The STOA’s station at Wong Nai Siong Road.
SIBU: Sibu Taxi Owners Association (STOS) has closed its station in Wong Nai Siong Road since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced on Mar 18.
Its chairman Wong Tian Fatt said the closure is to abide by the MCO in view of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Since then l did not pick up any passengers and just be obedient and stay at home. However l do go out only to buy daily essential goods for my family.
“It is better to be safe than to regret later. Prevention is better than cure,” he said when contacted today.
According to him, he said most of the 170 members in the association are not operating at this point of time, save for perhaps 10 per cent who still operate but on a call basis.
In addition, he said due to the MCO, there were no passengers to pick up.
Naturally during the MCO period, the members are in for a hard time as many depend on passengers as their only daily income.
Thus, some of them are still operating but catering to calls only to eke out a living.
“I can only advise those out to pick passengers to take the necessary precaution. But life is more important than taking the risk,” he explained.
He hoped the government would help them out by providing assistance so as at least to pull through this difficult period.