TMM,Wednesday December 29th, 2010
A two-part look at untangling our messy people conveyance system via a single entity next year
Come Jan 1, the Land Public Transport Commission will officially take over from other government agencies and assume the role of the central authority for all land-based public transportation.
With RM36 billion needed just to build the new mass rail transit (MRT) line and RM14 billion to get it up and running, the most expensive infrastructure project ever for the country certainly warrants the commission’s closest attention.
Road transport in Malaysia, however, is in a big mess caused by years of conflicting policies, poor implementation and sheer incompetence, and must be addressed simultaneously.
For example, the setting up of several national automobile companies and encouraging private car ownership have run against the promotion and provision of an efficient public transport system.
The Road Transport Licensing Board (RTLB) was created in the 1970s and took over the issuance of permits for all taxis, buses and lorries, except for small goods vehicles with cargo load of one ton or below, from the Registrar & Inspector of Motor Vehicles (RIMV).
The RIMV was later renamed the Road Transport Department (RTD) and RTLB became the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB). Both agencies have been under different ministries and one of the reasons cited for this was to prevent one ministry from becoming too powerful.
Under the New Economic Policy, CVLB’s main objective was to address the imbalance of Bumiputra participation in the transportation sector.
Hence, many permits were issued to promote Bumiputra entrepreneurship and it had resulted in a large number of small operators and a fragmented road transport industry.
In later years, CVLB accrued additional powers to carry out enforcement but could not do much due to lack of resources and manpower. The RTD continued to be the main enforcement agency for commercial vehicles.
The commission can begin its work of overhauling public road transport by first ensuring that permits and vehicles are given the correct name and usage.
As problems faced by the goods sector are numerous and complex, only those involving passenger-carrying vehicles are discussed here.
There are four basic types of taxis: taxi cab, hired car, limousine taxi and airport taxi. The cheapest category is Budget Taxi with a starting fare of RM3, 10 sen per 115 metres (87 sen per km) and 10 sen for every 21 seconds (RM17.14 per hour). The rates should be rounded up to every 100 metres (RM1 per km) and every 20 seconds (RM18 per hour).
The most expensive are Executive Taxis with a starting fare of RM6, RM2 per km and RM36 per hour. This rate should remain as it is exactly doubled that of the proposed rate for budget taxi.
Premier Taxi permits were first issued for MPVs running solely on NGVs in conjunction with SUKOM’98 but operators have switched to executive taxis which command higher fares although the vehicles can be of the same model.
The new 1Malaysia Proton Exora taxis should be licensed under the premier taxi category, and their rates to be sandwiched between executive and budget taxis with starting fares of RM4.50, RM1.50 per km and RM27 per hour.
As for Hired Car (kereta sewa), the name is indeed confusing. When excise duty was first granted for them in the early 1980s, a State RTD erroneously extended it for Hire & Drive Cars (kereta sewa pandu sendiri) to a leading car rental company but was later made to pay back.
Hired cars are taxis that run outstation with up to four passengers and the fare is on per seat basis. They used to be popular up to the 1970s until air-conditioned express buses became popular. The correct name should be ‘Express Taxis’.
In the 1960s, several car rental companies approached RIMV to introduce permits for their chauffeur-driven cars. The early Limousine Taxi permits were for cars above 2.0 litres and the 2.0 litre cars must have 6-cylinder engines.
Today, 4-cylider 2.0 litre cars can be licensed as limousine taxis. The smallest engine for the latest Mercedes E-class is only 1.8 litres but produces high power through forced air intake.
Nearly all limousine taxis are based at 5-star hotels. Their rates are high to match the cost of vehicles. On the other hand, taxis based at KLIA should not have been given special number plates with the alphabets LIMO.
The first such taxis were Proton Wira with a giant satellite dish on the roof and were a laughing stock of the international community.
Today, most of the models are Proton Waja and just as vans operated as taxis at KLIA, they are certainly not limousines.
The operator may have the right to decide on their company name but it was a mistake for the authorities to allow the misleading LIMO plates.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
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