Taxi Drivers Gather Outside MyTeksi Office To Protest GrabCar Service

{The image seen above is a file photo)

Dozens of taxi drivers held a gathering outside the MyTeksi office today to show their dissatisfaction over unanswered questions on MyTeksi's GrabCar chauffeured service.

The report from The Star had fuming taxi drivers at the scene, claiming that these private cars, which offer cheaper fares, had taken away most of their businesses. GrabCar is another service offered by MyTeksi and can be accessed via the same smartphone app as well. Other ride-sharing apps include Uber and BlackLane.

Persatuan Transformasi Pemandu Teksi Malaysia (PERS1M) Vice-President Kamarudin Mohd Hussain said the gathering was to obtain a reply over a memorandum issued to MyTeksi on 29 June.

On that day, approximately 300 taxi drivers organised a organised a protest in front of the company’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya yesterday to demand the suspension of the transport-hire mobile application which they say has been compromising their livelihood, pledging to turn off the company’s application and refuse to provide their services to any customer for the next seven days starting from then.

During the protest, a memorandum was submitted and received by MyTeksi marketing manager Vincent Tan. The protest resulted in a traffic congestion along Jalan Kemajuan.

After a few hours, a MyTeksi representative met with the taxi drivers and issued a statement saying the company understood the issues faced by taxi drivers and is open to discussions involving the Transport Ministry and the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) as well on matters which include current laws and regulations that govern both ride-sharing services and cabs.

The taxi drivers however, were not satisfied with MyTeksi’s response and lodged police reports.

Mathavan Subramaniam, Secretary of Persatuan Pemandu Teksi Subang Jaya (PPTSJ) said he would lodge a police report against MyTeksi over the refusal to repay promotion money for taxi drivers.

“We still respect the law and don't want to take the law in our hands. We will exhaust all avenue. We will take the matter to court,” he added.