PUTRAJAYA – Effective next month, a total of 35,000 taxi drivers and 18,000 school bus drivers in the country will benefit from Social Security Organisation (Socso) subscriptions, which will be paid fully by the government, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He said 90% of their Socso subscription would be borne through an allocation from the Finance Ministry, while the Transport Ministry would pay the remaining 10% for one year.
“We understand that the Finance Ministry has allocated Socso RM100 million for subscription of up to 90% for taxi drivers, e-hailing, p-hailing and so on.
“The remaining 10% has to be contributed by the drivers themselves. So for the taxi and school bus drivers, we will fork out the 10% contribution for one year,” he told a media conference after the ministry’s Sua Kasih Madani programme here today.
The move, he said, was to provide social protection to taxi and school bus drivers in the event of an accident.
Elaborating on the matter, Loke said that he had discussed with Socso the implementation of the initiative, as well as the list of taxi and school bus drivers from the Land Public Transport Agency.
“We expect to launch this initiative in March. That means taxi drivers and school bus drivers don’t have to contribute a single cent (for Socso subscription) for a year, they just have to register their names,” he said.
“For those who are already registered (with Socso), with the 10% from the MoT, they also do not have to pay a single cent,” he said. – February 23, 2024