Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Kuala Belait – The increasing number of illegal taxis have resulted in a drop of more than 50 per cent of people using public buses in the past two years, some bus drivers said.

With 13 years of experience in the industry, a driver who only wished to be known as Ayyapan, said that he used to send off some six passengers per trip from Seria to Bandar, but now he considers himself lucky to even have one passenger.

Even though unlicensed taxis have been around for a long time, these past two years have seen them using more aggressive tactics in getting passengers, he told The Brunei Times yesterday.

"They are getting smarter, these people study our schedule and pick up passengers at bus stops before we even started out from the bus station," said Ayyapan.

Another bus driver, Mohamed Yousof Mohammed Dawood, said even during festivities like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidil Fitri are a slow day for them.

"It's bad that locals are reluctant to use public buses, but the matter is made worse now as even foreigners don't appear to need our services."

"Illegal taxis are a problem that should be addressed, but so far nothing has been done even though we made a petition to the relevant authorities," he added.

Muhammad Karin said that business has been so bad that he only receives his salary once in every two months.

"With the lack of passengers, we barely manage to cover the operating costs of bus trips, let alone make a profit," he added.

Prior to this, he took his own initiative of increasing the number of routes that he serves. "I even go to villages and wet market, but it's useless as there are no passengers to carry," he said.

One bus driver, who did not want to be named, said that illegal taxi drivers are even hostile towards the bus drivers, as majority of them are foreigners.

"It is not uncommon for bus drivers to receive verbal threats from local illegal drivers, but these foreigners were too afraid to lodge a police report," he said.

In addition to the presence of illegal cabs, the number of bus passengers has also decreased due to employers providing transport to their employees.

An Indonesian, Kukuh Bayu, who has been in Brunei for 10 years, said that since his employer took care of his transportation, he has reduced his frequency of using public buses.

Ruddy, another bus passenger, suggested that public buses should extend their time to send passengers after 5pm. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times