Touts making up to $780 daily from illegal Malaysia-Singapore ride-hailing lie low following clampdown

Operating premium multi-purpose vehicles worth more than RM500,000 each, these touts were often seen soliciting passengers at Larkin Sentral, a bus terminal in Johor Bahru with services to the city-state, and pocketing RM1,650-3,300 a day.

But they have been lying low since Singapore’s Land Transport Authority began cracking down on the practice on Aug. 5 and Malaysia’s Road Transport Department followed with its own operation on Aug. 9, as reported by The Star.

Johor Bahru sits just across the border from Singapore and is linked to the city-state by the Johor–Singapore Causeway, one of the world's busiest land crossings with more than 350,000 travelers daily, including Malaysians commuting to work and Singaporeans looking for cheaper goods and services.

According to Singapore’s Ministry of Transport, Malaysia-registered private cars and private hire vehicles are not allowed to offer cross-border or ride-hailing trips within the city-state.

A cross-border taxi scheme is in place to allow up to 400 licensed taxis from both countries to provide services, but only to certain locations, per Channel News Asia.

Singaporean taxis may pick up passengers at Johor Bahru’s Larkin Sentral Terminal and drop them in other places in the city-state, while Malaysian ones can carry passengers only from Larkin to the Ban San Street taxi terminal in Singapore.

But unauthorized operators would drive passengers into Singapore, then continue to offer point-to-point services there and eventually return them to Johor Bahru, according to licensed taxi drivers quoted by Mothership.

They typically charge lower fares than Singapore-registered taxis and, in some cases, also solicit customers at tourist attractions in the city-state, competing with local drivers.

Such illegal services can result in fines of up to S$3,000 (US$2,330) or a jail term of up to six months, or both. Offenders’ vehicles may also be seized.

The Singapore sweep, which targeted Malaysia-registered private cars at places including Gardens by the Bay, Changi Airport and a land checkpoint, nabbed 19 drivers on the first day.

Sun Xueling, the city-state’s Senior Minister of State for Transport, said the crackdown aims to stop operators from providing point-to-point services without the required license or the proper insurance for their passengers.

"Such services put passengers at risk, and harms the livelihoods of law-abiding licensed drivers," The Straits Times quoted her as saying in a Facebook post.

Legitimate taxi drivers on both sides of the border have welcomed the move.

In Singapore, several drivers told Shin Min Daily News that their passenger numbers have since risen by 10-30%.

Malaysian cabbies also noticed the difference. Rosli Ali, 60, said many commuters who once opted for the unlicensed rides are now turning to legal taxis instead.

"Previously, passengers, especially Singaporeans, preferred the illegal ride-hailing to go back to Singapore," he said.

Another driver, 51-year-old Jasmani Yasmi, urged Singapore’s Land Transport Authority to maintain its tight enforcement, adding that passengers who knowingly use the illegal service should also be fined.

Onn Hafiz bin Ghazi, the Johor menteri besar (chief minister), said in a Facebook post earlier this month that he had raised a proposal for cross-border ride-hailing services during talks with Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow, AsiaOne reported.

LTA has also said it was studying options such as allowing cross-border taxi bookings through ride-hailing apps and expanding the number of designated pick-up and drop-off points in both countries. However, it added that it currently "has no plan to fully liberalize cross-border point-to-point transport via ride-hail services."