Taxis are oft maligned in Malaysia, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Drivers are well-versed in the city geography and will be able to find ingenious shortcuts when the inevitable traffic builds up. Also, the recent government ruling that increased the (already minimal) base taxi fare to RM3 has seen an improvement in services and a decrease in the number of taxis attempting to run meter-less. Even with this rise in fare, Malaysian taxis are among the cheapest in the world.

Popular residential, tourist, business and entertainment districts all over Malaysia are well served and hailing a cab, providing there are no marked taxi ranks nearby, is as simple as waving one down on the street. Where marked ranks do exist, though, it’s advisable (and in some places, essential) to use them. Taxi drivers must then use their built-in meter to calculate the fare. Many drivers are reluctant to use the meter as they can usually charge more, especially to foreigners, when agreeing a flat rate beforehand. Some of the excuses used by drivers as to why the meter cannot be used can be quite creative but don’t settle for them; you’ll almost always find metered taxis turn out to be cheaper.

Journeys taken between midnight and 6am are usually subject to a 50 per cent additional night time charge and booking over the phone will also cost a couple of ringgit extra with most companies. Prepaid coupon systems are common at airports and other large transport hubs and often taxis from such locations are newer and more up market. The majority of taxis in Malaysia are generally quite old and run down, but premium taxis can also be found in KL for higher rates.