Taxi and school bus drivers are set to receive a one-off payment under measures announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his Budget 2027 speech, with the assistance linked to the proceeds from the special H-series number plate auction. The motion is expected to benefit 38,000 taxi drivers, including hire car drivers, and 15,000 school bus drivers, nationwide.
The announcement follows Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s earlier pledge to channel part of the RM91.2 million raised by the auction towards helping taxi and rental-car drivers nationwide. The decision to assist taxi drivers also carries historical significance, as the H prefix was traditionally associated with Malaysian taxis.
As reported by paultan.org on September 21, half of the proceeds will go into the Federal Consolidated Revenue Account, while the Transport Ministry’s share will fund initiatives to benefit the public. The H-series auction raised a record RM91.2 million, with the H 1 registration number alone attracting a bid of RM10.78 million.
Previously under the BN government, taxi drivers had to rent the taxi from middlemen (UMNO cronies). I don’t want to go too depth into it, but basically the middlemen made money off the backs of the taxi driver by doing nothing. The taxi drivers had to pay them a monthly fee which was usually very high and they don’t even own the vehicle (taxi)
And they continue to do so.
Just a couple of weeks back, I was talking to these taxi drivers and they all said they were stuck with their taxis and paying it off and once it was fully done (on average between 2 to 3 years), they would rather retire than continue driving taxis under the Madani scheme.
So from the perspective of the government, it is a good initiative but if I use my very small sample as a gauge, I wonder how many of the old taxi drivers will want to continue driving taxis once their leases end? I assume not many and I am not sure if new entrants will be interested in joining this trade or they rather take the PHV route?
They should first cut the salaries of PH cytros crawling this website.
Don’t be racist, Why you hates Philippines (PH)?