Penang airport limo drivers protest, urge government to review e-hailing implementation

GEORGE TOWN: A group of Penang International Airport ( LTAPP) limousine taxi drivers here yesterday held a peaceful protest urging the government to review the implementation of e-hailing services that they claim has affected their source of income.

Representative of the group, N Gopal, 72, claimed that Grab drivers were seen still picking up passengers at LTAPP and the action violated the rules set that only licensed taxi drivers were allowed to take passengers at the airport.

“There are about 300 airport limo drivers, but now we see many drivers under the e-hailing company taking passengers at the airport regardless of the enforcement.

“To be fair, they can only send passengers to the airport, not take (at LTAPP). In fact, some of them don’t even have public service vehicle ( PSV) driving licence, but still picked up passengers at LTAPP. This situation is unfair to us,” he told reporters here.

Gopal, who has been driving a limousine taxi for 40 years said that after the e-hailing exercise in July, his source of income had declined because of lack of passengers as he had to compete with e-hailing drivers.

“In the past, I could earn between RM5,000 and RM6,000 a month. But now, it is a struggle to even reach RM2,000 a month. So, we beg the government to review the e-hailing implementation mechanism because it is affecting our rice bowl … have mercy on us,” he said.

In July, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the ministry had set a one-year period for the full implementation of e-hailing services including imposing new conditions on the service. — Bernama