Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab are nowlegal in Malaysia after the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Bill 2017 waspassed on July 27 by the Dewan Rakyat (lower house).
The amendments will have to be passed by the Dewan Negara (upper house) andobtain royal assent before they become effective.
Under the amendments, operators will be required to own an intermediationbusiness license issued by a regulatory body. The licenses are renewable butoperators will not be allowed to transfer them.
Continuing its market development strategy, US ride-hailing firm Uber hasannounced an investment of 6.85 billion pesos (340 million USD) to increase itsnumber of cars in Mexico to 500,000, doubling current figure.
Meanwhile, Singaporean based Grab will mobilise 2.5 billion USD from ChineseDidi Chungxing and Japanese Softbank to battle Uber.
Grab currently accounts for 71 percent in the ride-hailing industry inSoutheast Asia.-VNA