Malaysian Taxis Voted 'World's Worst'?  

Posted by Wanie Idayu

Malaysia's 'worst in the world' taxis tarnish national image

Reads the headline of Regional - MSN Malaysia News - News for today, 18 September 2008. It reported that in a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise. There are complains all over from tourists (not to mention locales) that the taxi drivers refused to use the meter, overcharge and pick-and-choose which destinations they will travel to. There's once where a tourist was charges RM260 for a trip from KLIA to KL!! Now this is really too much.

My personal experience came from taxis in Subang Jaya area. If you take a cab from Carrefour to Sunway Pyramid they will charge you a flat rate of RM8 even though it's a teensy weensy distance. And from Carrefour to Old Klang Road / SS2 PJ, they will charge a flat rate of RM15 although it only took 5 minutes using LDP from Subang Jaya to Old Klang Road. Paying for the toll is fine, but all in all I don't think it should came out more than RM10 or even RM8 for that matter, including the toll. This is in broad daylight, mind you and not the after midnight charges. Me being hot and tired, just agreeing while grumbling all the way. Did I protested? Of course I did! But guess what -all of the other taxis there took the same rate! Believe me, I've asked. Suprisingly (or not so suprising to some of you), all of them have some sort of "United CabFare Agreement for Subang Jaya". So there you go.

Anyway, I can't say that this news is a shock for me, but to have people from other countries pointing this out, voted us as the worst and reported it as news headline is downright embarassing. Somebody have to do something about it. In fact, a lot of bodies have to do something about it -like tightening the rules, do random checking in the complained area -like going undercover or something to investigate, and suspending the license of the offender for a period of time; those kind of things. (See? I'm not only complaining, I also give suggestions). I'm sure a lot of us has file in complains or even SMS to the number at the back of the taxi / cab, but are there any actions taken? I wonder... *Sigh

Read the headline news here http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1682892


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This entry was posted on Friday, September 19, 2008 and is filed under , . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .
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4 comments

lainieyeoh  
September 19, 2008 at 3:42 PM

i lived in subang 3 years for 3 years. the norm there is to charge flat fees, but i have since learned that it is not impossible to flag down a cab that uses the meter. just takes a bit more time.

etomyam  
September 22, 2008 at 11:41 AM

I think its just unfair to simply make generalization against our cabbies...may be one should try other country's taxis; Arabs, african, south americas etc before jumping to the conclusion. After all what are the external and surrounding factors that lead them to behave in such behaviour? the enonomy, poor enforcement?

Wanie Idayu  
September 22, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Hey.. Thanks for the comments. This post is actually a comment on the msn headline news, so it's not me who dubbed Malaysian Taxis as the 'World's Worst'. If you read properly it is derived by a survey. ;)

And the Subang Parade story is just my personal "flat fee" experience. There's no problem in Amcorp Mall, but I do believe there's problem elsewhere. We are also suffering from the higher cost-of living, but the taxi drivers are taking out on us even though no rise in the gas price. I don't feel that it's fair for us consumers either.. ;)

cyan_earn money online  
September 22, 2008 at 12:06 PM

I face the same issues at Serdang area. Most taxi drivers would charge RM10 for a 4km trip. Take it or leave it...otherwise you could wait for other passengers to fill up the taxi and going the same direction (this would cost you RM5).
Nevertheless, I must add that not all of the taxi drivers are like that. I have come acroos quite a number genuine and polite ones :)

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