No plans to fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services: LTA

The local authorities are open to ideas that can improve the commute between Singapore and Johor, but have no plans to fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services.

- Sarah Koh

In a statement on Aug 3, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) made this clarification following an Aug 1 meeting between Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow and Johor state's chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

A cross-border ride-hailing service was among several proposals discussed during the meeting, said Datuk Onn Hafiz in an Aug 1 Facebook post.

On Aug 3, Mr Siow said in his own Facebook post that the two ministers discussed many issues. These included cross-border transport, as well as the importance of safeguarding the interests of drivers and platform workers, and how LTA has been enhancing enforcement against illegal passenger and delivery services.

Following the ministers' meeting, some Malaysian media outlets had reported that Singapore and Johor had proposed introducing cross-border ride-hailing services as an alternative transport option for commuters.

LTA said in its statement that while ride-hailing was discussed at the meeting, no decision was made.