GEORGE TOWN: Faced with a loss of income, purportedly to Uber and Grab, a group of Penang taxi drivers have urged the state government to come up with a taxi hailing application.
Penang Uptown Taxi chairman V. Tasarathan claimed ride hailing companies charge low fares, affecting taxi companies statewide.
“We cannot compete with them because their capital investment is low, where else we have to pay expensive business class road tax which amounts to RM1,700 a year and insurance for our taxis.
“It is unfair to us that we have to comply with so many rules, including obtaining a permit to operate our taxis, but (Uber and Grab drivers) are able to operate freely,” he said.
Tasarathan said their complaints and pleas for help to various quarters had fallen on deaf ears.
“We have been begging everyone for help, but until now, our problem has not been solved. We want the state government to help us even the playing field so that we can compete with them on an equal footing,” he said when met at Komtar here today.
The taxi drivers were supposed to have gathered at Komtar for a demonstration at 7am. However, the planned protest did not take place.
Tasarathan said this was because they were threatened with revocation of their taxi badge if they participated in a demonstration.
“If our badge is revoked, we will not be able to operate and will lose our income,” he said.
Tasarathan was speaking to reporters after meeting with state Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow’s representative.
The representative, who declined to be named, said he had a brief conversation with the taxi drivers and that he would channel their complaints to Chow, who was not in his office.