KUALA LUMPUR — Putrajaya does not plan to control the service fares of ride-hailing vehicles at the moment, Transport Minister Anthony Loke told Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 14)

He said there were many complex factors that determined ride-hailing fares, including demand and supply and that the government would prefer not to disrupt the existing policy for now.

“Variables such as traffic congestion, weather, distance, time, demand total and supply total directly determine the matching of bookings,” Mr Loke said during Question Time in reply to Julau Member of Parliament (MP) Larry Sng.

Mr Sng who is from Parti Bangsa Malaysia wanted to know if the government will take follow-up actions after meeting ride-hailing companies, particularly on measures to increase the drivers’ income.

Mr Loke said raising the minimum wage for drivers would have repercussions.

“The implication is that fares to consumers will increase.

“And then you will also come to this House to complain that ride-hailing fares for users have increased.

“So we need to look at a balance, that in ride-hailing, it uses dynamic system pricing mechanisms that is dependent on demand and supply,” he said.

Mr Loke said there were also times when the rates offered might be low but was still worth the driver’s time.

“The offer depends on the driver. It at non-peak times, when there is not much demand, the driver may or may not make an offer.

“So far, we maintain the existing policy, but we will continue to hold discussions with ride-hailing companies so that we can find a method without the government putting a condition.

“But at the same time we also want to see what incentives the companies can give to drivers to increase their income,” he said.

Using Grab in Singapore as an example, Mr Loke said that sometimes the ride-hailing platform doesn’t receive any commission from a trip, but added that sometimes, it can go up to over 20 per cent.

“So, they asked us to cancel the ceiling limit. We have not made that decision yet because at this point our policy is that the ceiling limit of the commission that can be taken by the company is only 20 per cent,” he said.

He said that the government will look into ways it can create incentives for ride-hailing drivers “from time to time”. MALAY MAIL