International news are highlighting that Malaysian taxis are the worst in the world. It's definitely not a propaganda by any parties but it's a fact. Though not all taxi drivers are terrible but majority of them are good enough to tarnish Malaysia's image.Even though Malaysia has imposed that all taxis be fixed with a meter to determine a journey's fee, majority of the taxis won't be using it but will quote a fixed fare instead.
I seldom board a taxi as I own a car but I do here horrible experiences from many friends. The taxi drivers could smell whether you are desperate to reach another destination. Once he knew, he would quote you a fixed fee which would be way above the usual fare. Since you need to be there on time, you have got no choice but to pay that exhorbitant fare.
What is the authority doing about this? Nothing!
They will tell you that they are short of staff, not enough evidence or there are not many of such taxi drivers as claimed.
I'm not blogging about this to backstab my country but this is a fact. Moreover, this could be an information that out of town travellers could rely on and know what to expect instead of receiving a shock of their lifes.
There are dozens of taxi drivers who would park alongside the roads near the Puduraya and KL Sentral bus stations awaiting the arrivals of bus passengers from various places in Malaysia.Most bus passengers would be burdened with numerous baggages or kids and wouldn't mind paying or forced to pay additional fares just to get home immediately without getting into any hassle to bargain with the unscrupulous taxi drivers.
There are taxi drivers waiting outside hotels and once there are hotel guests who have indicated for a taxi at the hotel concierge, such taxis would be called. The fare for such taxis would definitely be higher than usual as the reason given would "We have sacrificially without getting any other passengers". The hotels are collaborating with such scam or are the hotels providing fast service in this case?
The Suria KLCC management, has put up a signboard warning travellers about taxi touts who don't use the taxi meters but will charge unauthorised flat fare. That's the truth about Kuala Lumpur taxis.
If I do need to board a taxi during office hours, I will take my time in getting a taxi that will use the meter to determine the taxi fare. How am I going to explain during my claim for travelling expenses if I was charged exhorbitantly?
The moment a taxi fella opens his mouth by mentioning a figure after hearing my destination. I will just shut the door and move behind the taxi to look for another one.
Read and heard a lot of bad stuff about other taxis around Malaysian's cities and towns. Any experience to share?
Reading: Malaysia's 'worst in the world' taxis tarnish national image - France 24 (source of pics)
Related post - Taxi Scam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Tags: Malaysia, Taxi, Cab, Metered Taxi, Taxi Touts
9 comments:
I HATE MALAYSIAN taxis...since i had my breakthrough with that mcdonald guy..im definitely gonna scream at rude malasyian taxi drivers...
I think everywhere is about the same. At UK some taxi drivers will set a fix rate for certain locations. This is to ensure they get extra profit as some distant are just too short to earn.
Agree2... the main thing I didn't agree about our current taxi is, they refused to use the meter. Last time before I got car from my dad I have to take taxi to go anywhere, one of the story I still remembered is when I took the taxi from KTM Serdang to UNITEN. The driver said the fee is rm10, ya2 that is usual unmetered price. But the good thing is, the taxi got meter, the meter is turned on but he didn't care what showing on the meter. Then? When I reached UNITEN, I look at the meter, just wanna know how much should I pay atually. RM5! Damn it! 2 times higher. So, to avoid any problem and since I also rushing, I just paid rm10 but at least I know what the exact amount of fee that I should pay. Anyhow, that was my last time taking taxi. Hehehe.
This matter can be solve if there's enforcement by the responsible parties. And I don't know when this will happen.
Put in this way. KL taxi is the worst of all. Different States in Malaysia might not have such bad taxi reputation
KL Taxi cons laaaaaaa. Last few months ago, I still working as medical rep. I traveled to KL for sales meeting. I took a taxi from KLCC to SS2. I ask the taxi driver got meter? The taxi driver said AH MOI NOW NO USE METER LAR. TRAFFIC JAM. METER MORE EXPENSIVE. So I paid RM30 (He charged me). When I reached at meeting office, I ask my colleague, he only pay RM15 for the trip from KLCC to SS2 also~!!! *sigh*
i only insist of following the meter or i take another cab. when the petrol price just increased, one of the cab that i flagged down set the 'initial price' at rm3 instead of rm2. so i asked him why and he said coz of the petrol prices increased. but he let me go down when i wanted to change to other cab. =)
some taxi drivers are ok, they like to chat.. got one uncle keep singing many hokkien songs to me and ask if i know the song. he's funny..
I don't normally sit taxis, but I find most taxi drivers quite nice, although there are some who won't stop for you even when they have no passengers. I find Singaporean taxi drivers to be polite and they never reject passengers. Thailand taxi drivers are nice too and they seldom use the horn. Only thing is they don't speak much English. So, I guess KL taxis are really the worst if compared to both Thailand and Singapore.
not all taxi drivers are bad. i have met some really nice ones but most of them like to rip you off. alot of them hate to use the meter and sometimes their meters increase rather quickly. and the taxi drivers themselves are quite rude most of them. just come to my college in Sunway and you can see a whole lot of them. They scold you if you park your vehicle at their "territory". my friend had his tyre punctured because of that. and they certainly break alot of rules like jumping queue and also going against the traffic light. pfft. i can go on and on telling you tales of the ugly side of our taxi drivers
Mostly, I never had any trouble with taxis, and they always used the meter (this is in PJ - most of the time).
However, those waiting at the taxi stand at Kelana Jaya LRT always try to tag on an extra charge, or not use the meter at all.
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