LIMOUSINE taxi services are getting more popular, going by the
number of Mercedes-Benz taxis expected to hit the road.
Market leader ComfortDelGro, which already has about 620 Merc cabs,
will buy up to 200 more this year.
Trans-Cab, operated by bottled gas supplier Union Energy, will get
it maiden fleet of 100 Merc taxi in June.
We are expanding our limo fleet by another 100 units over the next
three months, and possibly up to another 100 more before the year
end, said ComfortDelGro chief executive Yang Ban Seng.
By then, we will have 800-plus limo cabs. This is to gear
ourselves up for the opening of the new Terminal 3 at Changi
Airport, and, in time to come, the integrated resorts, he said.
The new terminal is due to open next year.
The other three cab operators all have Merc cabs. SMRT has 212,
Smart Automobile, 101 and Premier Taxis, 50.
In all, there are close to 1,000 Merc cabs on the road here up
from a mere 30 in late 1996, bought by ComfortDelGros CityCab.
This has pushed the percentage of Merc taxis from less than 0.2
percent in 1996 to 4.3 percent today By the end of the year, their
cohort could swell to 5.4 percent of Singapores total taxi fleet
of 24,000 or so.
A ride in a Merc costs 30 cents more when you flag one down the
road. If you call for one, the booking fee is $8 for a current
booking and $16 for an advance one. With ordinary Japanese cabs,
the fee is $4 for a current booking during peak hours and $5.20 for
an advance one.
The daily rental to drivers is $126, versus $94 for a new Toyota
taxi. Yet ComfortDelGro says demand from drivers s high. Cabby
Tommy Ong, 53, has been driving a taxi for more than nine years,
seven of them in a Merc.
Besides being quieter and more comfortable, the 2.2 litre
Mercedes turbodiesel cab consumes less diesel than a 3.0-litre
Toyota Crown. It also helps me get more clients, he added.
Mr Ong does not want to reveal how much he makes, but he said is
quite comfortable
Ms Angie Soh, 50, an administrative executive at a physiotherapy
clinic, said she calls for limo cabs when she has patients who need
extra help. They provide better service, she said.
*Text taken from the Home section
in today's Straits Times
