PUTRAJAYA: The Government has no interest in legalising “motorcycle taxi” services in the country due to the high number of road accidents involving motorcycles, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
While car e-hailing services like Uber and Grab have been given the Government’s green light through amendments to the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) Act, Liow said motorcycle taxi services like Dego Ride would not be given the same treatment.
“Even when SPAD tables the amendment, they (Dego Ride) will not be legalised. We are not against Dego Ride, but we are against this mode of transportation, where motorcycles are being used to take passengers.
“It will create higher risks for road users,” he said here after his ministry’s monthly assembly and Chinese New Year celebration.
In his speech, Liow said over 60% of road fatalities involved motorcycle accidents.
“During the Chinese New Year Ops Selamat this year, 151 deaths out of 257 on the roads involved motorcycles.
“Although the number of deaths is fewer than the 158 recorded during the same period last year, it still accounted for over 60% of accidents, which remains a worrying figure,” said Liow.
The operators of Dego Ride have said that it would continue providing motorcycle taxi services in Kuala Lumpur and claimed there were no laws to prevent it from operating.
In response, Liow said Dego Ride should not try to “challenge” the law.
He said there were specific laws, such as Section 23 of the Road Transport Act, that prevented motorcycles from being used as taxis.
“Under this Act, our enforcement officers can take action against the motorcycle rider. We will even pose as passengers to catch them in the act.
“Section 16 and 47 of the SPAD Act states that any company wishing to set up a taxi service must have a commercial licence from SPAD. Dego Ride does not have a commercial licence.
“It has never contacted us and never applied for it,” said Liow.
In response to Liow’s order on Sunday for Dego to stop operations immediately on safety grounds, the company is pleading with the authorities for a chance to show its safety data before being forced out of business.
Founder and chief executive officer Nabil Feisal Bamadhaj said they had zero accidents since starting operations three months ago.
“If the issue is about safety, until today there is no accident involving Dego riders,” he told mStar Online.
On another matter, Liow said the ministry was looking to introduce “mini-taxis” to improve last-mile connectivity for public transportation users.
On the Kejara demerit system and the Automated Enforcement System (AES), Liow said he expects these to be implemented around April.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/14/motorcycle-taxis-wont-be-legalised-liow-there-are-specific-laws-against-it/#hr4yUPe4dG6Xwv1t.99
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