KUCHING: The Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB) will propose to the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to extend the validity of the Teksi Rakyat 1Malaysia (TR1MA) assistance scheme, from the current six months to one year.

State CVLB chairman Hasbi Habibollah said the extension was needed in view of the travel frequency of taxis in the state, which is less compared to those in Peninsular Malaysia.

As of Oct 13 this year, he said, a total of 1,222 TR1MA vouchers had been distributed with Kuching CVLB receiving 676, 318 in Miri and 228 in Sibu.

Relief for cabbies: Fadillah presenting the TR1MA vouchers as other CVLB board members look on.

“The response to the TR1MA has been encouraging and we are expecting the applications for the scheme to increase in time to come.

“CVLB together with SPAD have agreed to extend the application deadline to Oct 23 to ensure that all cabbies who are registered can receive the assistance,” he said at the TR1MA voucher presentation ceremony for 40 cabbies here yesterday.

Under the scheme, he said 55 tyre distributors had been identified to ensure the convenience of the cabbies.

Hasbi hoped that the scheme could help alleviate the financial burden of the cabbies.

“At the same time, it is hoped that the cabbies can improve their services so that they could continue as the main mode of public transport,” he added.

He urged the cabbies to be ethical and disciplined as they were the frontliners in the tourism industry.

Meanwhile, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusuf expressed his hope that the cabbies could contribute towards the various government transformation programmes.

He said dialogue sessions could be held between the Government and the cabbies on how best to make use of science and technology to increase their income.

Taxi driver Juda Linya, 53, from Serian was delighted with the RM520 voucher.

He said the money would come in handy as he needed to change his taxi tyres every six months.

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