This story was first published in
The Straits Times on Oct 26, 2013
There are
some 30 types of cabs in Singapore, in at least eight different
colours, across seven brands.
If that is
not enough to make commuters dizzy, there are close to 10 different
flagdown fares, three different metered fare structures, more than
10 different types of surcharges, and eight types of phone booking
charges.
Mix and
match each of these types of charges to the various types of taxis
and you will get combinations that rival the Rubik's Cube in
complexity.
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Marketing professional
and regular taxi customer Lau Sau Kuen probably echoed the
sentiment of other commuters when she said: "It's terrible we have
so many types of cabs and so many different rates. I don't know the
rates any more. Just as I don't know the different surcharges any
more. I'm resigned to paying whatever the cabby tells me to at the
end of a ride."
And if
locals like Ms Lau find it confusing, what chance do visitors
have?
It does not
help one bit that operators are now allowed to adjust fares at
will. So, even if you managed to memorise the dizzying permutations
of fares, you would need to be eagle-eyed to spot the perpetual
changes.
How did
Singapore come to this state?
Well, it
started in 1998, when taxi fares were deregulated. The Land
Transport Authority said then that the move was to allow taxi
companies "to set fare structures based on their assessments of
prevailing market conditions".
If that
argument is sound, why don't we allow bus and train operators to do
likewise?
Why are
there two fundamentally different policies for taxis and other
forms of public transport? This approach does not stand up to
scrutiny - unless taxis are not viewed as public transport in the
first place.
Here, the
authorities are rather inconsistent. Taxis are considered public
transport when it comes to the tallying of public transport
ridership numbers. Operators are given special dispensation when it
comes to Certificate of Entitlement bidding, and granted bigger tax
rebates than private car buyers are if they choose environmentally
friendlier models.
But
elsewhere, they are deemed private transport. Operators enjoy a
laissez-faire environment no different from that of car rental
companies (in fact, they operate like car rental companies), free
to set whatever rates they choose.
This became
more apparent when the Government liberalised the industry in 2002,
a move that saw several new players entering the fray. The move
resulted in a more competitive market that proved beneficial to
cabbies in terms of more employment choices and attractive terms,
but left a question mark over service standards - despite an almost
50 per cent surge in cab population from 2002 to last
year.
With about
28,000 taxis on the road, Singapore has a higher cab-to-resident
ratio than most developed cities.
Despite
that, frequent complaints of "can't get a cab when you need one"
recur. To be fair, it would be tough to get a cab anywhere in the
world sometimes, such as on Saturday nights and rainy
days.
But macro
figures suggest that taxi usage here is less than optimal. Hong
Kong's 18,000 taxis make about one million trips per day.
Singapore's 28,000 cabs do slightly under a million
trips.
On fares,
Hong Kong also seems to have a more efficient system. Its cab fares
are government-regulated. The market is tightly controlled too,
with no new taxi licence issued since 1994. Taxis are instantly
recognisable, with three basic colour schemes (red being the most
prevalent).
The fare
structure is a lot less complex. The flagdown rate is a uniform
HK$20 (S$3.20), with every 200m or one minute of waiting time
charged at HK$1.50. Surcharges are few and low. For instance, phone
booking is HK$5 (S$0.80), but many taxi operators will waive
this.
A 10km cab
ride in Hong Kong costs slightly more than a ride in a normal taxi
in Singapore without surcharges and booking. But with surcharges or
booking, the ride here costs more - with one in a newer or fancier
cab being even more expensive.
Costs
aside, commuters in Hong Kong seem better served than those in
Singapore, as many visitors will attest.
In
Singapore, the Government recently put in place new measures to
force taxi operators to improve service levels, especially in taxi
availability, for example by imposing a minimum mileage a
day.
Whether
that will work remains to be seen, but at least one taxi company -
Premier - is reacting in a somewhat perverse way to regulations. It
has jacked up its peak-hour booking charge to $4.50, compared with
$3.30 charged by most others.
It did so
ostensibly to manage demand. With fewer people dialling for its
cabs because of the revised charges, observers said Premier will be
better able to meet the Land Transport Authority's (LTA)
requirement for taxi operators to dispatch cabs to at least 92per
cent of the people who call in.
As for the
mind-boggling fare structure that vexes commuters, the LTA says
that companies are required to publish fare changes.
Publishing
fares is of no help when there are so many rates to remember. And
because of the exigent nature of transport, consumers are less in a
position to pick and choose taxis even if they recall rates -
unlike the situation they face when shopping for groceries or going
for a haircut.
Is it then
time for the Government to re-regulate fares and the
industry?
Indeed, it
must. If it considers taxis as public transport.
[email protected]
This story was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 26,
2013
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