PUTRAJAYA, April 11 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke has today assured the public that his ministry will look into the requests for floor price by e-hailing drivers.
He said the ministry is still discussing the matter, and denied that the drivers are asking for a ceiling price as reported by some media.
“It’s not the ceiling price that the e-hailing drivers’ association asked for. We met them, they asked for the floor price.
“As of now, we are still in discussion, we understand that their wish is that there is a minimum price set for each trip so that it is worthwhile,” Loke told a press conference after charing the National Logistics Task Force meeting here.
Loke’s response came after an Utusan Malaysia report published last Friday on Grab drivers asking for the ministry’s intervention to set a ceiling price.
The transport minister has clarified that the Grab drivers association, also called GDMA, had actually requested a floor price.
“Utusan Malaysia made a mistake, the floor pricing was asked by drivers, and the ceiling price was asked by users.
“But for sure with floor pricing [introduced] there will be an increase in terms of ride fares for the users, so that is the consideration that we need to think about.
“But we understand that drivers cannot go on driving with losses as they too have operational costs, so we will look in detail regarding that, we will investigate or discuss with stakeholders and e-hailing operators,” Loke added.
He also stressed that the ministry will retain the existing pricing policies and will not interfere in pricing.
“The existing policy for pricing is that, the pricing is dynamic and it will be determined by the market
“While we understand the request by e-hailing drivers, we want to ensure their welfare is guaranteed,” he said.
