The sight of a tailback of cabs queuing along Airport Boulevard,
sometimes stretching as long as a kilometre, may be a thing of the
past with the construction of a double-storey taxi deck at Changi
Airport. When completed in the second half of next year, the upper
deck of this structure will be a new holding area for taxi drivers
queuing to pick up passengers at Terminal 1 (T1), relocating them
away from the main traffic flow.
It can hold around 300 cabs, which is triple T1’s current taxi
holding capacity. Comparatively, Terminal 2 can accommodate 190
waiting taxis, while Terminal 3’s (T3’s) capacity is 250. Changi
Airport Group (CAG) said yesterday that this will “allow more taxis
to queue within a safer environment, away from heavy traffic
movements, minimising the risk of accidents and inconvenience” to
the motoring public.
The new open-air deck will be above the existing T3 taxi holding
area, and will feature a ramp to connect taxis to T1. Toilets will
be built on the deck for cabbies, and they will also be able to
access a nearby canteen at T3.
The taxi deck will cost $50 million to construct, and is also
expected to serve the upcoming Project Jewel, a complex with retail
outlets and airport services, which will be completed in 2018. It
will also enable more accurate tracking of the taxi count, and
allow taxi drivers to better gauge the demand at various terminals
through data displayed on information boards along Airport
Boulevard and through a mobile app.
Mr Ng Chew Song, CAG’s senior
vice-president of projects and contracts, said the current
tailback, which occurs during the wee hours of the morning, takes
up one lane of Airport Boulevard, which is “not ideal” for traffic
movement.
CAG assistant vice-president of corporate
and marketing communications Robin Goh said: “With Terminal 4 and
Project Jewel coming up, there will be increased activity… we will
have more taxi drivers with the increased demand.” National Taxi
Association vice-president Harry Ng said accidents, while rare, can
occur because motorists who are not aware of such a long queue on
the main road can hit the back of the taxis.
Cabby David Tang, 47, who goes to T1 two to three times daily to
pick up passengers, is looking forward to the holding area.
However, he had one small request. “Try to plant some trees on the
second deck. The weather is hot from 1pm to 2pm,” he said. -
