JPJ Seizes Four Singapore-Registered Cars for Illegal e-Hailing

The Road Transport Department (JPJ) recently seized four Singapore-registered vehicles suspected of operating illegal hire-and-reward transport services without valid permits.

Four drivers or owners of Singapore-registered vehicles were detained during the department’s Special Operation on Foreign E-Hailing Vehicles (Ops Khas E-Hailing Kenderaan Asing) launched on Aug 9.

NST reported that the seized vehicles were mostly MPVs like the Toyota Alphard, Toyota Vellfire, Toyota Hiace, and a Honda Spada.

JPJ Director-General Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli

JPJ director-general Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli said during the operation, four vehicles driven by Singaporean men in their 30s and 40s were found transporting passengers from Singapore and other countries for tourism purposes in Malaysia.

Further inspection of these vehicles revealed that they did not possess valid operator licenses, were not registered as public service vehicles, and had no Malaysian road tax.

"These individuals had no permits and were taking advantage of Malaysia to make profits. Imagine, fares from Singapore to Malaysia ranged from as low as SGD 180 (RM590) to several thousand Singapore dollars," he told NST.

"For example, a one-way trip from Singapore to JB Sentral was charged at SGD 180 (RM590) per passenger and SGD 200 (RM655) to Legoland. There were even trips to Ipoh, Perak, that cost SGD 1,200 (RM3,935) per journey.

"We cannot allow any party to operate e-hailing services without valid licenses—our goal is to ensure the safety of roads for all legitimate drivers, tourists, and passengers," he added.

The arrests and vehicle seizures during this special operation were made under Section 80 of the Land Public Transport Act (APAD) 2010, with investigations carried out under Section 16(1) of the same act for operating public service vehicles without valid operator licenses in Malaysia.

The JPJ director-general emphasised that the department will not compromise with any party that fails to comply with road transport laws.

"This special operation will continue in order to uphold the integrity of the national transport system and ensure the safety of road users.

"We will keep monitoring tourist hotspots and expand the operation to other states to track down those offering illegal foreign e-hailing services," he continued.

Source: NST