H plate’s RM91.2 million to help taxi drivers – fitting, as H was the taxi prefix; good news next week, says Loke

The record-breaking “H” number plate series – which raked in RM91.2 million for JPJ, the highest ever for a single registration series – will end up giving back to the very trade the letter once represented. Transport minister Anthony Loke says the ministry will use its share of the proceeds to help taxi and rental car drivers across the country.

In a Facebook post, Loke explained the split: half of the RM91.2 million goes into the Federal Consolidated Revenue Account, while the other half will fund the transport ministry’s people-oriented initiatives.

And there’s a neat bit of history guiding where that second half goes. The H prefix was originally the registration marking for taxis – Malaysian taxi plates have long begun with H, for “hire” – and Loke says that with the series generating such a handsome return, the ministry will channel the money into helping taxi and hire car drivers nationwide.

What form that help takes will be revealed soon. “There will be good news for taxi drivers next week,” Loke wrote.

The move would extend the ministry’s recent run of taxi-focused programmes, most visibly Teksi Madani, the taxi renewal scheme that has put red Proton S70 cabs on roads across the country, most recently expanding to Sabah. Notably, the announcement will land after Loke said he would resign as transport minister – he indicated then that outstanding work would be completed in an orderly handover, and this appears to be part of it.

As a recap, the Malaysia Day-themed H series was open for bidding via JPJeBid from September 16-20, with H 1 alone fetching a record RM10,777,777.

Add paultan.org as a preferred source on Google SearchAdd Follow paultan.org on Google NewsFollow