In an interview with FMT, 4PAM president Ajit Johl took the Land Public Transportation Commission (SPAD) to task for failing to regulate the Uber and GrabCar services despite Putrajaya’s go-ahead for it to do so.
“It’s going to be six months since Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that ride sharing services have to be regulated,” he said. “So what’s taking SPAD so long?
“The government should be held responsible if there are accidents involving ride sharing providers since SPAD, despite having been given the clearance to regulate these providers, has yet to move in that direction.”
He said regulations would go a long way towards ensuring that ride sharing companies “don’t muck around”.
Ajit was commenting on the transport ministry’s order for the road transport department to take action against motorcycle taxis as the service is considered illegal under the Road Transport Act.
Without regulations, he said, it would be “extremely easy” for a ride sharing operator to start a service and continue to operate without fear of being reprimanded.
He said the regulations must include a requirement for operators to ensure the protection of passengers in the form of insurance cover and safety gear.
“In addition, company directors must be held liable for passenger safety to ensure that driver vetting is done.”
Ajit also said he expected demand for ride sharing services to increase in the future, making it even more necessary to have regulations.
“At the moment the price of fuel is relatively low because we are still being subsidised,” he said. “But the minute the price of fuel hits an unsubsidised rate where it will jump to RM3 to RM4 per litre or maybe even higher, ride sharing services will be a viable option.
“But this can only work if the regulators do their job. What are they waiting for? We can’t seem to control intercity buses, the intracity buses are a mess, the taxi industry is a mess, the ride sharing industry is a mess, every other industry that SPAD touches seems to be a mess. That’s the only consistency about SPAD.
“We would like the government to perform a complete overhaul of SPAD and remove the commissioner and have SPAD placed under the transport ministry.”
Recently, Dego Ride founder Nabil Feisal Bamadhaj said his company would continue operating despite the government’s ban on motorcycle taxis.