Singapore
Airshow organisers yesterday moved to solve a cab crisis which had
left visitors waiting over an hour for a ride home on Tuesday.
Some at the
Changi Exhibition Centre event had to wait up to 21/2 hours due to
the high demand.
Experia
Events said it had alleviated the situation by increasing the
frequency of shuttle bus services and working with the Land
Transport Authority to encourage more taxis to ply the trade
show.
By 5pm
yesterday, the waiting time for a cab was around 30 minutes while
ushers directed those who did not wish to wait to shuttle buses
connecting to Singapore Expo, where more transportation options
such as buses and the MRT were available.
An hour
later, the waiting time had been reduced to around 10 minutes, and
by 6.30pm there were no queues for taxis or shuttle buses.
The measures
will be in place this weekend when the event opens to the
public.
Organisers
attributed Tuesday's long waiting times to the high demand during
peak periods and an almost 10 per cent increase in visitors from
the 2014 show.
On-call
taxis, as well as services like Uber and Grab, were blocked by
Experia to avoid the traffic congestion that occurred in previous
years.
Mr Max
Smetannikov, chief executive officer of a public relations firm,
waited less than 15 minutes for a cab yesterday.
On Tuesday,
he had waited more than a hour before giving up and taking a
shuttle bus instead.
"There were
no cabs then," he said .
Mr Tisanut
Ratanarat, chief executive officer of an aviation firm, said
Tuesday's queue was the worst he had seen in several years of
attending the air show but added that the situation had "improved
tremendously" yesterday.
Some
visitors, however, felt that more could be done.
Ms Shireen
Lim, a programme manager in a technology company, said that the $10
surcharge for taxis from the venue was "exorbitant".
The
39-year-old also urged organisers to allow visitors to ride
bicycles and other personal mobility devices to the venue.
"I live
nearby, I should be able to cycle in if I want to," said Ms
Lim.
