By Olivia Miwil - July 21, 2021 @ 12:13pm
KOTA KINABALU: Airport taxi drivers here are facing hardships due to reduced income with limited visitor arrivals at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).
Kota Kinabalu member of parliament, Chan Foong Hin said this following a visit to the airport taxi drivers rest station here yesterday.
Chan was invited by the KKIA Limousine and Taxi Association chairman Shamsuddin Mohd Shah to understand why a driver ran amok and rammed into three vehicles at the airport on Monday.
The commotion occurred as the driver was angry after his line to pick up customers was cut by others.
However, police clarified that other drivers were forced to overtake his car as the man had walked off elsewhere and made customers wait.
After the incident at about 1pm, the 60-year-old man fainted and was sent to the hospital for hypertension treatment.
Chan said he was made to understand that taxi drivers were facing all kinds of stress in addition to their reduction in income.
They have to face stiff competition from the e-hailing industry, making use of new technology platforms, and able to offer better quality services at lower fares.
"With tourist arrivals at the airport declining for the past two years, most of these airport taxi drivers are waiting all day in line at the airport just to earn very little," he said in a statement, adding he had also distributed 180 food baskets to airport taxi drivers.
Chan, who is also the Sabah DAP secretary, said apart from the airport taxi drivers, the West Coast Taxi Association chairman Wong Nyuk Min had reached out to him last week and shared the plight of his fellow taxi drivers.
Wong has listed 140 taxi drivers who are in need of assistance from the service centre.
Meanwhile, he said the food basket distribution activity in the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary constituency has entered the second stage with priority to those whose basic income was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Since mid-June, there have been many people walking into my Service Centre seeking help.
"While we have a no-reject policy and anyone who really needs help can apply for our food baskets, I wish to emphasise that everyone is still required to wait and will be notified when to collect their respective food baskets," said Chan, adding the mechanism is to control crowd and prevent transmission of Covid-19.
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