We've all experienced it first-hand, the pains of hauling a taxi. Having to negotiate with the driver on whether the meters will be used and even whether their going your way or not – or stand to be left stranded waiting for the next driver. This has not bode well for British website London Cabs, which has listed KL as one of the cities with the worst taxi drivers.
In its brief report, KL taxi drivers were notorious for 'overcharging,' 'detouring' and refusing to use taxi meters - a complaint that has risen by 69% in the year 2014 compared to the year before that. The report also detailed that most taxis were aging and in rather poor condition.
Surprisingly or not, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has acknowledged that this was something that they were well aware of, according to Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, chairman of SPAD.
In a report on The Star, Albar pinned the problem on half of the 42,000 taxi permit holders. "About half of them are individual permit holders, and it is this segment that often have difficulties upgrading their vehicles", Albar said, possibly referring to the worn-out taxis.
Additionally, he further stated that the taxi industry needed to upskill its workers and invest in new vehicles to overcome the matter of service quality. "Most of the privately-owned taxis are more than seven-years-old and SPAD has been encouraging the drivers to purchase new cars," he added.
"There has been improvements but it is not enough. So we created a mobile application, MeterOn, for passengers to rate taxi drivers' service. This is to help get customers' feedbacks and to give incentives for drivers to provide good service. It's time for them to change their perception and take pride in their job," he concluded.
SPAD has also taken on a different tone to its insistence on solely using the Proton Exora as the main vehicle for TEKSI1M. "We are now open to other vehicles, provided they are Malaysian-made," said Syed Hamid.
SPAD has had its fair share of hurdles, with the recent protest against app-based transport services such as Uber and Myteksi which was organised by the Malaysian Taxi Drivers' Transformation Association (PERS1M).
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