Taxi drivers waiting patiently for customers at the Bukit Jalil LRT station bus-stop. They now face competition from escooter companies which have placed their vehicles for rent there.
EVERY day, a group of taxi drivers wait patiently to ferry passengers disembarking at the Bukit Jalil LRT station near the Bukit Jalil Stadium to their next stop.
After losing a large portion of their business to ride-ehailing companies, these taxi drivers now bank on customers at the LRT station to hire them for the last mile of their journey.
But it has not been rosy for them since a Singapore-based electric scooter sharing service started placing escooters at the bus stop near the LRT station.
“Now people, especially the younger generation, tend to use the escooters to get home or to the malls nearby, which used to be our fares,” said a driver who only wanted to be identified as Raj.
“They prefer using escooters to get to their final destination and there is nothing we can do about it,” he said.
“We wait all day, sometimes from 7am to 8pm, to ferry people to and from the LRT station to condominiums and commercial shops nearby,” said Rahman, another taxi driver.
He said taxi drivers barely made RM70 a day now even though they used to make about RM100 before the escooters’ arrival.
He said, “The escooter companies don’t even have the approval to operate here and I know the stadium (Bukit Jalil) has banned them inside the premises, so they place the scooters at the bus stop.”
Escooter user Mohd Razi, who works in Endah Parade, said he used the escooter in Bukit Jalil to get to work.
“My workplace is close by but not walking distance.
“I used to take a taxi and it cost about RM5 to RM8.
“If I choose an ehailing service, it can be as much as RM10 or RM15.
“But the escooter only costs RM2, so I use the scooters now,’’ he said.
Another escooter user Roger Wong prefers the two-wheelers to get around the area as it is cheap, fast and convenient.
“No hassle at all. I will keep using it because it is suitable for me,” he said.
When StarMetro visited the area recently, escooters were left at the bus stop with some blocking the tactile pathway.
Because they are dockless, many of the two-wheelers cluttered walking paths and roads.
Down the road, many of the two-wheelers were either left on the roadside or propped up against trees or left by road kerbs.
At Bukit Jalil National Stadium, the management has banned the use of escooters on its premises.
“Banning them from the premises was for safety reasons,” said stadium spokeperson Noriza Md Ali.
“There are many joggers here.There were concerns that escooter riders were riding fast and we saw that as a safety risk,” Noriza added.
Kuala Lumpur City Hall said complaints of obstruction and escooters being abandoned had poured in daily via the DBKL hotlines.
