It was decided to put up a taxi stand at Ipoh Central Market during a meeting of Ipoh City Council. The Bureau chief of Perak MCA Public Services and Complaints, Mr. Datuk Lee Kon Yin stated that the Ipoh City Council gave its consent to fix up the taxi stand there when he discussed the matter with Datuk Bandar Datuk Roshidi Hashim. He met the taxi drivers of Ipoh on 25th of October, 2010 and after that he talked to the reporters saying that:
“The matter just needs to go through the council’s parking and infrastructure standing committee,”
While commenting on the request of taxi drivers to provide ten parking lot spaces in the stand Mr. Lee said it is up to the committee to decide how many parking lots are to fixed there. He said:
“The number of lots will be determined by the committee later,”
Mr. Wong Ho, 68, speaking on the behalf of other taxi drivers told the reporters that they made their first request for the taxi stand about two years ago. He said that due to non-availability of a taxi stand at the market enforcement authorities do not let them wait there for their customers and they are stressed by them to hurry away. His exact words are:
“Without the stand, we are harassed by all enforcement agencies which bar us from waiting for customers near the market,”
Mr. Wong has been a taxi driver for a little over ten years at the place and during his duty he has been issued summons for about five times on charges of obstructing traffic. On commenting this he says:
“It has made our life difficult,”
Another taxi driver Mr. Chung Yeum Wai, 64, requested to the law and order authorities to go easy on them a little bit as they are just trying to meet both ends. He said:
“We just want to earn a living”.