Another way to go is diffride

KUALA LUMPUR: Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook wants e-hailing service providers to do more to encourage traditional taxi drivers to switch to their system.

“There has been great debate in Malaysia over e-hailing services. I have also said that we will not curb entry of new services into the industry. What’s important is to put in place strict policies, which was done through the regulations announced last month,” said Loke.

“I only have one appeal to all e-hailing services: please do your best to encourage taxi operators and drivers to come on board. We don’t want the two to continue with the kind of environment where they treat each other as enemies.

“I think it’s time for all operators to work together, and at the ministry level, we hope e-hailing can adopt taxi drivers,” the Minister said at a press conference yesterday after the launch of new e-hailing service, diffride.

The home-grown diffride is a new app developed by Diff Global Solutions Sdn Bhd which aims to not just provide excellent service to customers, but also take care of the wellbeing of its driving partners.

Diffride chief executive officer, Hannah Yong, said the e-hailing service -- which will be available in the Klang Valley in the next two weeks -- will have competitive rates and merely charge passengers RM5 for the first five kilometres.

“By downloading the diffride app and then registering, a passenger will be connected instantly through geo-location technology to the nearest driver,” said Yong.

Under diffride, driving partners pay a daily flat fee of RM5 instead of being charged a percentage of each ride. The daily flat fee for drivers will be maintained at least till the end of the year.

“Both rider and driver are equally important to us,” said Yong.