Tuesday May 13, 2008
Proposal will allow cabbies to earn more, says minister
A PROPOSAL to allow individual licences for taxi drivers will be tabled in Cabinet by the Entrepreneurial and Cooperatives Development Ministry, said its minister Datuk Noh Omar.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament Lobby, Noh said the move would enable taxi drivers to earn more.
Noh said there would be certain conditions set, such as maintenance and services schedules, and if a driver wanted to get an individual licence he would have to be a member of an association or a cooperative.
“Once a permit for an individual is granted, they can then buy their own car by getting a loan from the Transport Development Fund,” he said.
Noh said there was currently RM200mil in the fund with RM60mil allocated for taxis and his ministry is asking for it to be increased to RM100mil.
“We have done extensive research about the problems involved when giving permits and licences,” he said.
Noh said some of the problems included drivers having to pay taxi companies quite a lot of money with the drivers not getting the permit but only getting the taxi after three or five years.
“They also work long hours but earn very little. Some of the companies also do not give importance to the welfare of drivers by not contributing to the Employees Provident Fund,” he said.
Noh said it was for these reasons that taxi drivers broke the law so that they could earn more money, adding that there was a need for 3,000 more taxis in the Klang Valley, Penang and Ipoh.
Inside the Dewan, he said the design of the country’s taxis of the future would be based on a new vehicle from Proton Bhd.
“We will hold a meeting with Proton to design a standard model for taxis.
“The taxis will no longer comprise many different models,” he told Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat).
“The present taxis, especially Protons, are too small and embarrassing, and they are not as good as the ones found in Indonesia,” he added.
Noh also said individual taxi permits might be reissued to overcome problems faced by drivers from company-owned taxi fleets.
The distribution of the permits was frozen on Sept 10, 2004, he added.
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