PUTRAJAYA: More than 2,000 taxi drivers, who failed to find a common ground with the Transport Ministry on the e-hailing service and other issues, have brought their complaints to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The drivers, representing various taxi associations, gathered at the Putra Perdana compound today to submit a memorandum containing a total of 18 claims to the prime minister.
Their decision in doing that was in response to the failure of Gabungan Teksi SeMalaysia (GTSM) and the ministry in reaching an agreement on several issues, chief of which was the e-hailing service.
GTSM chairman Kamarudin Mohd Hussain said that allowing private vehicles to offer public transport service was a violation of the Road Transport Act 1987 and the Land Public Transport Commission Act 2010.
“We are also disappointed with Transport Minister Anthony Loke for closing the door to further negotiations with us,“ he told reporters.
“They (the ministry) have only adopted all the decisions made by the previous government without even conducting a proper study,“ he added.
Kamarudin said they regretted that so much flexibility had been given to e-hailing companies.
“We demand that they stop being biased and laws which are unfair to the taxi industry be removed. We also do not want e-hailing drivers to be given online training or be exempted from the practical test,“ he added.
He said taxi drivers were unhappy with the fact that e-hailing drivers were exempted from all the rules that are imposed on taxi drivers.
Loke’s political secretary Datuk Dahlan Maamor, who met the taxi drivers when they marched to his office, said efforts were being made to meet their demands.
