Taking a Taxi from KLIA2
Whenever I arrive at an airport, taking a taxi is pretty straight forward. Go to the counter, buy a ticket, take a taxi. Since the opening of klia2 which is branded as the budget airline terminal for Malaysia, there has been some talk about the taxi service offered here.
While most unsuspecting travelers may not even know they have been duped, some frequent travelers like me will always take note of these kinds of things.
Taking a Taxi from KLIA2
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| Types of common taxis found around Malaysia |
Note that a 50% fare surcharge is applicable from 11.30 pm till 6.00 am. Taxis are multi-colored in Malaysia and the colors depict the different taxi companies.
Below is a list of all the taxi services offered at KLIA2;
1. KLIA2 Budget Taxi
This means you pay a fixed fee when you tell the counter where you are going. You get a coupon, go outside, line up and wait your turn.
When the red colored taxi arrives, you give him the coupon, and he tears his portion and gives you back half. You then tell him your destination.
So you must tell him the same destination you told the counter as it is printed in the coupon. This is a straight forward system practiced almost all over the world.
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| Budget Taxis |
This was recently introduced where you buy a coupon for RM2.00, then go to another line and take a ‘metered taxi’.
This means the taxi will start his meter to wherever your destination is. The taxi driver MUST run his meter when you board the cab. If you ask me, I prefer this as it saves me about RM10 to RM15.
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| KLIA2 Premier Taxis |
3. KLIA2 Premier Taxi
This is the ‘Blue’ taxis which are more expensive compared to the budget ones. They cost anywhere around double of the normal price.
The taxis are slightly bigger than the common ones but if you are getting your transport claimed by your company, then, by all means, use this.
4. Taxi Touts
These are the last category and most crooked ones, therefore, they operate in plain clothes or some of them even wear a smart suit approaching passengers.
The ones in suits are usually agents dressed to impress. Some of them even have name tags. They casually approach foreigners who look lost and offer taxi services at double or triple the prices.
Just note that when you require a taxi, you need to get it from the official taxi counters.
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| KLIA2 Taxi Counter – Note the Red and Blue Taxi Signs |
So, here’s my little experience with the taxi system. Apparently, there is some hanky-panky going on among the taxi people here.
When I went to the ‘Metered Taxis’ counter, the lady selling the tickets told me that there would be a very long wait as there are no metered taxis there.
She urged me to take a ‘Blue’ taxi or ‘Budget’ taxi as they are all ready and waiting. Since I was not in a rush, I told her it was ok for me to wait.
But she kept trying to persuade me to take the other taxis. Eventually, I said no and would wait it out.
In less than 5 minutes, one taxi came and they boarded it followed by another ‘1Malaysia Taxi’. so in total, I waited less than 10 minutes.
Because all this while, the favoritism was given to the KLIA taxis, the group managing this was unhappy that the authorities allowed metered taxis to operate there.
So, all taxis usually wait in a holding area outside the airport and will be called anytime there is a lack of taxis and keep the taxi flow going smoothly.
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| Taxis waiting at the airport in Malaysia |
However, he told me that at many times, he waited in the holding area for 6 to 8 hours before he (metered taxi) is even called for a pickup.
It can be frustrating for taxi drivers to wait so long for a fare, but apparently, this is what is going on and really affecting the rice bowl of these taxi drivers.
SPAD and the KLIA2 Taxis
SPAD (Unit that plans, regulates and enforces all matters relating to land public transport in Peninsular Malaysia) is well informed about this and recently caught a number of counter people doing such things.
However, after a day or two, things seem to go back to the devious ways. Some of the ‘metered taxi’ counter staff are working hand-in-hand with the budget and premier taxis to send passengers over.
Imaging a one-way budget fare from klia2 to KL city costs about RM80, these unsuspecting foreigners end up paying about RM160 one way on a premier taxi. That’s double the fare!
How this works is that the budget taxi counter person will ask the foreigner how many of you. If there are 2 to 4 people, they will say that there are no budget taxis or they cannot fit into the budget taxis and then convince them to take the premier taxis.
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| The new 1Malaysia Taxi |
This puts a bad image towards the country. I personally know that SPAD knows what is going on. Even my ‘1Malaysia Taxi’ driver concurred with me on this.
His solution put a couple of SPAD officers stationed at the taxi area, or better still abolish the coupon system or metered system. Just have two – Budget or Premier.
Conclusion
After all, we are trying our best to make every visitor happy when visiting Malaysia, especially when many tourists are visiting Malaysia on a yearly basis.
If you are a first-timer to the LCCT airport in Sepang, you can see my other article about KLIA2 in Photos.
And more importantly, if you also had a bad experience with the taxi service in Malaysia, feel free to voice it out in the comment form below.
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