The Uber Sprint in Malaysia

The Uber Sprint in Malaysia

by Nessreen (of this Blog)

I can’t help it. Here in Malaysia, when I hear someone – especially a female – complain about their driving conditions, or the public transport system, or the “crazy” traffic jams, I want to slowly and in ascending tones say

Shush. Shush your WHINING AND BE SATISFIED. 

Coming from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where there is no public transport to speak of, and where (hey, have you heard?) no women are allowed to drive, I will take ANYTHING. 

And I have. I’ve waited patiently for buses and trains, longer than “necessary”, and then I’ve tolerated bad smells, shit service and rude drivers and service providers. 

Because shitty is better than nothing.

But now, here, in the palm of my hand, inside a (sometimes buggy) app, sits Uber (“Yoo-ber”?), a gift from the gods. 

Take this, the gods said, and enjoy the luxury of having your own personal driver whose car doesn’t smell like stale cigarettes or sweat and who is (forced to be?) pleasant and at a price that is 20% – and sometimes up to 40% – cheaper than your average cab fare. 

Take it, the gods said, and I can't not. They’ve given me a choice that I can’t logically say no to. 

Uber in Malaysia (Photo Credit: Uber MY)

Pitted against taxi cabs, Uber wins almost every point. 

	TAXIS	UBER
Cars	If you’re lucky, 1 out of 5 times, you don’t get a beat up cab that stinks of cigarettes, BO and sweat.	Mostly clean. Out of about 50 rides I’ve gone on, only 1 was slightly messy. None of them stank.
Destination	Drivers are picky about where they want to go. If you insist, they might charge an extra 10 to 20 bucks.	Drivers have never complained about my chosen destinations.
App	No rating system – customers don’t get to see if the drivers/cabs they get are “good” or “bad”. Drivers bid to pick customers up, which means if you’re going to a crowded or distant location, there’s a chance you don’t get a cab. You receive a receipt via email afterwards, but the amount on that receipt is whatever the driver types in.	Rating system allows you to see what other customers thought of the drivers, so you can choose to some extent. You get a driver before you type in your destination, which ensures you a ride. You receive a detailed receipt afterwards, and it’s cashless (they automatically debit from your card).
Drivers	Random – sometimes they are super chatty, grumpy, obnoxious, don’t speak English, or don’t know where you’re going/don’t have GPS to find out.	Always pleasant, non-intrusive, chatty when you are, always speak English and always know/try to find out where your destination is.
Cost	Charges extra or turns off the meter for a fixed fare when they don’t “like” your destination. Midnight charges mean double the fare. Some cabs will only take you on if you promise a 10% additional tip, and many of them like to round up the fare.	No midnight fare, meter always on, no extra charges, and no need for tips.

Cab drivers just can’t seem to keep up, and it’s not for lack of trying. MyTeksi, the most popular taxi-booking app in Malaysia, still dominates the market – they have a well-functioning app, most of their cabs are equipped with GPS, they are widely available and the service is quite prompt. But their margin of error is wide, and Uber is moving in quickly to close that gap.  

Disgruntled cab drivers and the authorities cry foul at Uber's creeping take-over of the transport services, saying that it's not fair for an organization that doesn't "follow the rules" to be allowed to compete with them. They have unsuccessfully called for Uber's operations to be shut down: Uber drivers should undergo the prerequisite health-screening tests that taxi drivers have to, they say, and their vehicles should be registered and licensed to operate just as taxi cabs are. 

But these arguments fail just as much as they backfire on them, when their own people can't follow these rules. Seriously, guys, "health-screening tests"? Have you seen your taxi drivers? I had one cab driver roll down his window for a smoke while we were stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, Uber drivers operate under a set of policies that always push for pleasantness towards their customers, and this is reinforced by a rating system that kicks them out if they fall below a certain average.

More and more, it looks like a battle between the classes – your less educated, socio-economically challenged taxi drivers trying to make a living vs the hipsters or yuppies trying to make extra money for their leisure activities. You can see it in the way they speak, the way they engage with the customers, how they handle their services, the way their cars are maintained. I’ve gotten in many Uber cars driven by women and only once, ever, out of maybe a hundred cab rides, in a taxi driven by a female. I relate to the Uber drivers because they talk like me, dress like me, sound like me. 

Not sure if Uber customers or drivers. (Photo credit: Uber MY)

Is this another level of snobbery? It could very well be. But also, it’s another level of service and business competition, where convention is disrupted by a change of generation, perhaps, or a way of thinking, or just time passing. 

This whole battle with the "Uber way" is, more than anything, a reflection of our times. 

The Chairman of Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), Syed Hamid Albar, said in a report at The Malay Mail Online that they "don't have a problem with people creating new systems to improve business," but that Uber is "denying the ordinary taxis from earning an income."

In another report, Subang Taxi Drivers Association's Secretary, Mathavan Subramaniam, said, "When the industry is (not fair/"unregulated"), how are we supposed to make a living and take care of our families?"

They just don't get it. This is not a personal attack on them or their livelihood in that way, so arguments like these are not only moot, they also further illustrate how wide that gap is. You're in a business, STAY RELEVANT AND COMPETITIVE.

THAT is how you continue making a living and taking care of your families. Don't sit there and whine about the unfairness of it all.

I will continue to use Uber whenever I need a ride. They are not always available – there are many areas in Kuala Lumpur where there are no Uber cars, for many reasons: most drivers are young professionals who do this after hours, or don't "need" to do this for their primary income; some of them stay away from hot spots as they don't want to be confronted – in some cases, aggressively – by taxi drivers (apparently, the taxi drivers spot them easily because Uber drivers are usually locals who have "foreign-looking" people in the back seat); or some areas where foreigners don't live or work don't have a high demand for them.

So MyTeksi is still my Plan B, and they still get my business.

But in this industry, that makes a whole lot of difference – being the first choice.

~ END ~

Nessreen runs this blog (with a pretty chill iron fist) and tries so hard to match the contributors' entries. Her posts can be found HERE.