Dego Ride would hinder Malaysia's aim of becoming a developed nation

KUALA LUMPUR: Allowing Motorcycle ride-hailing service Dego Ride to roam the streets of Malaysia would hinder the country's aim of becoming a developed nation.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi said global cities such as Tokyo, Singapore and New York do not have motorcycle taxis as part of their public transportation services.
"We are aiming to become a developed nation. We want to emulate the system (in cities) of other developed nations such as Singapore, Tokyo, London and New York.
"We want to emulate developed cities so that the atmosphere in our own cities are more comfortable, environmental friendly and advanced," he told the Dewan Rakyat during the question and answer session.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Mansor Abd Rahman (BN - Sik) who asked why the service which is common in cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila is not allowed here.
Aziz said the landscape in the aforementioned cities were not similar with what KL could offer in terms of public transportation services.
"We have provided various choices of rail services such as the monorail, LRT and MRT. Those cities do not have as much as we do.
"Our city's landscape is not the same. We do not want Kuala Lumpur to follow cities that have not been transformed. We want Kuala Lumpur to be on par with other developed cities," he added.
On why the government allowed for e-hailing services such as Uber and Grabcar to operate, Aziz said both services provided additional options to the public transportation industry especially in the city.
"The option of public transportation is wide. Therefore, we do not want to extend the service to motorcycles as we want to develop a city that is sustainable and environmental friendly," he added.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had in February called for Dego Ride to halt its service, stating that the provider would face stern action if it did not comply with the ruling.