THE crackdown by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) on illegal ride-hailing services is having a positive impact on the cross-border taxi services between Johor Baru and Singapore.
Touts offering the services from Larkin Sentral Terminal in Johor Baru have been lying low since the clampdown by the LTA which started in August.
He said Malaysian-registered private cars offering such services from Larkin Terminal to Singapore have been around for more than 20 years.
However, he said it was better that something was being done now than nothing at all.
“Prior to the crackdown, the last taxis departing for Singapore left at 10pm. Now we have passengers using our services even after midnight,’’ said Fairuz.
“Even Singaporeans, who make up the majority of passengers that prefer using services offered by private vehicles, are not taking any chances now.”
Fairuz, who has been plying the Johor Baru-Singapore routes for eight years, hoped that the LTA would consider taking legal action against passengers caught using the illegal cross-border ride-hailing services.
“This is the only way to take these illegal private vehicle operators off the road for good,” he said.
Fellow driver Affidin Salimun, 52, agreed that in addition to the drivers, passengers should also be penalised for using such illegal services.
He said that these passengers knew these private vehicles were not licensed to operate the cross-border taxi services but continued to use them.
“For many years, licensed taxi drivers like us have been suffering in silence as the authorities were too slow to take action against these illegal operators,” said Affidin.
“Illegal ride-hailing operators are soliciting passengers just a few metres away from where the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) offices are located.”
He also called on Apad to discuss with LTA, its Singaporean counterpart, to allow Malaysian-registered Johor Baru-Singapore cross border taxis to offer door-to-door service.
Presently, only Singapore-registered taxis plying the route are allowed to ferry passengers from the Larkin Sentral Terminal to other parts of Singapore.
“We, the Malaysian taxis, are only allowed to carry passengers from the terminal to the Ban San Street Taxi Stand in Singapore, near the Queen Street Bus Terminal,” said Affidin.
Only Malaysia and Singapore-registered taxis approved by the authorities of the two countries are permitted to offer cross-border transport.
Under current legislation, offering point-to-point transport services in Singapore and cross-border services without a valid public service vehicle licence is an offence that carries a fine of up to S$3,000 (RM9,800) and/ or a jail term of up to six months.
