JANUARY 16 — Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz used the word “despair” to described taxi services in the country, accusing that poor taxi services have affected the country’s tourism. His remarks might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a fact that taxi service problems are too numerous to mention. Malaysia was even voted as one of the top ten countries with the worst taxi services in 2012.

Taxi operators play an important role in the tourism industry. They even bear the responsibility of “tourism ambassador”, as taxi drivers are always the first who have direct contact with foreign tourists. The quality of taxi drivers will affect tourists’ impression about Malaysia. Many tourists also take taxis during their visit here and poor service attitude will leave a bad impression on them, indirectly affecting tourism.

According to a data by Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), complaints against taxi drivers have topped the list every year from 2012 to 2014 among five categories of commercial vehicle services, the complaints included unwillingness to use meters, refusal to take passengers, not taking the shortest route, bad attitude and dirty. As an apple could spoil the whole barrel, they could disrepute the whole taxi service industry.

Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) officials conduct a check on taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur, on July 14, 2014. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

The quality of taxi drivers is the key of the quality of taxi services, and it is the most difficult part to control. When the government launched the Tourism Taxi Ambassador Programme in 2012, taxi drivers were required to receive training to provide visitors friendly and reliable services. However, only a few thousands among 60,000 taxi drivers nationwide had attended training. Obviously, the efforts to enhance the image of taxi industry had not received full cooperation from taxi drivers. Also, the lack of effective control has also caused the huge number of black sheep in the industry.

Taxi service problems have long existed, drawing criticisms. The service attitude of taxi drivers is just a superficial problem and the government’s taxi policy is the main cause of the vicious cycle. The government currently issues two kinds of taxi licences, one is issued to individuals, while another is issued to taxi companies. Most taxi drivers rent or buy taxis from taxi companies and pay RM40 to RM50 of daily rental. The increased cost is the main reason prompting some drivers to charge high fees or violate traffic rules.

More importantly, it is hard to monitor the background of taxi drivers renting taxis from taxi companies, causing cases like rape and other crimes. To rectify the problem, the government must first review the taxi rental policy to curb the ripple effect caused by unreasonable policy. The government should issue more licences for individuals to solve the drawback of the industry.

The poor ranking of taxi services brings shame on all Malaysians, while tarnishing the country’s image in the international community. The government has been gradually implementing its 1Malaysia People’s Taxi Programme (TR1Ma) under the transformation plan, hoping to transform three kinds of city taxis into TR1Ma, providing more comfortable services to passengers. Although the Proton Exora TR1Ma looks nice and comfortable, rigorous training must still be provided to taxi drivers to enhance their quality. Meanwhile, attention must also be paid to the welfare of taxi drivers and only multi-pronged approaches could clean the name of taxi services in the country. — Sin Chew Daily

 

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.