Acid test for cabbies this CNY

Taxi operators look forward to this festive season to turn their business around

SIBU: The next few days will be an acid test for taxi operators here as they anticipate their business to either remain sluggish or plummet.Sibu Taxi Owners’ Association secretary Robert Angkah lamented that while streets were jammed with cars moving at snail pace and shoppers crowding the shopping complexes, people however, were shying away from their service.

Robert grimaced that among others, the less number of trips made were not even enough to cover for their fuel.

He was hoping that this festive season could help him tide through the rough times but lady luck had yet to smile on him as the hands of time ticked away.

“The Chinese New Year is around the corner but there is no sign of our business picking up.

“I have been waiting at the wharf here since early this morning and have yet to pick up a customer since,” he told The Borneo Post in an interview yesterday.

“This is very frustrating considering that this is our bread and butter.”

He said the next few days will decide whether their business will pick up or dwindle further.

“This is because after the celebration, the demand for taxi service will be as usual (sluggish).

“Hence, I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be more teachers coming back for the celebration thus pushing up the demand for our services,” Robert reckoned.

He recalled, on Wednesday he could only manage a couple of trips that were inconsequential to make up for his fuel expenses.

He explained that as they were charging RM8 per trip, they would be hard pressed to make ends meet, given that fuel constituted 30 per cent of their day’s income.

“So you see, when you deduct all this, what is left is not enough to support our families.  And for this reason, many young taxi drivers have left the profession to venture into other fields to make ends meet,” he said.

The senior ones are able to sustain as they do not have many commitments to worry about, he figured.

Hence, they depended heavily on outstation and airport trips to sustain them in the trade.

He earned an average of about RM800 a month – a far cry from the sum he used to make some years back.

Robert recalled at times he pocketed home less than RM20 a day.

Switching to other professions had crossed his mind many times due to the meagre income.

Added the secretary, the cost of maintenance and fuel could force them out of business if they could not make enough trips to pull through.

The business landscape has since changed as taxi service is something people can afford to do without given the proliferation of cars brought about by stronger purchasing power.

“We are hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Perhaps, there will be some business in the next few days to see us through,” he said.