Singapore says no plans to liberalise cross-border ride-hail services
SINGAPORE : Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) says 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 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 said in a Facebook post.
It also noted an existing reciprocal Cross Border Taxi Scheme (CBTS) 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 designated points – 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 using ride-hailing apps to book cross-border trips on licensed taxis,' LTA said, adding 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.
It said during the meeting, Malaysian authorities requested that Singapore's cross-border buses begin operations from Johor Bahru at 4am, adding that it was assessing the request.
It said a key consideration was for the first buses to match the starting time of local bus and MRT services when commuters arrive in Singapore.
LTA is also talking to cross-border bus operators about the possibility of bringing forward bus start times slightly, as well as gauging the interest of private bus operators in operating earlier services at higher fares.
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