"TIS an ill wind that blows no one any good," goes the old saying; some good always comes of calamity. The present season of discontent over the cost of living seems to be raising greater empathy among our fellow citizens, now that everyone is feeling the effects of costlier food, fuel and everything in between. Not everyone agrees that we're all in the same boat, of course -- the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations' recent call to counter rising prices with a "No-Shopping Day" seems to reflect a world-view wherein traders, merchants, hawkers and shopkeepers are space aliens. But, by and large, there has arisen a certain camaraderie in checkout lines and at fuel pumps. Malaysians have begun to feel each other's pain.

As a consequence, there should not be as much bellyaching as usually accompanies the prospect of higher taxi fares. Last raised to the present RM2 flagfall three years ago, Klang Valley taxi fares are still among the lowest of any metropolitan taxi system in the world. Moreover, all but the most churlish passenger would sympathise with the wretched working conditions of cabbies on city streets, suffering long and debilitating days to take home 30 per cent or less of revenue, with the rest going to fuel, wear-and-tear, vehicle rental and the privilege to work like this.

The measures being floated by the authorities to help taxi drivers are all the more timely now, with public transport having vaulted in importance among consumers as well as commuters, and with taxis being an indispensable component of public transport. Waivers on tolls and excise duties on their vehicles would help, as would subsidised fuel and a drastic expansion of natural-gas fuelling stations, at least in urban centres nationwide.

Nothing would spell immediate relief more than allowing fares to notch upwards, however, especially if kept within the bounds of reason for passengers (there will always be the taxi-crooks to indicate what fares would be if unregulated). But a RM3 flagfall, for instance, and an extra few sen per kilometre travelled (or stranded in jams) would blunt the edge of hardship in the sector. Once again, though, the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board is shying away from the single innovation that could have the best impact on taxi drivers and passengers alike: the expansion of private taxi-permit ownership, offering more owner-operated taxis instead of the present fleets of decrepit vehicles driven by desperate seekers of last-ditch income.