Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Arrogant Taxi Drivers

Yesterday marked the beginning of the taxi meter ruling in Penang Island and some taxi drivers have already started making excuses of an impending drop in income. They even went further of giving intention to switch job as they alleged it would be hard to make ends meet with the implementation of the new ruling, as reported in the STAR.

This come to show how arrogant Penang taxi drivers are and their ridiculous way of giving various excuses to oppose such move. Foreigners and oustation tourists have long been victimised by these irresponsible people. Without a standardized method of charging, these taxi drivers have been charging exorbitant fees from many tourists. After all, the tourists might only come to Penang once, why they care? This has indeed tarnished the image of Penang as a centre of tourist attraction.

I have many friends from outstation who had complained of the high taxi charges. After all, I suppose majority of Penangites do not use their services because of the high charges. Therefore, tourists are their source of income.

Thing that I don't understand is, if KL can do it, why not Penang? I remembered how convenience it was to get a taxi in KL, especially to and fro from the LRT stations. No need to talk much, no need to bargain, just hop on the taxi and there we go. Most of the time, the distance is actually not far and the charges are fair.

So today, we learned about many taxi drivers apparently went on "emergency and sick leaves", as reported in the STAR. What happened to them? According to Federation of Penang Taxi and Hired Car Drivers treasurer Chan Wan Seng, an estimated 20% of the 1,047 taxi drivers would be staying off the road for a few days.

“A reduction in the number of taxis on the road will be felt for the next few days. The number of taxi drivers ‘going on leave’ is usually not so high,” he said after the launch of the metered taxi ruling by the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB) yesterday.

“Most of those who are uncooperative are individual drivers acting on their own and not members of any association,” he said, adding that some felt the new metered fare was low.

These people are the bad eggs in the basket. Their actions reflect how greedy they are. I hope the relevant authorities will keep an eye on them and to revoke their licences if they still do not abide by the law. Afterall, they do intent to switch job. For those who do use taxis everyday, why not "go on leave" as well for the next few days and take other mode of transportations? As consumers, we should show them that they are not "Tai Sai".

Go find other job if you are not interested, as there are more unemployed people who wanted to become taxi drivers, believe me.




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