Government May Revive Taxi Permits For Individuals, Dewan Rakyat Told

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -- The government may revive issuance of taxi permits to individuals to address problems faced by taxi drivers following the decision to approve the permits only to companies, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Monday.
Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Noh Omar said his ministry was preparing a Cabinet paper to recommend to the government to reopen issuance of taxi permits to individuals.
"By reopening applications for individual permits with certain conditions attached, taxi services in the country can be further improved.
"We are aware of the numerous problems that have surfaced following the decision to issue taxi permits only to companies, including high daily rentals, drivers' low income and refusal to use fare meters," he said when replying to Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) during a question-answer session.
Taxi permits for companies and individuals had been frozen since Sept 10, 2004.
Noh said his ministry was negotiating with Proton to come up with a standard design for taxis nationwide to bolster the country's taxi service.
"When we have a uniform design, we will straight away know it is a taxi, unlike now where we have to identify by the taxi logo," he said.
Replying to Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa), Noh said Mara had issued loans totalling RM27.8 million to 762 taxi drivers up to April this year to help them to be self-reliant.
He also said his ministry was considering increasing the capital for individual loans under the Public Transport Development Fund by RM40 million from RM60 million to RM100 million.
Also, besides extending the loan scheme to Sabah and Sarawak, it would be opened to non-Malay taxi drivers provided they met the eligibility conditions, he added.

tunku : that would be great. the companies make more money than the taxi drivers, that's why they refuse to use meter.hopefully the taxi drivers too will follow the rules and laws.maybe proton can design for a gas tank for taxis.