December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 01:53 PM
With cab fares set to go up on Dec 17 - higher flag down rate, higher city, midnight and peak hour surcharges, plus higher distance and waiting time increments on the meter - how will you react as a commuter?
(#2) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 02:05 PM
Good! If only the cab drivers earn MORE with the new charges.But this is not to be.Sad.
heartlander88
(#3) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 02:43 PM
What's the point of having our say if it's not going to bring down the price?
The taxi drivers are not earning much, yet this hike is going to kill them!!
We as commuters will be suffering also.
Instead of getting more drivers and taxis, they take this opportunity to raise the price. "Oh... We cannot meet their demands due to shortage of manpower therefore we have to increase the price."
Does this effect has any higher income for the taxi drivers?
The answer is NO!!!
Knightmare
(#4) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 02:45 PM
I will (a) Stop taking cabs altogether, however inconvenient this may be...we need every one to do this to hurt the taxi industry, so they know everyone means business. You call that simplifying fare structure? I think is way to complicated...Charge more overall, but most of it goes to who?
jordan_tan
(#5) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 02:48 PM
I am not a frequent cab taker.. but my answer will still be (b). I will take even less often than I usually do.... unless my company is paying for it, of course.
It might be interesting to see how company policies on reimbursement of taxi claims might change as it result of the change in prices.
lobo_respawned
(#6) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 03:31 PM
I will switch to buses and mrt to save money and i will cut down on travels.
goldmansion
(#7) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 03:50 PM
I totally empathise with my friend who drives a cab full time to support his family.He has two kids and his wife is not working.He works no less than 12 hours a day - sometimes even 14 hours - just to earn enough to support his family. This is our Golden Age where our citizens have to work no less than 12 hours to make ends meet.Sad hor.
heartlander88
(#8) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 04:37 PM
Raising the taxi fare is the only thing that TOA knows what to do. They certainly will not want to downward adjust their income, so up goes the prices.
I reckon when fare affordability becomes an issue, the taxi drivers will suffer. Not so much the consumer as those who must take cabs will still do so.
But again, this is Singapore, nothing new nor unexpected. I will simply have to reconsider buying a personal transport.
darkmax1
(#9) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 04:38 PM
When the taxi drivers complain about not earning enough, they raise the price of the fare. Why don't they just bring their rental down?!
darkmax1
(#10)December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 04:49 PM
Bring down the rentals.Let our cab drivers earn more.
(#11) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 05:09 PM
taking cab about 4-5 days a week is for me to have more time with my games. but i guess i'll have to cut down my time on playing games and take bus or trains instead.. sad but it shall become a good practice since the fares is gonna be much higher than affordable..
exodus82
(#12) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 05:40 PM
I choose (b)"Take fewer cab rides, cutting down as much as you can". If I need to take a cab, I will choose the cab company's whose fare has not risen yet.
One of the reason to increase cab fare is due to the fact that the price of crude oil is going to above US$100 soon. My question is, if the price of Oil comes down in future, will the taxi companies reduce the fare then ?.....
So is ComfortDelgro who provides bus services ALSO going to propose an increment in Bus fare when the next review comes up ?....
kalten98
(#13) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 07:03 PM
i am wondering why the options are so limited? why isn't there one that just says i have no problem with the increase? A bit biased right ST? I take cabs every day and I think it is good for those who can afford/don't mind paying so long as I can get a cab. So I choose d) Happy to pay as long as I can get a cab when I need it.
taxiuser
(#14) December 11, 2007 Tuesday, 11:25 PM
I say the some senior govt official should resign or at least get a pay-cut over the perenial taxi woes
ronintan
(#15) Yesterday, 12:51 AM
(#16) Yesterday, 01:20 AM
I do agree that fare should be increase but not at this rate at it is too steep or too high. This will further push up the inflation rate for 2008. I do agree that rental should be down as delgro is making more and more profit and having the CEO to suck up all the hard earn money from the driver. Why is it that when COE was down from the peak, the rental was not down???
ericngst
(#17) Yesterday, 11:10 AM
I'll take (b) Take fewer cab rides, cutting down as much as you can.
It's not as if we have any other alternatives when we are in a rush. Other times, I'll probably go for MRT/Buses.
I noticed many cab drivers enjoyed stepping hard on the acceleration pedal to get the speed, won't that suck up more oil?
DancingDuck
(#18) Yesterday, 11:21 AM
I choose c(i) because I have already implemented (b) for many, many years already. I do not own a car because I do not travel often enough to justify it. Private cars are the main cause of our traffic congestions (see the bottom part of this post http://www.findsingapore.net/forum/v...?p=92645#92645 ).
So it is against our national interests to own a private car until such time when the traffic congestions are reasonably resolved.
I was in UK a few years ago on tour with my wife. My wife suddenly noticed that we were going round in circles as she recognized the places and buildings we had already travelled past. We took out a map and realised that the taxi driver was driving us away from our hotel instead of towards it. When we asked the taxi driver why he was not taking us to the hotel, he turned aggressive and told us to get out of his taxi, if we were unhappy with him. We were in a foreign land with heavy luggage. When I asked him how long more before we could reach our hotel, he said soon. After that he sent us to our hotel and the meter had by then clocked up 25GBP. On our return trip to the tour agent's office with the taxi booked by the hotel staff, it cost us only 12.5GBP by meter. Of course at that time, we were fuming mad with the taxi driver and told ourselves that we must email the British tourism authority when we were home to lodge our complaint against the taxi driver. We had taken down the needed information for the
purpose. By the time, when we were on our way back to Singapore, I realize that it is not in our
national interests to help to improve the British taxi service. This is what many tourists would feel when they are fleeced by our taxi service.
The current number one problem in our taxi service is the call booking fees which, almost everyone knows, except perhaps for the decision-makers at ComfortDelgro, are primary causes of the strange disappearing and appearing phenomena of the taxis on our roads and yet after an 'in-depth review' of the taxi industry to address commuters' concernsâ€, ComfortDelgro has grudgingly reduced the peak call booking fee from $4.00 to $3.50. This would have been comical, if national interests are not involved. One could only wonder into what depth ComfortDelgro decision-makers have plunged themselves into. Of course, the depths of misery they have caused taxi commuters need no wondering.
Regarding the need to increase the taxi fare to help off-set the rising costs of the taxi drivers, the first and right thing to do is to publish full details of the average taxi driver’s current income and expenses. Many taxi commuters including me would support the taxi fare increase for such a purpose, if it is reasonable and fair, and compatible with the other sectors of our economy.
What has flabbergasted many taxi commuters is the blatant attempt to profiteer under the cover of the increased costs of taxi driving and on our traffic congestion problems.
From past experience we all know that the fare revamp by the ComfortDelgro would only cause a temporary drop in the demand for the taxis. Temporary because the revamp would also worsens traffic congestions and frustrations at the MRT stations and bus stops. With the expected increase in ERP, COEs, car and road taxes and other anti-congestion charges, many who were be driven like cattle to private cars would be driven back to the taxis. Those who were driven to the MRT and buses would also be driven back to the taxis by the sharply increase in frustrations at the MRT stations and bus stops. So with every of taxi fare increase, the costs of doing business and of living in Singapore are artificially raised.
This is not in our national interests. The taxi service is public transport which should be provided as a best service at the lowest cost possible.
preciousspring
(#20) Yesterday, 11:40 AM
reduce road tax and ERP for public transport
(#21) Yesterday, 12:25 PM
Today 12/12/07 - ST >> Online Forum >> Why not start a cab-sharing scheme? Actually, many weeks ago, I have already started to promote cab-sharing scheme which was included in my website ---> www.cabby.com.sg But the respond so far was not so good. I do not know the reasons……….
onecabby
(#22) Yesterday, 12:40 PM
Allow for HK-style mini-bus services to give commuters additional choice.
AmosQuito1
(#23) Yesterday, 01:34 PM
Can we ever say NO to such changes? Things are done high handedly here in the country, tough life ahead. No rights for us to say no, if we choose the bus or mrt, we need to pack with the crowds. For the less able like the elderly or the sickly, their pockets are burning bigger when they are the ones that need more help.
cruiseskoh
(#24) Yesterday, 01:54 PM
This is a cartel. One goes up, all goes up. Prices will never come down again. This is going to add up to the cost of doing business, as companies will now have to pay for higher cab fees that their staff uses. If cab problems in CBD still persists, are prices going to to be raised further? There are more ways to dealing with the issue that raising prices. We always compare cost of cab in S'pore to HK or London and say that price is cheaper, but in terms of workforce compensation, we will compare to China and India, and say cost of workforce in S'pore is higher, therefore we need to restrain workforce compensation. Only in S'pore you can have the best of both worlds.
creativesti07
(#25) Yesterday, 04:07 PM
I agree with heartlander88, that to increase the income of the taxi drivers, the first step is to reduce their rental. Talk to any driver, and they will tell you that it is about $100 per day for a normal taxi, multiply it by 365 days, and the taxi company will have covered their cost of the vehicle in THREE YEARS. It is profit for the companies from then on, yet they are not willing to lower it to say, $60 per day, to help their drivers.
WHY MUST THEY ALWAYS PASS OFF THE COST TO THE COMMUTERS???
It is common knowledge that Comfort, with near 70% of the fleet, is a near monopoly. The government should limit each company's fleet size to 10,000. This will then be truely an open market. Any company with more than 50% of the market is able to fix the price, so the anti competitive committee or CASE, should really look into this.
(remember Singtel's stake in Indonesia recently!!!)
I will from now on take less taxi trips, unless with my two young kids in tow, or it is raining, or rushing for time. So to the taxi drivers, sorry, you are going to earn less from me from monday onwards.
roypeter07
(#26) Yesterday, 10:44 PM
b) I am not a regular taxi user, but I will make greater effort to cut further the usage of taxi.If I am leaving for the airport with luggage I would then use a cab, if it is only hand carry I would now use the train system which is a very tedious ride.( previously even with hand carry I would get a cab)
Surcharges should be removed but I do support a fair price increase in the flag down rate.
Still dont understand why public transport need to pay ERP rates if any at all? Does this not contribute to the cost of travel? Does the goverment need to recover all their infrastructure cost (with interes)?
rufino1995
(#27) Today, 08:12 AM
Thinking out of the BOX for some suggestions.
Oil prices are skyrocketing to $100+ per barrel, cost are escalating & transferred down the chain, yet we do things as when oil was $36-40 per barrel. I am not sure why diesel engines must keep running wastefully even when the drivers take their break.
Why do Singapore make Taxis ply the streets so ineffectively like cruising empty and picking their fares by chance? Currently when I call for a taxi, they already know my address and location. Why not extend the idea further. Suggestion!
1. Introduce call on demand
2. Prevent empty cruise and wasteful use of resources
3. Run "mobile call on demand" without surcharge to encourage effective and efficient use of taxi.
After all savings is made from empty/wasteful cruising without passengers. Don't get "con" by drivers saying "on call" from Changi to Tuas as an excuse for not picking a fare.
4. No surcharge also applies for fares at official pick up points
5. Levy a nominal surcharge for ad hoc stops along roadsides or when inefficient usage is detected.
This would be akin to instances when you walk into a service center or any organization for that matter without an appointment; you are penalized and wait for the next available slot or pay more to see a senior consultant who is available. So why not for taxis? This can be seen as a luxury tax, as someone has to foot the bill while waiting for their services to be use. Or allow drivers to use their discretion in these instances.
6. As a result of the effective "call on demand service" it will be difficult to hail an empty taxi and
unnecessary empty cruising is curbed and taxis used more effectively saving on the wasteful use of diesel. Pass the savings to commuters or to the drivers instead of keep increasing fares and not plug the waste. Passengers too will not need to spend anxious moments "gambling" to catch a cab
7. Team up with mobile operators for special numbers or discounts. After all a hand phone as a result
becomes a "cannot leave home without it" business. Use GPS services with phone companies if we want to extend the idea/scheme further. Hand phone use was I believe 300% less, than when handphones were first introduced. (Can check with Mobile operators). So take advantage of technology.
8. Have a load factor report for taxis as with the airlines to monitor effectiveness.
This requires a mindset change of operators and drivers as well as traditional commuters and lots of discipline. But I think it will work in such a discipline society like Singapore. The idea need further fine tuning but this is just a suggestion off the cuff and to stir up further imagination for our Taxi woes. Otherwise we walk the same street again next year and the year after and see the same scenes and grumbles till it becomes a national past time and a tourism taxi talk ice breaker. Take a different "street"
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