A scourge called surcharge

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hitch onto bus-train links
Letter from John Chua

I refer to the report, "Will new penalties make disappearing taxis reappear?" (Nov 13). I would like to suggest that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) do away with the surcharges and consider learning from the Hong Kong experience.

Getting rid of the surcharges will eliminate disappearing acts, I believe. In my eight years of living in Hong Kong, I never faced any taxi queue problems.

Perhaps the SMRT can leverage on route connections by providing shuttle bus services. Such services are well-managed in Hong Kong. A trial here would test the popularity of this service, particularly in the late hours during weekends.

Usage charges are better
Letter from David Lim

The LTA can get to the root of the taxi touts problem by abolishing the surcharge scheme while, at the same time, raising the flag-down fare to $3 and increasing the per-kilometre distance charges.

And if passengers are happy with drivers who have been helpful and courteous, they could tip them.

Have a dedicated helpline
Letter from David Kwok

With the rise in taxi complaints, especially by tourists, the LTA should set up a permanent and direct helpline for the public to give feedback to its Public Transport Division.

This helpline should be manned around-the-clock, preferably by a senior officer who can take action and make decisions on the spot. The current LTA hotline is too much of a general line to be useful.

Giving feedback to the individual taxi companies would not be as effective since the feedback concerns their own employees.

Moreover, private firms do not hold as much enforcement power as the LTA does.

Another plus of a direct helpline is that the public, including tourists, would be able to focus on one single number for taxi woes.