No Plans to Liberalise Singapore-Malaysia Cross-Border Ride-Hail Services - LTA

SINGAPORE, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it has no plans to fully liberalise Singapore-Malaysia cross-border point-to-point transport via ride-hail services.

The agency said officials from Singapore and Malaysia met on Aug 1 to discuss cross-border service arrangements, but no decision was made on the issue of allowing cross-border e-hailing to ferry passengers.

“We note recent Malaysian media reports suggesting that Singapore is looking to introduce cross-border on-demand ride services.

“While we are open to ideas to improve the cross-border commuting experience, we would like to clarify that LTA has no plans to fully liberalise cross-border point-to-point transport via ride-hail services,” LTA posted on Facebook, Sunday.

LTA said there is currently an existing reciprocal Cross Border Taxi Scheme (CBTS) in place that allows a licensed fleet of up to 200 taxis from each side to ferry passengers between Singapore and Johor Bahru.

These cross-border taxis are permitted to pick up and drop off passengers only at a single designated point in the other’s country -- Larkin Sentral in Johor Bahru for Singapore taxis, and Ban San Street Terminal in Singapore for Malaysian taxis.

“We are also considering increasing the number of boarding and alighting points in each other’s country, and to use ride-hailing apps to book cross-border trips on licensed taxis,” it said, noting that the existing quota of the CBTS is not fully utilised.

LTA said as CBTS is a reciprocal arrangement, any change would require agreement from both governments.

Meanwhile, LTA said that during the meeting, the Malaysian authorities also requested for Singapore’s cross-border buses to begin their operations from Johor Bahru at 4 am.

The agency said it is assessing the request. A key consideration is that the first buses should match the starting time of local bus and MRT services when the commuters arrive in Singapore.

LTA is also talking to cross-border bus operators on the possibility of bringing forward the bus start times slightly, as well as gauging the interest of private bus operators to operate earlier services at higher fares.

-- BERNAMA