The Malaysian Transport Ministry is open to a reassessment of motorcycle e-hailing services. Speaking during the winding up the 2025 Budget debate for the ministry in the Dewan Rakyat, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said he is willing to listen to requests from operators.
Loke indicated the possibility of conducting a proof of concept (POC) including operators wanting to implement a test field (sandbox) for the service. “If there are any operators who wish to create a ‘sandbox’ or similar pilot projects, we are open to conducting a POC if Putrajaya can identify a suitable area,” said Loke in a The New Straits Times report.
The minister added, “however, I wish to share my thoughts first. The culture in Malaysia is not particularly inclined toward using e-hailing motorcycles.” Loke also said he could be wrong in his assessment and if the POC is successful he would be open to the idea and would help alleviate the burden of first-mile and last-mile transport.
Loke also said a discussion for approval for the POC would be held with the Road Transport Department and the Land Public Transport Agency if any applications are submitted. This was in reply to a question about e-hailing motorcycles from Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung, suggesting his constituency in Petaling Jaya could serve as a test location.
Motorcycle e-hailing was previously trialed in Malaysia in 2019, with the Transport Ministry – under the Pakatan Harapan government at the time – preparing a regulatory framework to govern service providers, including delivery riders. In January 2020 Grab launched a six-month pilot of their on-demand motorcycle service, GrabBike, in the Klang Valley.
The pilot programme was available for travel within a 10km radius from passengers’ current location. However, permission for motorcycle e-hailing was withdrawn in 2021 with the then Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Henry Sum Agong under the Perikatan Nasional government citing the death rate for motorcyclists and pillions in Malaysia.
In Vietnam, motorcycle e-hailing service Gojek left the market after six years in 2024 while it ceased operations in Thailand in 2021. Parent company GoTo found that the Vietnam market contributed less than 1% of its turnover in the second quarter of 2024.
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