M'sia taxi touts allegedly asking for S$120 instead of RM120 for ride from Johor to S'pore

Licensed taxis at Larkin Terminal in Johor, Malaysia are getting travellers to pay inflated fares for cross-border trips to Singapore.

A Singaporean man recently found that out for himself when he was subjected to touting, but refused to give in.

The incident occurred on one day over the weekend during the evening period.

Sam told Mothership: "Even though the official fare from Larkin Terminal to Singapore is RM120 (S$37.90) per taxi, many drivers refused to follow this rate."

The RM120 rate is based on the fare offered by Singapore's Strides Premier transport operator, which takes travellers from Larkin Terminal to Ban San Street Terminal.

This comes up to less than S$10 per person, as each taxi can take up to four passengers.

The inflated fare is about 1.5 to three times more.

"Instead, they demanded S$15 to S$30 per pax, which is far more expensive than the regulated fare," Sam added.

He claimed that he had waited for almost three hours for a RM120 ride, but "not a single taxi charging the official fare moved".

He said: "The group before me, consisting of three passengers plus an elderly lady, eventually took a Malaysia taxi and paid SG$60 (RM190) in total to go to Ban San Street Terminal in the Bugis area in Singapore."

How touting works

According to Sam's observations on the ground, several touts were walking around offering prices of between S$15 and S$30 per pax, but the amount changed and depended on which tout approached the travellers.

He also said he saw Singapore-registered taxis parked at Larkin Terminal, but "none of them went into the official queue".

Moreover, they appeared to already have passengers, but it was unclear how much the travellers paid for the ride.

Waited for three hours

In total, Sam spent three hours waiting and refused to give in to the touts and inflated prices just for a ride back to Singapore.

He was third in the queue at the time with three other family members.

He added: "Almost everyone behind me eventually accepted the tout's offer due to the long waiting time and pressure from people approaching repeatedly."

This only made him grow more frustrated and he was on the brink of lashing out at the touts.

He said the touts kept telling passengers that there were "no taxis available", even though there were taxis parked nearby.

The touts also apparently asked the travellers where they stayed and offered to send them home in Singapore.

Sam said those travellers who agreed to pay the inflated prices were then led to a driver of a taxi or a private car.

The touts, he said, appeared to be working as an organised group.

Sam said he and his family decided to take a bus back to Singapore after three hours of waiting as it was not worth the risk of taking an unregulated ride, while being overcharged.

He said he has reported the issue to the relevant authorities in Singapore and Malaysia, but has not heard back.

Top photo via Sam