The prevailing uniform tariffs cannot stand up to public scrutiny. People are tired of being coerced into submitting to such unreasonable surcharges and phone booking fees. Hence ridership has steadily declined.
It is a case of high fares killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. The Land Transport Authority should realise the current system is not sustainable.
Jack Chew, Straits Times forum page, on high taxi fares
Imagine I had to pay more than $30 for a trip from Sim Lim Square to Woodlands during the peak period at around 6.00 pm. This is really exorbitant and absurd. Previously, such a trip cost me only less than $16. The peak period surcharges is actually exploitation and profiteering, not unlike kidnappers who demand for ransoms with a gun at our head, except in this case the ‘gun’ is a legalised one.
What the hell is LTA doing?
Whatever the intention, open or hidden, I think what LTA is doing is to make the Taxi Companies richer and richer. Why?
Because the taxi drivers do not actually benefit much from this kind of coerced and twisted policies and regulations. The taxi drivers will have to work their guts out in order to feed the fat staff and CEOs of the Taxi Companies (dominated by NTUC Comfort) by paying higher and higher rents and petrol/diesel/gas prices. Indirectly, the taxi drivers also pay higher and higher taxes to the government – because the more profits the taxi companies make the more the govt taxed, and also fuel taxes are based only percentage of sale, which means the higher the price is the higher the govt tax.
My conclusion is that LTA, like some other govt or quasi-govt agencies such as HDB, is actively assisting the PM’s call for “Economic Progress At All Costs”. The sad thing is that this “ALL COSTS” is to be paid for by the commoners, the masses, the poor, the hardworking people like taxi drivers, cleaners, sales persons, service personnel, etc. and levies on foreign workers and foreign maids. This also partially explains why the influx of foreigners into the country to take away jobs from the locals (and not to create jobs as some cunning a-holes would like us to believe).
Now with reduced ridership, taxi drivers are driving longer to sustain similar pay. ERPs, oil revenue and taxi rental are gaining upper hands, so thus government agencies and taxi companies made from our blood and sweat.
Again, you voted them, this choice you made and you would make again in 2010 or 2011.
For those less well-travelled people out there, I will like to share with you that Seoul and Hong Kong, the other 2 Asian tigers have cheaper and more plentiful cabs plying their streets. During my time there I am glad that I can find cabs easily during peak hours at roadside. I did not see empty cabs with “on call” signs zooming pass me. I must apologise I cannot provide feedback on their cabcall services, as there’s no need to use it at all.
I would like to point out the two cities I mentioned have greater rail network density, so the commuters have plenty of choices. Yet their cab fares remain lower than Singapore, and I think the median income for both cities are greater than ours. So that means Singaporeans are burdened by a large proportion of their pay being spent on transport.
Why are we paying our Transport Minister the highest salary in the World to get a public transport system that is no where near the best?
Jack Ma, boss of Alibaba – “It is your customers and employees – not your shareholders- that matter in time of crisis.
Customers stay with you, grow with you, give you money, give you hope and support.
Shareholders are no longer the long-tern supporters of yesteryear, they are share traders. I will let you know: no shareholders can be trusted.”
Bosses of taxi companies. Listen to Jack Ma. Ignore at your own peril for customers will leave you in droves and crows will sh_t on empty taxis in open storage space.
I totally agree with the author.
I have NO CONFIDENCE in this kind of system.
Total disappointment.
Yes, I also feel this kind of system is UNSustainable. Period.
We totally agree that Hongkong and Seoul have better and cheaper taxis.
In December 2007 we went to Hongkong and had no problem hailing a cab along busy roads, and what surprised us was to see a cabdriver getting out of his cab to fold the wheelchair of an disabled commuter into the boot, and noticed that he did it without a grumpy face. They even chatted with commuters happily while driving.
Here in Singapore, there are so many surcharges and commuters have to remember so many so-called peak period times that I give up and just pay what is demanded, at the same time swearing off taking cabs in future. What is so exasperating is the difficulty of booking cabs during rainy days. In the end I just bought a small car, biting the bullet and try to save by cutting down on other expenses,
Singapore has a long way to achieving a world class transport system. Either shareholders reign supreme here, or the LTA is turning a blind eye to the problem.
///Privately owned taxis do not require a layer of management and its associated costs. In fact, the idea of taking home all the fare spurs harder work, as in any free enterprise.
/// Take the case of the food hawker – he does not have to share his income with others, as in the case of corporate-owned taxis.///
no totally true – the hawkers indirectly have a layer of management, the town council and NEA managing the hawker centres. thus he enjoys the economy of scale of running the hawker centre as well as not having to bear the full cost of the infrastructure. compare that to coffeeshop stalls who have to pay higher rental in order to sustain the full cost of running the coffeeshop.
The taxi fare structure is too damn complicated. Simplifying it will be helpful. Taxis are more personalised means of transport vs trains and buses which are mass transit. Taxis do not help relieve traffic congestion, it adds to it.
Taxi fares for a 5 km trip during the peak hours
London GBP 9 SGD 30
Sydney AUD 12 SGD 16
New York USD 8 SGD 12
Singapore SGD 7
Hong Kong HKD 40 SGD 8
Taipei NT 160 SGD 8
What the hell is LTA doing?
For those who drives, have you ever wonder what kind of motor insurance premium is like nowaday? and worse premiums kept going higher and higher every year and now they can come out with all sorts of different packages. And nowaday your NCD which can be accumulated to 50% max can only serve you for some 3 years and after retrn back starting from zero% discount again. What the hell is all these? digging gold out from the motorists pocket? and LTA play blurr!
10) tiredsingaporean
//// NCD which can be accumulated to 50% max can only serve you for some 3 years and after retrn back starting from zero% discount again. /////
really? when did that happened?
I am having 50% for many years now, never seen it going back to zero.
9) KopitiamApek
Firstly, hat’s provided you are not going through gantries, and not boarding from CBD right? During peak hours, who are the one that is most likely to take cab home and from where?
So what happens after you add in CBD charges? And booking charges? But of course the person can avoid it by walking way out of that area…and waiting in a long queue…definitely
Secondly, your exchange rate is definitely way off… Was it from way back? That’s a little misleading…
London GBP 9 SGD 20.763 (Way Off)
Sydney AUD 12 SGD 16
New York USD 8 SGD 11
Singapore SGD 7
Hong Kong HKD 40 SGD 7.25
Taipei NT 160 SGD 7
And a side note, since i visit taipei very often. When we book a cab there, we don’t have to pay any booking fees…and booking through various “companies” has special promotion throughout the day….such as 15% off fares… So imagine, I don’t pay to book their cab, i get discount for booking it…so ends up, i always book for my cab…lol
And when i took a cab in 东区, during peak hours, there are no surcharges whatsoever, and when i took cab after midnight, there are also no surcharges…
11) KopitiamApek on November 16th, 2009 8.14 pm
10) tiredsingaporean
This is what I was told by the agent when I complained about why my son who got his driving license for almost 8 years and how come he have to pay some $2K+ for his premium just to drive a 1.2L suzuki car? and funny thing recently after 1 year, the cost to renew his premium is some $2.2K as quoted, I really dun get it??? what the hell going is on in the motor insurance industry!
9) KopitiamApek on November 16th, 2009 8.03 pm
Taxi fares for a 5 km trip during the peak hours
London GBP 9 SGD 30
Sydney AUD 12 SGD 16
New York USD 8 SGD 12
Singapore SGD 7
Hong Kong HKD 40 SGD 8
Taipei NT 160 SGD 8
Singapore taxi fare for 5 km trip during peak hours is S$7?
You must be either joking or sleeping!
Guess what LTA might do to increase Taxi ridership? Increase MRT/Bus fare so as to make taxi fare looks relatively cheap.
KopitiamApek on November 16th, 2009 8.03 pm
Please take into consideration phone bookings because we know it is quite difficult to get a cab at peak hours. Also, do not that we have a very very developed ERP network that will allow the passenger to contribute to lessen the country’s road congestion. Finally, what if we take a cab from the airport?
Does the rest of the cities have all these surcharges?
16) Roy
I personally can tell you that Taipei has none of this, unless you are going through toll-booth on inter-cities highway and of course, some airport surcharge…
there is no ERP, CBD charges, booking charges…