Libyan National’s Company Has Become Malta’s Largest Y Plate Cab Owner
Booking a Bolt, Uber or eCabs has become a very common means of getting around Malta, but recently published information may come as a surprise to the public as it turns out that two of the three leading cab providers in terms of sheer car ownership are actually much lesser-known players.
The largest player in the Maltese Y plate cab market is WT Global, a company owned by an investment group run by Libyan national Walid Ouhida.
Figures tabled in Parliament in November show that WT Global owns 269 Y-plate vehicles, most of them registered in recent years, more than any other operator in the country. Besides operating in the cab market, WT Global offers food delivery and hospitality services, while another of Ouhida’s investment group companies offers recruitment services.
With 150 Y-plate vehicles, eCabs – which has been operating since 2009 and which owns its own cab platform – is the second largest player in the market.
It is closely followed by Agius Trading, owned by the ‘Ta’ Dirjanu’ brothers Mark and Joseph Agius, with 147 Y-plate vehicles. While the Dirjanu brothers are well-known for property development and their eponymous Gozitan supermarkets, their dominance in the cab market hasn’t been clear until now.
WT Global and Agius Trading have taken advantage of the state of play Malta’s new cab market, which was significantly disrupted by cab platforms, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic.
While people book rides through platforms to get around, most of these platforms don’t employ their own drivers themselves. Instead, Y-plate drivers – including those employed by the likes of WT Global and Agius Trading- can sign up and be integrated into their system, with platforms earning a commission of around 20% per ride.
eCabs does employ its own drivers but its platform is also open to other drivers, just as the likes of Bolt and Uber are.
Drivers often sign up to multiple platforms to maximise their field of potential clients.
The convenience and relatively low prices offered by platforms has seen them become an extremely popular means of transport, and as demand surged, so did supply.
In fact, the number of registered Y plate vehicles almost doubled in a few years – from 2,564 at the start of 2020 to 4,623 in the third quarter of 2023.
While this increased competition has helped drive cab ride prices down, it has also placed a huge strain on several Maltese people who had purchased cars with the intention of earning a living as full-time cab drivers.
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Aaron Gatt, President of the Light Passenger Operators Association (LPOA), told Lovin Malta that some people had even quit their full-time jobs and taken out a bank loan to purchase a car and enter the cab market.
However, the way the market has developed has placed them in a precarious situation.
At a recent Y-plate driver protest, LPOA warned that, when considering platform commissions, VAT, insurance, vehicle maintenance costs and daily expenses, drivers are only left with around 35% of the ride fee for themselves. This means they are forced to cope with an income close to the minimum wage and are struggling to make ends meet.
Moreover, they warned that drivers are competing in an unfair market due to lack of enforcement of a longstanding law obliging Y-plate operators to prove they have enough garage space where all their cars can park when not in use.
Lovin Malta has asked WT Global to confirm whether it has enough garage space for its 269 Y-plate vehicles and for a general reaction to drivers’ warnings that they are competing in an unfair market but has yet to receive a response.
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Prime Minister Robert Abela has admitted that this law wasn’t being enforced and has pledged to change tack.
“Maltese workers who invested their money in a car for a Y plate ended up in a situation where their income kept shrinking and shrinking and they couldn’t compete or live a decent life,” Abela told Lovin Malta earlier this month.
“We’re talking about genuine Maltese workers who invested their money in vehicles, but then a few large companies brought over 100 cars and 100 Indian workers to drive them. That was the reality we found in the market.”
New regulations introduced last year mean that drivers are only allowed to leave their cars unattended in a public parking space for a maximum of an hour.
All cab drivers also now require a Maltese or EU driving licence to qualify for a Y plate tag.
Abela kept the door open for further reforms, stating that “if we can do more to protect the income and livelihood of Maltese workers, then we will do so”.
Cover photo: Left: A recent Y plate driver protest, Right: Walid Ouhida
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