Nod for taxi fare hike

PETALING JAYA: Increases in metered taxi fares will be welcomed by consumers as long as the new rates are reasonable; but more importantly, guidelines need to be put in place to stop errant drivers from fleecing passengers, said a consumer activist.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) senior vice president Datuk Koris Atan said the public would be willing to fork out a little extra in cab fares if the rates are practical and follow the meter.
"The majority of consumers are ready to pay the amounts displayed on the fare meters even if there is a raise. The problem lies with taxi drivers who refuse to use the meter and overcharges passengers," he told theSun.
Citing UK-based website London Cabs which rated KL cabbies as the worst in the world in a survey last year, Koris said he has taken cabs in over 60 countries, but has only been cheated once, unlike back home.
"Just recently, I took a taxi from Puduraya to Brickfields and the driver wanted to charge me RM50 for the journey!" he said, stressing that it is unfair to "penalise" customers this way.
He suggested that taxi drivers who break the law be immediately sacked or at the very least have their licenses revoked for such breach of conduct.
Today, theSun reported that a taxi fare hike is in the pipelines as part of a measure to streamline and revamp the Teksi 1Malaysia (TEKS1M) and budget cab operations.
The proposed move will assist the conventional cabbies to cope with the upcoming taxi industry transformation which includes the proposed legalisation of e-hailing services by year-end.
The last metered taxi fare hike took effect in March last year.
Currently, the TEKS1M fare starts from RM4, with 30 sen for every 200m while the budget taxi flagfall rate starts from RM3 with 25 sen for every 200 metres.