Taxis in Malaysia
Taxis in Malaysia
I was planning to write about Malaysian Taxi drivers or more correctly about Taxis in Malaysia since I came.
Next month will be our one year in Malaysia insh. It is really a great experience and pleasure to be in Malaysia. However, there is always negative side to anything. If anyone asks about the worst thing in Malaysia I would probably say ‘Taxis in Malaysia’. That is really a shame for this beautiful country and its beautiful people. It is definitely harming the image of Malaysia. If you intend to visit Malaysia you should be careful about taxis and taxi drivers in Malaysia.
Just before the eid, I had a visitor from Turkey. He has been charged 80 Malaysian Ringgits for his 2 km trip which will normally take only 3 Ringgits on taximeter. In many cases, they destroy the image of country for just a Ringgit or 50 cents. First of all, it is not passengers who decide where to go. Taxi drivers in Malaysia specially ask you where to go before getting in taxi. If they don’t like to go to that area they either want to charge you 5 to 10 times more or simply say NO. My precious colleague, wonderful friend, Prof. Azmi suggested me to jump directly into car without answering where to go, and if they choose not to go to that place I would tell them that I would report directly to the telephone number at the back of car. It worked several times. However, in 2 situations we had hot discussions in front of other people. First of all, it requires a kind of social responsibility. If things are left only to officials, solution will not be there. In one of the hot discussions, I was waiting in front of queue. He asked me where to go as usual. After telling destination, he tried to overcharge me. I told him just to turn on the meter. He refused and said ‘I am going to KL now’ which is probably unlikely for that destination. I turned onto people in the queue and told them story and said ‘please do not reward this kind of people by getting into his car’. Several persons in the queue did not get into car but 4th one in the queue accepted driver’s offer and went away.
Now I am lucky I don’t face taxi drivers any more since I bought my car and learnt how to use public transportation such as LRT, monorail more effectively. Sometimes if my destination is 1 km or something I just walk. But of course, we may be considered as Malaysian now. What about tourists and other people who come to visit Malaysia for short period? Taxis in Malaysia and attitude of Malaysian Taxi drivers are great problem destroying the image of this wonderful place.
Police department or other officials as alone cannot find a solution to this problem. It needs a systems engineering approach to problem and needs a kind of social responsibility and help from ordinary people.
Dr. Çetiner’s Blogs (Dr. Beytullah Gültekin Çetiner) » Malaysia’s ‘Worst in the World’ Taxis said,
October 5, 2008 @ 12:20 am
[…] Malaysia’s Worst in the World Taxis News came from AFP regarding taxi drivers in Malaysia with the title ‘Malaysia’s ‘Worst in the World’ Taxis. You can read the blog entry ‘Taxis in Malaysia’ regarding taxi drivers in Malaysia. […]
Ahmad said,
October 5, 2008 @ 5:06 am
u r right. Malaysian Taxis already have a very bad reputation for not using the meter and ripping people off when it’s raining/jammed/late or for other random reasons not even picking up passengers (too near/wrong race/too far/don’t know how to go etc).
Ahmad said,
October 5, 2008 @ 5:15 am
However, If they are rude, either get another cab or don’t pay at all after using their service. I did that few times. Even threatened to report their attitude to the Consumer Tribunal.
Vahid said,
October 9, 2008 @ 5:48 am
Well, I’d rather not take Prof. Azmi’s advice. Having stayed for over 3 yrs in Malaysia and experienced many complications with this issue, I’d recommend to buy a car (for long term stays) or report to police with no further discussions with the drivers. Taxi drivers in Malaysia are of few categories based on the nationality. Though not my intention to categorize them, I know many discussions with the drivers (started with jumping in the cab, asking the meter on, and arguing about the destination) with quite unpleasant endings such as being dropped in the middle of nowhere, being taken to some places and threatened seriously, or even ended with fight when there were more than one passanger in somewhere the driver has got enough man power!! Besides, there’s another issue of incooperative community feelings around which I just take it as different way of sociality. Anyhow, the info you need to make a report are: driver’s name (usually his own name or the car owner’s as indicated in the taxi license on the dashboard, the taxi number which can be found inside the car (3 digits), and the name of the transportation company found in front door. And, the phone number for complaints (toll free and usually written on the boot). Thanks
Vahid said,
October 31, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
well, putting aside the advices of prof. azmi (sorry) and not intending to rank the taxi drivers in Malaysia, and due to my 3 years experience here, I would say: never get ride or report the problem if the driver is Pakistanis, never argue or fight if Indian, and bargain if Malay.
To make a report you need these info: the driver name (from his driver id card on dashboard), the taxi id number (a 3 or 4 digit found inside the car on both sides), the company name (usually printed on both front doors). the phone numbers to call (toll free) or sms can be found on the boot. I think it’s better to report as the police takes it seriously.