GEORGETOWN: MyTeksi’s beta trial, first launched on the island here in April, saw an exponential 500 per cent growth in taxi bookings, making it the largest and most trusted taxi network in Penang.
Last Thursday, the homegrown taxi booking mobile application and Southeast Asia’s biggest, made its official entry into the state, its eighth major locations after Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malacca, Johor, Negri Sembilan and Sarawak.
MyTeksi general manager Adelene Foo said the application, which is already leading the change in Malaysia’s taxi industry by making it safer and convenient to grab a taxi, noted that its arrival in Penang will lead to more locals and tourists choosing to use taxis and, hence, boosting the island state’s tourism industry.
“MyTeksi exists to solve problems. We want to change the way people move.
“Penang is a prime choice for public transport to flourish because of high car ownership rate, compounded by congested road networks and limited parking spaces,” she said at the MyTeksi launch by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Foo said the company is taking it one step at a time to bring more certainty to Penangites, as well as the tourists.
She said the MyTeksi taxis in Penang don’t use the meter, unlike its operations in other states, but fares are reflective of the local market.
“We have had people telling us how they had to bargain for fares and felt agitated when they had to haggle.
“With MyTeksi, we want to try and solve the bargaining problem. We are taking a multi-faceted approach to solve the problem so that people will not feel cheated,” she said, adding that passengers who hailed taxies through the app know beforehand the estimated fare.
Foo said in Penang, one in three taxi drivers now receive bookings through the mobile application.
She said the app seeks to bring confidence to passengers when using taxi services and, at the same time, create jobs for taxi drivers.
Lim, in lauding MyTeksi’s entry into Penang, said it is a win-win formula for taxi drivers, passengers and the state government.
“With the mobile application, the taxi rates become more attractive,” he said.
MyTeksi, founded in July 2011, is a for-profit social startup with a mission to revolutionise the taxi industry.
Since the application was launched in June 2012, thousands of taxi drivers have been using the technology to receive bookings.
There are more than 1.7 million downloads of the MyTeksi/GrabTaxi mobile application in the region so far and with 300,000 active users a month, it has become the market leader in Southeast Asia.