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http://www.meshio.com/2008/06/malaysian-taxis-among-worst-in-the-world/ -
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I am from Penang, i just got the feeling BN is punishing us for banishing them, never mind i will still give Guan Eng another term.
Penang Boleh
Ironically, I used to wave down cars and all of them work and we become friends - where goes wrong?
So If we had the will to "sack" those taxi drivers who are bad apples to us, why is it that they are still in the market? Like the article say, enforcemence is the key. And, it must be an effective and fair enforcemence. What happen nowadays is, when there is one bad apple driver who has caught for wrong doing, if he rented a taxi from a taxi operator, the operator gets its taxi permit cancelled! but the drivers who is in fault, will still be able to rent a taxi with another taxi operator. So the taxi operator has taken up their responsiblity to sack the "bad apple" taxi drivers and are being punished by cancellation/suspension of their permit. However, the taxi drivers - those bad apples - are still in the market to do thier same old trick to our most welcomed tourist and local public! This is not right and not fair and not effective. The root cuause of the problem is not lifted.
So the key to improve it will be to have a really effective and fair enforcemence, If the authority would like to have an international standard in taxi services:
Give full support to the taxi operator and taxi companies. I think the taxi operators will accept the fine/penalty to be responsible for the bad apple taxi drivers they recruited in the 1st place, but please do not cancel the permit because they are in the business to improve the taxi sevices on a long term basic and are committed. Cancellation of permit do not improve taxi services, it only cause losses to the taxi operators (after investment in the car, the infrustrature and everything, and all of a sudden without the permit, is a heavy losses to the operator and the country (they pay tax). So the authority must trust the taxi operators, they are very much in the same shoe with the authority and are committed to improve the taxi services standard and take care of the taxi drivers (those serious taxi drivers and good apple)
For those repeated offender taxi drivers, cancel their public driving licence once and for all, get them out of the industry and so that they can not join other taxi operators and keep tarnishing the image of the industry and the country as a whole.
So it is a relatively simple enforcement. it is part of the strategic move that We can improve the quality of the taxi services.
And, not to forget that We are having the cheapest taxi meter fare in the region. So i guess if you pay peanut, you get monkey (and more easily you get those bad monkeys). The high end executive taxi is not really the key to solutions, most of the Malaysia local public simply can not afford high end taxis, they are limited room for the operators to grow and it is not fair to only offer more expensive taxi to visitors as well. They want to be charged like a local, value for money services and goods too!!! And, there are higher financial risk involve by going straight to the high end taxis to the drivers and the operators alike (more expensive cars) more so the problem is not the "car" the problem is with the "people". So we have to address the issue by looking at the need of the people - the taxi drivers (some of them is initially good apples, but they could be forced into becoming bad apples, earning not enough to make a living (the meter fair is just too low and too hard to survive. But, agreed, it is still their fault that they choose to be bad apple!!)
And, We believe also that many of the individual taxi driver, who own their own cars and have their own permit, are responsible and professional taxi drivers too! so please do not also let those bad apples broken their rice bowl. And, The authority will probably have to put in more resources to deal with individuals taxi drivers than only need to deal with the taxi operators or companies as a whole. A more linear rule could probably imposed on the individual taxi driver. End of the day, the key is to cancel the public license of the taxi drivers who repeatedly play bad apple!!!
we citizen shoulld plan how to get them out. Dont ever use the word 'PUNISH', it's the wrong word. We make the vote, we make the choice, we know what you want to do, we are ready for it. BN dont hv to do the project if they dont want to, just keep on cleaning the drain and sampah for the time being. We can let the next goverment take the merit of projects. 50 year is long enouhg, time to take a break and relax.
We just need a better government that puts the nation's interest first. Right now, authorities are busy figuring out how each of their departments can enrich their ownselves and their ring of cronies, thereby causing the problems we are seeing. Yes, I agree with you that not all taxi drivers are in the devil's league.
Enforcement is a word that's often preached but not practiced. It's evident in the entire government machinery. The authorities should stop using too much lip gloss and start getting their hands dirty before Malaysia is ranked "The Worst Tourist Destination in the World".