Meeting the Demand: Fuel Quota Hike for E-Hailing and Airport Taxis
In a significant move to support the Malaysian gig economy, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced an increased monthly fuel quota of 800 litres for eligible full-time e-hailing drivers and, notably, a new inclusion for airport taxis under the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) initiative.
This latest adjustment comes in response to strong feedback that the previous quota of 600 litres (itself an earlier increase from 300 litres, benefitting nearly 58,000 drivers) was insufficient for the high mileage required by full-time drivers. This marks the second increase this year, reflecting the government’s commitment to refining the targeted subsidy scheme based on real-world usage and appeals from the driving community.
Mileage-Based Tiers: Ensuring Fairness
The new quota introduces a tiered eligibility scheme to ensure the subsidy is fairly distributed based on actual need. Full-time e-hailing drivers will now be classified based on their previous month’s travel distance:
- 300 litres/month: For drivers covering less than 2,000 km monthly.
- 600 litres/month: For drivers covering between 2,000 km and 5,000 km monthly.
- 800 litres/month: For drivers whose mileage exceeds 5,000 km monthly.
How Will They Enforce the Mileage?
Enforcement of these tiered quotas will be handled through a data-driven approach. The travel distance data will be recorded by the e-hailing operator companies (EHOs) and then verified by the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) and the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (LPKP) in Sabah and Sarawak. This mechanism aims to ensure only drivers with genuinely high mileage—and thus high fuel consumption—receive the maximum subsidy, making the system more accountable and targeted. This move directly addresses the fairness concern by tying subsidy volume to working intensity.
The Bigger Picture: Subsidy Reform Evolution
This refinement for e-hailing drivers and the inclusion of airport taxis perfectly illustrates Malaysia’s broader fuel subsidy reform strategy: a gradual shift from blanket subsidies to targeted assistance.
Initial data from the Budi95 program for general consumers showed that only around 0.7% of recipients exceeded the original 300-litre quota, with the average user consuming about 98 litres/month. This confirmed the government’s view that the blanket subsidy was largely unnecessary for most private citizens and highly prone to leakage and misuse by high-volume users.
The government acknowledges that enforcing strict income thresholds (like excluding the “T15” group) is administratively challenging and costly. For now, they prefer to allow the current system to operate and stabilise before introducing more stringent enforcement mechanisms, especially against high-income earners or owners of true luxury vehicles.
The quota increases and tiered system for e-hailing drivers show a pragmatic evolution of the policy. The Budi Madani initiative is not a static program but a dynamic one, constantly adjusting based on data and industry feedback to effectively channel savings to those who need it most for their livelihood, like full-time public transport drivers, while moving the nation towards fiscal sustainability. We can expect this reform to evolve further, likely introducing more data integration and stricter compliance measures in the future as the government refines its ability to target subsidies with high precision.
