Protection of Consumers' Interests in Private Hire Car Market

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Transport (a) to what extent will the new rule of affixing private hire car (PHC) decals on private chauffeured cars protect consumers' interest; (b) whether the PHC companies should be the responsible party of providing all registered drivers and their car details to LTA; and (c) whether there are other enforceable alternatives to protect consumers besides a permanently affixed car decal.

Tamper-evident decals help commuters more easily verify that the private hire cars they engage are, indeed, registered with LTA. It also facilitates enforcement against offences, such as using unregistered cars to provide private hire car services, or private hire cars picking up passengers via street-hail. Together with vocational licensing, this ensures accountability when providing private hire car services.

We had considered alternatives, such as special licence plates, for private hire cars. Tamper-evident decals, however, provide more flexibility. They can be easily removed if necessary, such as when driving the car into Malaysia for personal use, but the owner must get a new decal affixed subsequently. Decals are also less onerous to implement for the owners.

Private hire car owners are not required to submit details of their registered drivers to LTA on a regular basis, but must maintain a register of persons who drive their cars and produce this when requested by LTA. Private hire car booking service operators, such as Uber and Grab, will be subject to similar requirements later this year.