KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The government is expected to wrap up by year-end its review on the proposal to legalise ride-sharing service providers Uber and Grabcar, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) said today.
“It shouldn’t take too long. So we are waiting for that, then we will be tabling it in the Cabinet, and there will be legal amendments for it,” SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar told reporters here, after a walkabout at the Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Terminal (TBS) here.
“We target to have it done by the end of the year. That’s our target. We have finished the paper and sent it for circulation to all agencies and ministries including the Attorney-General Chambers (AGC), so we wait for their comments,” he added.
Syed Hamid said that based on an online survey conducted by SPAD to gauge public reception towards regular taxi services and ride-sharing providers, 75 per cent of the 45,000 respondents chose Uber and Grabcar.
“That’s the reality but if I speak of this reality, then people want to scold me. I have been getting criticised a lot,” he said.
Last month, national newswire Bernama reported that SPAD had, in its Taxi Industry Transformation Programme proposal, said there was a need to legalise Uber and Grab and to level the playing field for taxi drivers.
On December 30 last year, a group of taxi drivers filed a lawsuit against SPAD to force the authority to ban Uber and GrabCar.
Several taxi groups have accused SPAD of failing to act against the two ride-sharing services, which they insist have been operating illegally.
The acrimony has resulted in occasionally violent altercations involving irate taxi drivers and Uber and GrabCar drivers.
Uber and GrabCar are competing firms that operate ride-sharing services in which private vehicle owners may offer transport services for hire without the permits and licences needed to operate a commercial taxi.
