KUALA LUMPUR: Uber and Grab, two popular e-hailing service companies, will have to wait until next year to see how the government intends to regulate their business. This came after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri revealed in the Dewan Rakyat today that related laws – under the Land Transport Act 2010 and the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board Act 1987 – will only be tabled in 2017. “This will allow the government to implement several programmes and reforms to ensure fairer conditions when it comes to issuing individual taxi permits and regulating e-hailing services nationwide,” she said today. Nancy said this in response to a question by Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Bharu), who wanted to know if the government had imposed any requirements for such services to comply with. Some permits are currently leased out by taxi companies. Nancy said for now Uber and Grab will operate their business according to the same laws governing the taxi industry to ensure customers’ safety. In a related matter, Nancy revealed that Putrajaya will give a RM5,000 grant for taxi drivers eligible to purchase new taxis. She went on to reveal that new laws will be put in place to ensure the welfare of taxi drivers are better looked after. She urged taxi drivers to become more tech-savvy so that they are not left behind and are able to upgrade their services in line with current demands and market trends. “The government’s recent study showed that more than 50 per cent of consumers used mobile apps to get taxi services, but only 14 per cent of taxi drivers get their customers through mobile apps. Nancy said e-hailing services should not be seen as a competition to the conventional taxi service but as an opportunity to balance the demand and market trend. In his supplementary question, Takiyuddin highlighted the protest by taxi drivers outside Parliament today to urge the government to take heed of their plight in the face of e-hailing services. “We cannot deny that taxi drivers’ income has been badly affected by Uber and GrabCar services. “A taxi driver needs to pay RM55 a day in rental, whereas it is zero rental for Uber and GrabCar drivers. “Because of the e-hailing services, more than 20,000 taxi drivers have returned their taxis to the companies because they are unable to pay rental.” He said taxi drivers had submitted a memorandum addressed to the transport minister and all lawmakers. In August, the Cabinet gave the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) the green light to regulate Uber and Grab. SPAD will now work on amending existing laws and possibly enacting new laws to allow ride sharing services to be legalised. The emergence of Uber and Grab in recent times has led to discontent among taxi drivers, resulting in protests and even cases of assault against Uber and Grab drivers. On the other hand, taxi drivers have long been accused of overcharging customers and refusing to take customers to their destinations, resulting in dissatisfaction which has led people to opt for e-hailing services now available. There are some 77,000 registered taxi drivers nationwide at present. Over the next three years, an estimated 150,000 new individual taxi, Uber and Grab drivers are expected to be providing services to the public despite improvements to the LRT system.
Ride-hailing services Uber and Grab operating in Kuala Lumpur, will have a few more months to operate in the same way as taxis, before new regulations come into force. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nancy, revealed that new legislation would be tabled in 2017. The move, she explained, was so that "several programmes and reforms to ensure fairer conditions" could be implemented. Uber and Grab currently operate under the same laws as the taxi industry, but their presence has enraged traditional taxi drivers.