KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) will submit a proposal paper on new taxi fares for the peninsula in the first quarter of next year following rising operational costs.

Its chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the new rates would be determined after considering the findings of a study done, holistic review made, and the input and feedback gathered from parties involved in this sector.

“The rates will also take into consideration the taxi components, namely the vehicle, spare parts, fuel, maintenance, overheads, labour cost, cost of living and service quality.”

He said this at a press conference after officiating at the ‘Interaction with Consumers and Taxi Industry — Taxi Fare Study’, here, today.

It was attended by representatives of taxi driver associations, consumers  associations, social activists and the transport and tourism ministries. Also present was SPAD chief executive officer, Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal.

Syed Hamid said the last time taxi fares were raised was in 2009.

Meanwhile, he said the 13,000-odd city taxis covering budget, executive and premier taxis, would go through the migration plan to become 1Malaysia Taxis (TEKS1M) through the Taxi Upgrading Initiative (2013-2015) under the Taxi Industry Transformation Programme.

“We expect about 7,500 TEKS1M using the Proton Exora to fully operate by 2015,” he said.

Hence, he hoped the government would consider allocating a suitable sum for the implementation of the TEKS1M programme in the 2014 Budget, which would be tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on October 25.

Currently, there are about 60,000 taxi drivers in Peninsula Malaysia. — Bernama