File photo for illustration purposes
KUCHING: E-hailing drivers here have expressed dissatisfaction for being left out of the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 3.0 aid distributed by the state government.
A Grab driver who wished to be known as Jayden Max said e-hailing drivers were saddened by it as their income was “greatly affected” during the Movement Control Order (MCO) – where many did not risk picking up passengers due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jayden said he represented a group of disheartened e-hailing drivers here who were dismayed by the news.
“Some drivers don’t even drive during the MCO period and there were not many passengers for us to pick up,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post today.
He expressed his hopes that BKSS 3.0 aid would be extended to e-hailing drivers who were greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting MCO period.
He added that it will mostly benefit the affected drivers as it will lessen the burden for all drivers in terms of expenditures.
“Many of the drivers have families to feed. They need the aid to cover the costly car maintenance fees, car insurance and living costs. Furthermore, (we provide) very low fare for customers with high courtesy service,” he said.
On a positive note, he said the drivers managed to make do by providing new services such as food delivery and other express services.
Prior to the MCO, Jayden said he managed to secure 15 trips daily when working from 7am to 7pm with a gross income of RM90 to RM100 – of which 20 per cent of the earnings were deducted for Grab’s commission.
“That will be around RM72 daily. With petrol expenditure of around RM15 to RM20, the nett income is around RM50 to RM60 daily.”
George Embie
Like Jayden, 29-year-old Grab driver George Embie said that he was dismayed that the BKSS 3.0 aid was not extended to e-hailing drivers.
He opined that the aid should be made available to them as e-hailing services were now equal to other transport services which have licenses and work permits.
“I hope that the state government would study this matter and able to extend the aid to e-hailing drivers,” he added.
Last Sunday, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said the state government should extend the aid to registered e-hailing drivers suffering from drastic income reduction due to Covid-19 pandemic and the MCO.
Although he welcomed the announcement of the aid by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg which did include a special one-off payment of RM600 incentive for taxi and van drivers, he urged the state government to also extend it to e-hailing drivers as they were part of the state’s tourism ecosystem which was affected due to the pandemic and the order.
“Under the new regulations, e-hailing drivers were also required to get proper insurance, licensing and even examinations, similar to the taxi operators. Due to the lack of public transportation in our city, a huge majority of tourist also use to such services to get around including to go to the touristic spots in our States.
“That is I why I feel they should also be afforded this incentive as they are also part of that whole tourism ecosystem and play an important role in advancing our tourism industry.”