Watch: Maltese Y Plate Drivers Competing In An ‘Unfair’ Market, Robert Abela Warns
Prime Minister Robert Abela sympathised with Y plate cab drivers who took part in a slow-moving protest this week, warning they are competing in an “unfair” market.
“We ended up in a situation where Maltese workers were prejudiced,” Abela told Lovin Malta at a press conference this week as he referred to recent Y Plate reforms.
“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.”
“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.”
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“The government had a choice – to either let the market operate freely or to intervene. Many told us to let the market operate freely but I disagreed because I believed we had to protect our citizens who invested money.”
In recent years, Malta’s cab market has been dominated by platforms like Bolt, Uber, and Ecabs that drivers can sign up to. Only one of these platforms – Ecabs – actually employs its own drivers.
The convenience and relatively low prices offered by these platforms have seen them become an increasingly popular method of transport, and indeed the number of registered Y plate vehicles has surged from 2,564 at the start of 2020 to 4,623 in the third quarter of 2023.
While the latest data shows there are 3,068 Y plate operators, the vehicles are in no way divided evenly among the 4,623 operators.
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With 269 registered Y plate vehicles, most of them registered in recent years, the biggest player in the market is WT Global, which is owned by Libyan national Walid Ouhida. It is followed by the longstanding cab company Ecabs with 150 registered Y plate vehicles and Agius Trading – owned by the ‘Ta’ Dirjanu’ brothers Mark and Joseph Agius – with 147.
While Ecabs has its own platform, drivers employed by WT Global and Agius Trading, along with individual self-employed drivers, operate on third-party platforms, including Ecabs.
Drivers often operate on multiple platforms simultaneously to maximise their field of potential clients.
However, the Light Passenger Operators Association, which represents individual drivers, has decried the current system as “predatory pricing”.
The association warned that when considering platform commissioner (around 20% per ride), insurance premiums, vehicle maintenance costs and VAT, drivers are only left with around 35% of the ride fee for themselves.
Last year, the government introduced a reform intended to safeguard Y plate drivers. Cab drivers now require a Maltese or EU driving licence to qualify for a Y plate tag, while operators must prove they have a garage space where all their cars can park when not in use, a law that was already in place but wasn’t being enforced.
Drivers are only allowed to leave their cars unattended in a public parking space for a maximum of an hour.
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”.
Do you think the current system is fair?
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