Uber and GrabCar Ease Students Lives

(Picture shows images of GrabCar, Uber and normal taxis - the various modes of transportations available in Malaysia. Sourced by The Star)

Ellie Chang was tired. She had a long day at college and all she wanted to do was to go home. She walked towards the taxi stand and proceeds towards the line waiting. When she told the taxi driver of her destination, the driver’s answer turned her day even worse. “There’s traffic jam. Pay me RM20 and I’ll drive you there.” replied the taxi driver. Ellie wanted to argue with the driver because the fare was unreasonable as she knew it take only half of that amount to go to her destination. However, because she didn’t have a choice, she agreed. Unfortunately for Ellie, this is one example of current situations in which we, the local people encounter in our daily lives. Fortunately however, this is where Uber and GrabCar comes in to saves the day.

In today’s digital age, technology has contributed to the birth of many remarkable innovations. Among these inventions, there are those who are rise above others because they serve the public needs, resolves issues created by unethical misconducts by society and challenging economy. A great example would be Uber and GrabCar. These ride sharing mobile-app services have been a great help to students who are on a budget and benefit them a lot.

According to Star Online Newspaper (2014), since it was first established back in 2014, Uber and GrabCar have been gradually growing in popularity among Malaysians, especially students. Yet, not all are happy with this new development which can be seen from the recent protest and demonstrations made by local taxi drivers. Nonetheless, Uber and GrabCar still remain to be the preferred choice of transportation for local people and students. Moreover, The Rakyat Post Online (2016) has remarked that Malaysia can expect more than a hundred thousand of Uber drivers to emerge in the local market.

Why does students prefers to use Uber and GrabCar services? Karen Than is a student from Sarawak who is currently pursuing her bachelor degree in communication provided an answer for us.

“As a student studying and living away from home, the cost of living in KL can be expensive. The main reason why I chose Uber and GrabCar is because they are a lot cheaper and more comfortable compared to normal taxis,” she said. In addition, Karen mentioned that these services are more accessible than local taxis because people do not have to wait a long time to get a ride.

This is true according to an online poll made by The Star Newspaper (2015). It is found that 64.4% of respondents felt that Uber and GrabCar were affordable, while 59.5% used these apps over taxis because they were accessible.

But are these services safe for students?

“I think Uber and GrabCar are safer compared to normal taxis. It’s because these services utilise the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites for their drivers. So the percentage of anything bad happening to the passengers is significantly lower,” replied Ng Yi Wen, an advertising student of Taylor’s University.

She stated that passengers do not have to worry when they use the services because when they clicked on the app to get a driver, information about the driver, the car as well as the vehicle plate number is given. All these added features provided by the Uber and GrabCar services help their customers to feel safe when using their service because normal taxis don’t have them.

“Besides that, Uber & GrabCar drivers are friendly and give their customers payment options which they can choose to pay the fares using cash or credit cards,” said Yi Wen. This has made students life easier because most students have limited allowance. With this option, students do not have to worry about not having enough cash on hand to pay for their fares.

(This is a picture of one of the demonstrations made by local Taxi drivers against Uber and GrabCar. Sourced by The Malay Mail)

Although there are many positive aspects of Uber and GrabCar have been highlighted, local taxi drivers are still protesting widely against these ride sharing mobile-app services. It is to the extent of making law suits and declaring Uber an illegal service.

Why are they strongly against Uber and GrabCar?

“I think it’s because taxi drivers realised that they are losing their business because almost everyone uses Uber and GrabCar nowadays. Their protests are their way of blaming the system,” said Wan Nadiah Izyan, a communication degree student.

While it is true that pointing fingers at any parties would not help to solve the situation, Wan Nadiah has a few suggestions for fellow taxi drivers to help improve current situation.

“Taxi drivers needs to see Uber and GrabCar as healthy competitors. Take this opportunity to enhance their services efficiently and win the public’s confidence and trust instead of causing chaos and damaging the reputation of the taxi industry with unnecessary demonstrations,” she remarked.

#features #articles