It's official - Malaysian taxis suck!

The Expat, a Malaysian magazine, has made it official. In a survey of 200 foreigners from 30 countries, Malaysian taxis were rated the worst out of 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise.

It seems like everyone who's ever tried to take a taxi in Malaysia has a horror story to share about their experience. From vastly inflated prices and a reluctance to use the meter (what else is it there for??) to flat out refusing to take you to your destination, the stories all have a common theme - poor service, to put it mildly.

I don't have much occasion to use a cab, fortunately, but a few months ago, my cousins and I were trying to get a cab to take us home from the LRT station. There was a queue, which was surprising in itself, this being Malaysia and all, and this particular incident happened when there were two other people in the line ahead of us. A cab drew up to the curb and the person at the front of the line opened the door and stuck his head in. This gesture is telling in itself - you always have to ASK the driver if he'll take you where you want to go because this is not a given like in most civilized countries. If the driver agrees, then you can go ahead and stick your butt in too, but in this case, the guy simply walked away. When the next person in line got turned away as well, I gave the cabbie the benefit of the doubt, assuming that he was on his way home and didn't want to take a passenger out of his way. But when I stuck my head in the cab, I found out the real reason, I could see why the first two would-be passengers had walked away in a huff: they guy was asking for RM10 for a 5-minute journey home, which cost only RM3.50 in the next metered cab that we took. Preposterous!

But the horror stories don't end there. To this day, I have not figured out how to take a bus in my own city. As far as I can tell, the only way you can discover the secrets of the bus system is through superhero-like powers of observation. There have been plenty of discussions about improving the bus system, but so far, I haven't seen a single article about the fundamentals - how to use the system. There are no timetables. There are no route maps. There are no signs at the bus stops that tell you what buses stop there and where they go. Perhaps this vital information exists at the bus depots, but I'm not even sure of this, and besides, how can you limit this information to only one station?

The government is pledging to revamp the public transport system following our PM's less-than-satisfactory experience on the LRT during one morning rush hour. There are multiple plans on the table, including extending the LRT lines and I think I saw something about building better bus shelters. But here's a call to the powers that be - don't forget the basics. Give us a sign that you've heard our plea. Literally.