Change our taxi system

TS,Thursday April 2, 2009

I wish to comment on the report that the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board admits defeat
and is running out of solutions in the war against rogue taxi drivers (The Star, March 31).

Sadly, it will continue to be a losing battle as long as our archaic taxi system remains unchanged.

Let us start with the policy of granting taxi permits. Drivers who wish to obtain their own taxi
permits should first be placed in a registry and go through a qualifying process such as
attending some training, be carefully assessed and properly counseled, as the standard course
to obtain a public service vehicle licence is ineffective.

They should also undergo a probationary period before and after getting their taxi permits so
that they are treasured.

Enforcement had been grossly lacking over the years until last month when JPJ officers
boarded 627 taxis and found 69% of the drivers did not use the meter.

I would agree that most of these emboldened drivers are guilty. However, many of them who
did not use the meter might have encountered problems such as passengers refusing to pay
the surcharges and extra charges allowed for carrying more than two passengers or luggage.

An effective solution is to do away with all the surcharges and revise the budget taxi fare.
The meter starts at RM2 for the first kilometre or two minutes and subsequently 10 sen for
every 150 metres or 45 seconds.

Instead, the fare should start at RM3 and subsequently at 10 sen for every 100 metres or 30 seconds.

The 50% increase in starting fare, distance and time will be sufficient to compensate for the
loss of all the extra but problematic charges.

Executive taxis were introduced with meter fares starting at RM6, RM2 per km and RM36 per hour.
I propose that the premier taxi meter fares be adjusted to start at RM4.50, RM1.50 per km and RM24
per hour.

The budget taxi meter fares as proposed above start at RM2, RM1 per km and RM12 per hour.

I am sure there are many well-informed taxi drivers, especially those who meet each other
frequently, who can offer all the solutions CVLB is seeking, if they only care to ask.

After all, it takes a thief to catch another.

YS Chan

Kuala Lumpur