PUTRAJAYA: The e-hailing industry has been warned to toe the line over the recent surge in fares or face being further regulated by the authorities.
Transport minister Wee Ka Siong said the ministry would not hesitate to suspend or revoke the licences of e-hailing companies that violate the 200% surcharge limit imposed by the government.
“Don’t force me to regulate (the industry). I don’t want to go to the extent of interfering with the gig economy,” said Wee at a press conference today.
He also said he had requested the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) to investigate if e-hailing companies have violated the surcharge that had been fixed.
While the base fee for e-hailing fares was not regulated by Putrajaya, the surcharge cannot be more than twice the base fee amount.
Yesterday, Wee explained that the main reasons for the price increases were a mismatch in supply and demand as well as heavy traffic.
While some companies saw a 30% drop in the number of registered drivers compared to pre-pandemic times, he said more people were expected to register as drivers in the near future.
Improving LRT operations
Wee also announced today that Prasarana Malaysia Bhd had completed all five of its short-term initiatives and 11 medium-term initiatives in its bid to improve LRT operations following the train collision last year.
Seven long-term initiatives were still in progress but remained on track to be completed, with RM450 million allocated by the ministry for the 23 initiatives.
He also said the ministry expected Prasarana to conduct a Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) audit for a detailed report on initiatives taken.
Following recent incidents involving the Kelana Jaya LRT line, Wee said users can expect 19 new trains to be added by the fourth quarter of next year.
He also expected original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to be brought in to study the recent incidents and a special unit to be formed to study and implement holistic improvements to Prasarana’s services.
The MCA president also said the existing 28 trains on the Kelana Jaya line will undergo a “midlife refurbishment” as they were more than 10 years old. This initiative will cost Prasarana about RM800 million.
In May 2021, two LRT trains on the Kelana Jaya line collided head-on, leaving 47 passengers seriously injured. Many others had minor injuries.
The following month, the transport ministry gave the Cabinet a list of suggested improvements for Prasarana and Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd to carry out following investigations into the incident.
In the report, investigators cited critical safety SOP violations in the lead-up to the crash. They called for 23 improvements to be made to enhance the safety of the LRT operations.