s office, the organisation wants the government to replace private e-hailing apps, which it claims to have robbed billions of Ringgit from taxi drivers. It said that the money gained from a government ride-hailing service could then be used to upgrade the quality of taxi services, as well as provide insurance coverage schemes to taxi drivers, scholarships for their children, and compensation of RM100,000 to their heirs.

Furthermore, PPDM is demanding that the government remove the double standards between taxi and ride-hailing services and apply consistent fare rates and regulations between both industries. “This is because both services carry out the same activities, which is to take passengers from one destination to another by charging a certain rate,” said the organisation.

Big Blue Taxi Services founder Shamsubahrin Ismail once said that e-hailing will kill off the entire taxi industry, with taxi drivers protesting against the apps several times in the past few years, citing that their income had been significantly affected due to the competition. The taxi industry previously launched an app specifically for its drivers in Klang Valley and Penang called cALLme, but the app did not gain much traction with the public and has since faded into obscurity.

(Source: Malaysiakini.)