SINGAPORE: Bilateral talks are being held to allow eligible Malaysian cross-border taxis to drop off passengers anywhere in Singapore rather than at designated drop-off points and for eligible Singaporean taxis to do likewise in Johor Bahru, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling on Wednesday (Oct 15).
“We recognise that there is demand from commuters for more convenient cross-border point-to-point (P2P) services,” Ms Sun said in parliament.
“This will provide greater convenience to commuters from both countries.”
Ms Sun was responding to questions about whether the Ministry of Transport (MOT) is looking into facilitating more point-to-point (P2P) transfers between Singapore and Johor Bahru given the setting up of Johor-Singapore Economic Zone.
Cross-border taxis are currently permitted to pick up and drop off passengers only at a single designated point respectively – Larkin Sentral in Johor Bahru for Singapore taxis and Ban San Street Terminal in Singapore for Malaysian taxis.
Singapore- and Malaysia-registered taxis are the only licensed providers of cross-border services approved by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Agency.
Each country is given a quota of 200 taxis for such services. There are about 300 licensed cross-border taxi drivers across Singapore and Malaysia in total, LTA said in July.
Ms Sun said that for pick ups, foreign taxis would be allowed to pick up passengers only at designated points so that they do not infringe into the local P2P market. This is to minimise foreign taxis cruising around empty and potentially carrying out illegal trips.
However, for the convenience of commuters, more pick-up points will be identified in both Johor Bahru and Singapore, said Ms Sun.
“We will discuss options with the Malaysian authorities on a reciprocal basis.”
