Malaysian taxis are famous for being run down - and for thieving drivers. In many towns - Penang, Melacca, Cyberjaya/Putrajaya for example, the taxi drivers simply refuse to use their meters and demand fares that are several times higher than the legal limits. The waving of hands signals "broken" - and the required receipt machine is also disfunctional. Taxis that honk in the street or wait outside shopping centres, bus termini or hotels are amongst the worst thieves. And the word "thief" is, perhaps, too gentlemanly a term : for some (not many), if a passenger refuses to pay an extortionate fee, will simply drive into an out of the way place and park until the passenger pays what amounts to a ransom.
A recent clamp down on dishonest taxi drivers cancelled the licences of several hundred. And the situation improved - for a few days. Then all foreigners, assumed to be tourists, were once more subjected to the same behaviour - after all, if they were tourists, they would not know about the clampdown and so not be surprised by the demands of the driver.
The truth is that many honest drivers - and that is the majority of them - work extremely long hours and get remarkably little reward. These rent a taxi and pay for their own fuel. Often, their net earnings will be less than USD30 per day.
That's barely a living wage, even in a low-cost country like Malaysia. It's not surprising that the drivers cheat.
Yesterday, the Transport Minister announced that taxi fares are to increase substantially: the flag-drop will increase by 50% and the calculation for distance will be reduced from 150metres to 115 metres. Stationery time ( that is waiting and stationery in a jam) will be set at MYR3 for the first three minutes, and 10sen for every 21 seconds - a huge change from the current 45 seconds.
Along with the carrot goes a stick: drivers will be required to have working meters and receipt machines and to produce receipts for each trip; they will have to post the fare schedule in the cab, and to stick to it. Minister in the Prime Minister�s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz said that service levels must increase to justify the additional fares. But no proposals were made to upgrade the national taxi fleet which is shamefully decrepit for budget taxis.
There are various grades of taxi: budget taxis are Proton Sagas, often very old cars with beaten up interiors and worse suspensions. Some however are well maintained despite their age, demonstrating that the fault lies with the drivers not the cars. Budget taxis are often converted to LPG - and the gas tank takes up so much boot space that a normal suitcase does not fit. Higher grade taxis have been finding their way into Kuala Lumpur - and charging a higher authorised rate. In fact, the rate is very similar to that now being implemented for budget cars.
The new fares are essential - but the drivers have to mend their ways and become honest and more professional in their vehicle maintenance to justify the public's confidence in them.
The fee to recalibrate taxi meters (a frequent excuse for drivers who have, in the past carried conversion tables - that they have made up themselves with obvious consequences) from the equivalent of USD12.50 to USD2.5 (approx)
There are discounts of 25% for the elderly and disabled - although anyone who's legs don't bend easily cannot get into or out of the back of a Proton Saga without difficulty.
Schoolbus fares will rise by approx 30% - and with a rise of equivalent of USD1 per kilometre, this will prove problematic for many rural families.
Long distance buses will increase their fares by MYR2.02 per kilometre, adding approximately USD1.5 to the fare from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. However, as these bus operators set vastly differing fees due to their different standards of vehicle and service, this will be less noticeable. But for domestic-only travel, the difference will be significant. However, a 200km journey will still cost less than USD5.00
The fares will change in August. The timing is significant: in a multi-cultural society, July and August are the "low season" for religious and cultural festivals and the mass migration that goes with them. Any later and one of the various groups may have claimed - entirely wrongly - that the changes were a tax on their festivities. The timing also captures the prime tourist season and so helps the drivers overcome the inevitable short-term loss of a small percentage of locals who are put out by the new fares.
It has been three years since the last full-scale refixing of public transport fares - although temporary uplifts were put in place to deal with the fuel crisis.
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