SPAD to study role of Uber and similar services

PETALING JAYA: The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) is currently holding a taxi lab to look into the role Uber and other such applications can play in providing public passenger service.
SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the taxi lab is meant to study all possibilities and once this is complete the findings will be presented to the Cabinet.
"We are only the enablers of government policy, we don't make decisions, we only present our findings and the final decision is made by the Cabinet," he said.
He pointed out that legalising an entity such as Uber cannot be done to simply suit people's needs, they need to study all the consequences of such an action.
"I understand that the public have voiced their dissatisfaction with the quality of the taxi service. People are reluctant to use their service because there are some of them who don't follow the rules and regulations set. There are also those who ignore the law," he said.
Syed Hamid said SPAD is an enforcement agency and it will continue to carry out its duty without fear or favour.
A SPAD official said the agency was suffering from a legacy issue from the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board.
He said there are now over 38,000 licensed taxis in Kuala Lumpur alone and since SPAD came into being it has not issued a single licence.
"Once we legalise services such as Uber there will be an overflow of public service vehicles, there will too many 'taxis' on the road," he said.
He pointed out that this in itself could cause a huge problem, it will become very difficult for those driving these vehicles to make a living.
"We must ensure that everyone involved can make a living, there is no use to simply giving to the wishes of the public," the SPAD official said.
He added that they would also be encouraging taxi drivers to improve their service so that they can win back the public's confidence.
The official said even if the government decides to legalise services such as Uber, it will not happen overnight.
He added that there are number of laws and regulations which such service must meet before they can start operating, even their drivers haver to comply by SPAD's laws.
He hoped that people would not be thinking that it just a matter of time before Uber is legalised.
The official warned that it may not happen as the final decision lies with the government and not SPAD.