Nancy: Transport sector to lose if not using e-hailing

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the government could not control the open market demands and if the trend were not followed by the conventional taxi service providers, they would be marginalised and left far behind.

"That is why we have introduced e-hailing. Although they (conventional taxis) do not believe (in the benefits of e-hailing), they should realise that it is a new trend, especially among young people.

"Over 50 per cent of taxi service users are now using this application (e-hailing) and they are not long-time taxi users but new ones. Seventy per cent of our 45,000 survey respondents are using this application."

Nancy said this after appearing as a guest of Bernama News Channel's 'Ruang Bicara' programme at Wisma Bernama, here, last night.

The minister said the conventional taxi service providers should look at the application of technology from the perspective of it being more convenient and open instead of viewing it as a competitor.

"If not using e-hailing, these taxis will have to go round looking for potential passengers, when not being contacted by customers. Imagine the operational costs such as fuel cost. If using the application, they don't need to go round and round looking for customers, who may have already booked for a taxi through the e-hailing application," she said.

However, Nancy is optimistic that this technology would eventually be well accepted by the conventional taxis and the country would be seeing a transformation of its taxi industry and a more systematic transportation sector.

"Hopefully, they (conventional taxis) will enjoy the benefits of e-hailing. So far, about 14,000 taxi drivers have been using this application. If the others are not doing so, they will be left behind economically.

Malaysia created history by being the first country to make e-hailing services such as Grab and Uber, legitimate public transport service after the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (Amendment) Bill 2017 were passed by the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.

Under the amendments, the conditions set include requiring taxi drivers to undergo health checks and to have insurance coverage and a driver's card, and their taxis checked periodically.