KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 – The Transport Ministry will ensure that alternative taxi services like Uber and Grabcar are registered under the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) as soon as possible, said its minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai. He said SPAD had been asked to speed up the registration process for the drivers involved with the services, to avoid any doubt among taxi drivers.
“SPAD and the ministry has also agreed that we should register the Uber drivers and license them, to make sure that the taxi drivers do not feel sidelined,” he told the reporters after the launching the ‘JOM! Stronger Together Carnival’ at Wisma MCA here, Tuesday.
He was commenting on the action of more than 300 taxi drivers who staged a public protest against the Uber and Grabcar services in Bukit Bintang, near here this morning. Liow said Uber and Grabcar should be licensed so that they followed the rules under the SPAD Act which requires those offering such services to obtain a public vehicle licence and their vehicles to undergo inspection at the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom).
On another issue, Liow, who is also MCA president, said the party was in the process of updating personal information of all members using the biometric system. He said so far they have registered 400,000 members from the total to 1.06 million MCA members.
In the meantime, he also said that the carnival launched today was aimed at ensuring party leaders went down to the grassroots to restore support for the party. The two-day programme will be implemented in 82 MCA divisions nationwide, beginning in Melaka next month.
