Speaking after a post-Cabinet meeting, Loke said the taxi industry and e-hailing service would have to adhere to the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Act 2017 and the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (Amendment) Act 2017.
“E-hailing companies must be registered with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) as a mediation business and will have to pay a fee.”
Loke said the e-hailing services would have to register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) or the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia (SKM) for licensing eligibility requirements.
He said vehicles which were more than three years old would be required to undergo annual inspections at the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom).
He said the inspection fee at Puspakom was set at RM55 per vehicle.
Under the new regulations, taxi drivers would no longer be required to send their vehicles for inspection twice a year. They only need to do so annually — similar to e-hailing vehicles.
The government has restricted the amount of commission to be passed on to the companies at 20%, while the rate for taxi drivers using the e-hailing applications will be a maximum of 10%.
It is understood that many drivers have complained that companies are charging them a commission rate of up to 25%.
“An emergency function has also been introduced for both drivers and passengers as a safety measure. This follows the recent murder case involving a Grab driver,” he said.
The minister said to safeguard the welfare of e-hailing drivers, his ministry had made it compulsory for companies to provide a copy of the driver’s code of conduct and guidelines to enable the ministry to run audit checks.
“Following the merger of Grab and Uber in March 2018, SPAD has received numerous complaints about fare increases by Grab.
“The ministry will carry out investigations through the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) once the regulations have been gazetted,” he said.
The transport ministry also announced a RM5,000 cash grant for vehicle purchases to assist existing taxi drivers opting to join the e-hailing sector.