PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department will not give any further leeway to e-hailing drivers and will strictly enforce its new regulations when they take effect on Oct 12, its enforcement director Khairul Anwar Bachok (pix) said.
He said e-hailing drivers had been given sufficient time to fulfil all conditions set for the new regulations, including a three-month grace period to educate themselves on what was needed from them.
Reasons such as not having time to fulfil the conditions was unacceptable, he said, adding that drivers had been given reminders, besides being allowed, through advocacy, to continue to operate during the three month grace period since July.
“To me, enough time has been given. We cannot be too soft when it comes to enforcement of laws and regulations, lest we are accused of being too lenient,” he told a media conference here yesterday.
E-hailing drivers had been questioning two of the new conditions, the first was for them to change their vehicle category from private vehicle (AB) to e-hailing private vehicle (AH), and the second, to obtain a print out of their e-hailing vehicle permit (EVP) system permits at RTD counters.
Drivers had been lamenting that they had little time to fulfil these conditions before the new regulations come into force this Saturday.
However, on Wednesday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook clarified that the AH code for private e-hailing vehicles will be registered automatically in the mySIKAP system and the owners and e-hailing drivers need not go to the Road Transport Department (RTD) office to do so.
Meanwhile, a group representing e-hailing drivers today handed over a 14-point memorandum to Loke, demanding that the government set up a special tribunal to handle cases involving the e-hailing industry.
Its spokesman Ng Kian Nam said e-hailing drivers were of the view that the current complaint system under the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) was ineffective, not interactive and unsuitable to handle complaints by e-hailing companies, drivers and riders.
Transport Ministry public relations officer V. Leelakumari received the memorandum on behalf of the minister.
In a separate development, Khairul Anwar said 11 buses and a private van ferrying workers around Putrajaya were stopped in a RTD operation on Wednesday.
All the vehicles were seized for offences under the Road Transport Act 1987 and the Land Transport Act 2010, such as for not having valid vehicle licences, no insurance coverage and driving without valid driving licences.
“These are serious offences as it involves road safety and stern action will be taken against the offenders and companies involved,” he said, adding that all the drivers were aged between 20 and 32-years-old. — Bernama
