Going green's fine, but show us the money. Our compressed
natural gas (CNG) taxis are eating into our daily earnings.
That angry refrain came from a group of cabbies who are on a
four-year contract to drive Smart Group's Kia Carens taxis which
can run on CNG.
Their woes: In the past few months, not only were they in a fix
having to drive all the way to just two CNG filling stations, but
they were also hit by rising CNG prices.
The lure when they signed up was the promise of a $14,000 sum
upon completion of their contracts.
But breaking the contract carried a penalty equivalent to 90
days of rental, or nearly $9,000. It would be waived only if the
driver found a replacement to take over the lease.
Yesterday morning, 15 representatives of a group of more than 25
unhappy drivers went to Smart's headquarters in Tampines to meet
managing director Johnny Harjantho.
The group wanted the company to allow them to return their CNG
vehicles without any penalty, and to get back to driving
diesel-powered taxis.
Among the reasons they gave were the hike in CNG prices, the
lack of refuelling stations and long queues at the pumps.
There are only two CNG stations open to the taxi drivers: one in
the west, in Jalan Buroh; and the other in the north, in
Mandai.
The cabbies claimed that the Kia Carens' 2-litre engine does an
average of only 180km on a full tank of CNG. While the vehicles are
'bi-fuel' and can run on petrol like most CNG cars here, the
cabbies said it made no sense to switch to the more expensive
petrol mode.
They had to rush back to Smart's refuelling station at Mandai up
to four times daily when they ran low on CNG.
One cabby, Mr Willy Neo, 60, bemoaned the long queues in Mandai.
He said he sometimes queued up for as long as an hour.
'Spending so much time at the CNG stations just isn't
productive,' he said.
But the last straw was the continued earnings dip. Mr Thomas
Tay, 32, who has been driving for three months, said that driving
his CNG taxi for 16 hours a day gets him only $100 in net
earnings.
He used to earn $150 for the same amount of time spent driving a
diesel taxi.
'I should be earning more, not less, since CNG is supposed to be
cheaper,' he said.
Contacted by The Sunday Times, Mr Harjantho said the company was
also in a predicament.
But he had some good news: The company would give cash handouts
of $100 monthly over the next six months to drivers of the Kia
taxis.
He said Smart did not expect the rapid increase in CNG prices
and overwhelming demand for its gas at the Mandai station when it
began operations in February.
Smart's CNG drivers get a 12 per cent discount at the Mandai
station.
Showing documents and records, he said the cost of buying CNG
from the wholesaler had increased by 49 per cent. He added: 'There
is a price to pay for going green...We are all doing our part to
save the environment.'
It is understood the taxi drivers were unswayed.
'Everybody went green in order to save costs. It doesn't make
sense now,' said one.
Another deadpanned: 'I can't afford to save the environment when
I'm barely earning anything.'
Smart has a total of 800 taxis, of which 600 run on diesel and
200 on CNG. About 50 are Kia Carens CNG taxis.
Mr Harjantho said Smart had engaged its CNG kit installers to
look into mechanical tweaks to improve the fuel consumption of the
Kias.
He added that there were no complaints from drivers of other
makes of CNG vehicles which Smart operates.
Mr Harjantho also said that Smart is working to improve the
refuelling situation at its Mandai station. Two more pump operators
have been added on weekends, and Smart plans to double the number
of pumps from eight to 16 in the next two months.
A second station in Serangoon is expected to be completed in
February next year.
Mr Harjantho said: 'We've come a long way with CNG. It's a shame
to undo all the hard work that we've all put in.'
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