Singapore's four main taxi operators have all scored an F for
safety.
The fail mark is from the first report card on taxi service
standards prepared by the Land Transport Authority.
The cabs were graded over a 7-month period from September last year
to March.
Road accidents involving taxis have made the news time and again
but none was more spectacular that the CityCab that ended up at the
bottom of a condominium pool in January.
For taxi operators - all this adds up to a big F for safety.
All of Singapore's four big players - Comfort, CityCab, SMRT,
Yellow-Top Cabs - have exceeded the allowed accident rate of 2
crashes per 10 million kilometres, set by the Land Transport
Authority.
Getting cabs for callers was another area of the report card with
plenty of red.
The worst performer was SMRT Taxis, formerly known as TIBS
Taxis, which failed to meet the 90 percent target in 5 out of 7
months.
The penalties for failing to meet the service standards are high -
a fine of up to $100,000 for each failure.
But the LTA has given the cab companies up to end-August to buck
up.
Taxi drivers admit there may be some bad apples but they claim the
high accident rate is because they are on the road much
longer.
"On the average, drivers for taxis drive 10 hrs on the road -
ordinary drivers just drive 1-2 hours a day drive to home and work
that's all and they drive the same route everyday," said one taxi
driver.
"Sometimes it's due to lack of sleep, tired, all these unnecessary
things can lead to accidents," said another.
Despite the improvements, passengers had one main bugbear - and
that was not getting a cab, despite booking, during rainy weather
and at peak periods like weekends.
One commuter said: "Probably during rainy days it's a bit
difficult, even if call you can't get one."
"Raining everyone rushing for cabs at the same time peak hours
people working 8-9 all same time how to service them all?" said one
taxi-driver.
"Rainy weather everyone wants to take a cab. I had an incident -
once from here I took a lady she wanted to go to Revenue House
across the road," said another.
Meanwhile, the three new kids on the block - Smart Automobile,
Trans-Cab and Premier Taxis - are also being graded.
Their report card will be out later. - CNA
What is happening to Tibs Taxis? Once, they got an award for the
safety standards and now...they scored worst?SOMETHING must be
going wrong behind the scenes.
Also, what will happen if the taxis failed to meet the 90 percent
target in 5 out of 7 months?
