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12 November 2015
Sky-high fees doom cabbies to being Uber-losers
Taxi-Uber Wars Part 2: Sky high fees doom cabbies to being uber-losers https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/319201
FOCUS Angry taxi drivers are expected to converge in Kuala Lumpur next week to protest against the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) which has ignored their calls to outlaw Uber.
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In this second part, Malaysiakini looks at how taxi drivers in the Klang Valley are deprived of individual taxi licences because most of these go to well-connected private companies.
Taxi drivers who do not have the privilege of getting their own licence must turn to these private companies and pay a fee.
Such taxi drivers incur more than double the cost compared to those who can get their own licence, which is the case for most taxi drivers in the Klang Valley.
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According to a parliamentary written reply in June this year, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur control 61 percent of all taxi licences in the country.
However, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are also the only places in the country where most taxi drivers cannot get their own licence.
In Kuala Lumpur, a meagre 28.2 percent of licences are held by taxi drivers themselves while the remaining 71.8 percent are non-individual licences.
As for Selangor, individual licences stand at 48.9 percent while non-individual licences are at 51.1 percent.
This means almost three in every four taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur are paying high fees without being able to own their own vehicle.
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Read the whole article:
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/319201
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Malaysiakini
11 November 2015
The taxi-Uber war: A tale of two drivers
FOCUS Recent violent images of attacks on Uber vehicles have brought to the fore a brewing discontent between taxi drivers and the increasingly popular mobile application (app) which matches willing drivers with anyone who needs a ride.
Taxi drivers have continuously cried that Uber is killing their livelihood but the message has barely resonated with consumers who see the mobile app as an alternative to conventional taxi drivers, infamous for their bad attitude, stinking cabs, and overcharging.
The more than ‘a few bad apples’ have contributed to the notoriety of Malaysian taxis but the advent of Uber has weighed on the entire industry, including regular taxi drivers who are only trying to support their family through an honest living.
In a four-part series, Malaysiakini dissects the Uber success story and puts the larger taxi industry under scrutiny.
We look at four key issues – how Uber drivers can earn more by doing the same thing regular cabbies do; what ails the taxi industry; Uber’s problems; and how to put an end to the taxi-Uber war.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/319054
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11 November 2014
Malaysiakini
The taxi-Uber war: A tale of two drivers
In this first part, Malaysiakini follows two men – Adenan, 27, who found Uber so profitable that he left his job in robotics engineering; and R Kumar, 42, a taxi driver and a father of three who resents people like Adenan.
Adenan asked not to publish his real name, out of fear of retribution for being an Uber driver.
His fear is not unfounded, as evident in a few cases – including a video which went viral – where conventional taxi drivers take the law into their own hands in their aggression against Uber cars, drivers, and even riders.
Adenan has even seen it firsthand. He related the dreadful afternoon on Oct 28 when he watched in horror as his customer is attacked by a taxi driver.
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Despite the risk, Adenan is quite satisfied with his new-found job as an Uber driver after quitting from his engineer position four months ago.
“As an engineer, I could only get about RM3,000 a month but now, I can earn between RM5,000 and RM6,000 as an Uber driver.
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While people like Adenan have doubled their income with Uber, Kumar’s fate is the opposite.
His daily income as a taxi driver is almost halved – from RM250 to RM150 a day – despite working almost double the time, a backbreaking 14 hours a day.
From the earnings, he must pay around RM53 a day for the taxi licence and rental cost from a private company.
Before the rise of Uber, Kumar said he could fetch passengers from Kuala Lumpur to KLIA airport five times a week in his Proton Persona taxi.
“Now it’s difficult to even get one or two customers. They do not need us anymore,” said a frustrated Kumar who blamed his falling fortunes on Uber and other mobile apps, such as GrabCar which was launched in May last year.
Kumar said he had contemplated abandoning his taxi job and jump onto the Uber bandwagon but decided against it, due to the uncertainties.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/319054
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23 October 2015
Spad tells cabbies upset with Uber, Grabcar to look in mirror
Land Transport Commission (Spad) chairperson Syed Hamid Albar has advised taxi drivers unhappy with the existence of ride-sharing applications Uber and Grabcar to do “self-reflection”.
He said these taxi drivers should ask themselves why the public prefer to hire private cars for their commutes instead of taxis.
“Rather than blame everyone else, taxi drivers should ask why people choose these private cars,” he said.
He added there have been copious customer complaints on taxi drivers’ attitudes, including how they are “rude” to passengers.
“I don’t think these are the majority (of taxi drivers) […] there may only be a handful of them who are like this, but this needs to be addressed.
“I feel they need to change their attitude,” he told Malaysiakini.
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Syed Hamid said Spad cannot take action against Uber and Grabcar because the matter is outside its jurisdiction.
He said only the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) can take action and bar the mobile applications.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/316807
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21 October 2015
Malaysian Taxi Drivers Transformation Association (Pers1m) deputy chairman Kamarudin Mohd Husain: SPAD has failed to take care of the taxi industry, and allowed ridesharing apps such as Uber and GrabCar to run in Malaysia.
Star
Wednesday October 21, 2015 MYT 3:44:56 PM
Thousands of cabbies to protest in KL on Nov 18
KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of taxi drivers are expected to demonstrate in the city on Nov 18 against the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).
They are expected to gather in three locations at about 10am that day before marching down Kuala Lumpur streets to an unknown location, the event’s organizers said.
“We don’t want to go against the Government. What we will do on Nov 18 is get the Government’s attention,” Malaysian Taxi Drivers Transformation Association (Pers1m) deputy chairman Kamarudin Mohd Husain told reporters at the Sentul Curry House.
Kamarudin said this when speaking to a crowd of over 100 taxi drivers who were called there by the Klang Valley Taxi Drivers Action Committee.
He said the taxi drivers were going to gather at Padang Merbok, the KL Mosque and the Craft Complex near Jalan Conlay.
Kamarudin added that the three groups would then converge on a single “secret location” that he would only reveal on that day.
He said that he expected more than 6,000 taxi drivers to come for the protest, adding that believing that such a number would force SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar to resign.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/10/21/Cabbies-Protest-Nov-18/
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11 October 2015
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In July, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) said that although private hire vehicle services like Uber and GrabCar are legal as “service matching” businesses, the manner they operate is not as they do not carry licences to transport passengers.
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15 October 2015
Passenger says had to lie to aggressive cabbies to save Uber driver during ambush
An #Uber passenger in M’sia had to lie to aggressive cabbies during ambush to save driver http://tdy.sg/1X6oynq
KUALA LUMPUR — A Czech Republic native was forced to protect the Uber driver who had picked him up from a mall in Malaysia by claiming he was just a friend, after a group of angry taxi drivers ambushed the man’s vehicle and threatened to damage it.
According to video producer Mate Valtr, the incident occurred Tuesday night (Oct 13) when he and his girlfriend used the Uber app to hail the driver to Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur.
He said as they were boarding the Uber taxi, four taxi drivers followed them to the car and proceeded to threaten the driver.
“Before we managed to lock the door, they started knocking on the car and pulling the door handle on the driver’s side, which they eventually opened, and proceeded to snatch the driver’s car keys and started yelling at him,” he said in an email interview last night.
“While aggressively pointing their fingers in front of his face, they accused him of being of an Uber driver and warned that if they confirmed that he was an Uber driver, they would damage his car,” Mr Valtr added.
Mr Valtr, who currently resides in KL, said he had to lie to the rogue cabbies by telling them the driver was merely a friend, in order to diffuse the heated confrontation.
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“When the police arrived, the taxi drivers became very submissive — shaking hands with the officers, trying to sweet-talk them — apparently they were a bit scared at this point and clearly had some respect towards the police,” he said, adding, however, that no arrest was made.
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Angry KL cabbies attack and even “arrest” Uber, GrabCar drivers http://ebx.sh/1K0XtsH
The Star reported that the attacks by taxi drivers were not limited to KLCC alone.
An Uber driver who wanted to be known as Brandon, 33, said a taxi driver hit his car and shouted at a customer he picked up near Petaling Street last month.
“I had to push my customer back into the car… Then, he (the taxi driver) punched the window and I sped off,” he said.
Mr Shamsubahrin claimed that some Uber and GrabCar drivers drove aggressively to evade capture by KLCC’s taxi drivers.
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10 October 2015
Free Malaysia Today
Uber-GrabCar issue: Taxi drivers taking law into own hands
The Uber and GrabCar controversy has reached a tipping point with taxi drivers now taking it upon themselves to arrest drivers of the illegal chauffeur services.
KUALA LUMPUR: Two videos have gone viral of taxi drivers in the city making a citizen’s arrest on Uber and GrabCar drivers, who the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) have declared as illegal chauffeur services.
The video uploaded by Facebook user Elton Poh, who described the taxi drivers as “Lebih teruk dari babarians, dan juga anjing” (Worse than barbarians, and dogs) is posted on the siakapkeli.my website.
In a report in The Star Online, Big Blue Taxi Service boss Shamsubahrin Ismail said his drivers had already nabbed seven Uber and GrabCar drivers in the past two days.
“We have started doing operations actively and caught more than seven Uber and GrabCars and we surrender them to the police for further action,” the news portal reported him as saying.
He also told a press conference that 100 taxi drivers had joined in the operations to nab the illegal cab drivers.
He justified their actions, saying that SPAD had proven themselves ineffective in stopping the illegal operations as they were still looking for a way to regulate the services rather than ban them altogether.
“Uber, GrabCar, they’re not afraid of SPAD…Taxi drivers have lost respect for SPAD.
In another report in The Star Online, Uber drivers defended their actions, saying they, just like everyone else, only wanted to earn a decent living.
“The majority of my passengers say they won’t take taxis because of bad experience. We’re just earning a living,” a driver called Johnny, 32, said, adding that he had problems taking a public service vehicle licence if SPAD insisted on it.
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Worse than babarians, and even dogs. Dogs would only chew mudflaps. Is this the so called taxi industry we want to save? I’d choose uber over these barbaric gansters anytime. SPAD, PDRM, Is it not clear enough?
Is this the kind of Malaysian we want to represent our country when tourists and expats needs transportation around?
Enough is enough. I can vouch for every single person that watches this video, and they’d agree whole heartedly that their actions aint acceptable at all.
Share this and make him famous. You dont wanna step up your game when a new player is in the industry, thats your problem. You put your fellow members to shame and really act like dogs salvaging a packet of leftover food by the roadside. Put his face in the papers and make this viral.
Credit: Elton Poh
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Hooligan cabbies in Malaysia attack Uber and GrabCar drivers — then force passengers to alight
Hooligan cabbies in Malaysia attack Uber and GrabCar drivers and force passengers to alight http://goo.gl/czqOeH
Cabbies in Malaysia were seen attacking Uber and GrabCar drivers at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre in Malaysia.
In the video, a man is seen saying, “That’s the story if you drive a GrabCar or Uber”, as a few cab drivers proceed to threaten the Uber and GrabCar diver, by stopping the vehicle.
Uber and GrabCar are both transportation network companies, which work via mobile applications.
Unlike regular taxis that you flag down, they allow customers to submit a trip request, which is then routed to the drivers, who use their own cars for the pickups.
As the cabbies find another GrabCar vehicle, one of them is overheard telling the driver: “All that are taxi drivers, I also want to eat, i pay everyday.”
They then proceed to force the customer to get down from the car.
At the end of the video, the man says: “With that, don’t you drive GrabCar or Uber, there are taxi drivers out there.”
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weehingthong 
Boikot Teksi Merah Putih – Samseng