JPJ Raids E-Hailing Operator InDriver For Unlicensed Operation

The Russian owned e-Hailing App “InDrive” has been heavily publicised since it set foot in Malaysia back in 2020, where it was operating “under the radar” by not registering with the local governing body APAD (Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat). They however managed to get themself registered with the governing body in 2021, but lapsed in renewing the license for the year 2022. 

After numerous warnings from APAD with regards to its licence renewal status while it was still actively operating in Malaysia, the Department Of Transportation (JPJ) launched a raid on InDriver’s operations office in Bukit Bintang, KL on 7th September. 

From the raid, JPJ managed to confiscate computers and advertising materials for further investigation under “Seksyen 222, Akta Pengangkutan Awam Darat (APAD) 2010”. If the result of the investigation finds InDriver guilty, they can be subjected to a fine not exceeding RM500,000 or jail term not more than 3 years or both concurrently.  

According to JPJ, they will continue to monitor all EHO’s (E-Hailing Operators) to ensure that all businesses are properly registered and vehicles operating under them have valid eVP (Electronic Vehicle Permit). 

The public is also advised to only use licensed e-Hailing Apps as they would benefit from insurance coverage should there be any incidents during their journey. 

InDriver App according to comments is still actively running

However based on our findings the InDriver App is still available for download on App-Stores and the drivers are still actively operating. InDriver App is also in demand amongst Malaysians because of the ability to bargain. As for the drivers community, most are against this practice as this lowered their earning ability against the rising cost of vehicle operation. While on the operators end, technically they would still be able to operate without an office, license or physical presence here as this is a tech based operation which is an intermediary. Hence only MCMC (Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission) would be able to push for de-listing of the infringing App from Play-Stores. 

Call from drivers to move eVP allocation to drivers directly instead of EHOs

There are also calls from drivers to allow the eVP to be applied by drivers directly instead of going through EHOs which is cumbersome and takes time. There is also the issue of drivers using multiple Apps having to deal with multiple eVPs. However, if the eVP is issued directly to drivers similar to Taxi Permits the government would be on the losing end with reduction of revenue collected from EHOs.