Cabbies coming up with their own taxi-hailing app

PETALING JAYA: A new taxi-hailing app known as MesraCab will be hitting Klang Valley streets soon.

Developed wholly by taxi drivers, its owners aim to use it to take back many riders who have flocked to apps such as Uber and GrabCar in recent months.

“This app uses 100% metered taxis which have been approved by the Land Public Transport Commission,” Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Application Taxi Drivers Association (Pertapps) secretary Apriman Darlis told The Star.

He said this after speaking to over 100 taxi drivers in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara, who showed up to register as the app’s drivers.

He said the Klang Valley Taxi Drivers Action Committee, which is the prime mover behind the app, wanted to launch MesraCab in February.

Unlike other apps, MesraCab will give riders the power to choose the cabs they would want to travel in after seeing them on a map.

MesraCab will also charge a RM2 booking fee for a successful hail and the money will go to the driver picking up a rider.

Drivers who came yesterday were told to register with one of the 23 associations, which represent some 15,000 drivers who come under the committee’s umbrella.

Only then, Apriman said, would they be allowed to be MesraCab drivers. “This is so that the committee can help regulate the industry.”