ComfortDelGro to increase
taxi fares
Straits Times, The
(Singapore)
December 5, 2007
Prime News, Pg 1
IT IS official. Taxi fares are going up.
Taxi giant ComfortDelGro Corp has notified the Public Transport
Council (PTC) about an imminent fare increase. The PTC could not
say more.
Commuters can expect to pay more from as
early as the week before Christmas, as taxi operators have
to inform the council at least two weeks before any fare
changes.
For its part, ComfortDelGro again declined to comment, as it has
for several weeks since speculation about a hike first
started.
Sources, however, said the adjustment will include a 30-cent rise
in flag-down rate. This would bring the minimum starting fare to
$2.80. For newer cabs which meet the stringent Euro IV emission
standard, the flag-down will go from $2.70 to $3.
Currently, ComfortDelGro has about 2,000 of such cabs in its
fleet.
Commuters can expect changes to the
distance and time-based charges too. Surcharges are also expected
to be streamlined.
There is speculation that the operator might help cabbies defray
electronic road- pricing charges to encourage them to enter the
Central Business District - where demand for cabs is high.
The signs of a fare hike had been there for some time as cabbies
and their associations have been lobbying for it for several months
now, arguing the increase in diesel price and the goods and
services tax have eroded drivers' income substantially.
The plight of cabbies is not lost on commuters. Said merchandiser
Ivy Ong, 41, who takes cabs regularly: 'Will this fare adjustment
be helping the taxi-drivers? If their taxi rental goes up, I don't
think it would.'
Citigroup Singapore strategist Lim Jit Soon does not think
ComfortDelGro would raise rental this time round as it wants to
retain as many drivers as possible 'in this buoyant market'.
'What it means is that it might gradually remove some subsidies,'
he said.
For instance, ComfortDelGro is still selling diesel to cabbies at
94 cents a litre, 36 cents cheaper than diesel dispensed at
stations run by oil companies.
