KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has improved thanks to the heavy criticisms lobbed against it, its chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said today.

He added that the commission has always done its best but may not necessarily have been understood by the public.

“But we have learnt to be a very good punching bag because of our willingness to be subjected to criticism and allegations from various parties.

“Now, we have extraordinary strengths. We can do our best and deliver now,” he said in his speech while launching the Big Blue E-Ticketing services at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) here.

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Both Syed Hamid and SPAD have come under fire from commuters and taxi drivers and their industry for a variety of issues ranging from road mishaps to the operation of e-hailing services like Uber and Grab.

Among the most vocal on the e-hailing service issue is Big Blue Taxi Services founder Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail who openly apologised to SPAD and Syed Hamid today.

“In my quest to contribute and make a difference in the taxi industry, I may have unintentionally hurt certain parties or individuals.

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“Today, from the bottom of my heart, I wish to apologise to SPAD and specifically Syed Hamid for some of the things I have said and done,” he said during his speech.

In response, Syed Hamid said that SPAD has been “trained to forgive” those who apologise sincerely.

“Shamsul has asked for forgiveness openly. I don’t want to hear anything that hurts anyone anymore.

“But, we here in SPAD are trained to forgive people. I hope we all understand that we have our own responsibility,” he said.

The former federal minister also said SPAD was not after popularity but only sought to perform its duty.

“We are not in our job for popularity. We are in our job to satisfy the trust given by the government and the aspiration of the people to have the best services,” Syed Hamid said.

Shamsubahrin today launched the mobile app “Big Blue 2GO e-ticketing app” which would be the equivalent for e-hailing services used around the KLCC area