Wednesday July 5, 8:17
AM
SMRT Taxi,
Premier Taxi plan to revise fares
A day after ComfortDelgro said it would increase taxi fares due to
the spike in fuel prices, two other operators confirmed they would
do the same.
SMRT Taxi and Premier Taxi announced this on Tuesday.
SMRT Taxi and Premier Taxi, which operates the Silver Cabs, are
likely to revise their fares on July 17, two weeks after notifying
the Public Transport Council of their plans.
But when contacted, both companies said details would only be
revealed later.
Under the PTC ruling, a taxi operator has to inform the public of
its fare adjustment a week before implementation.
ComfortDelgro, which operates 15,600 taxis, has said that from July
10, it will increase the flag-down fare for its Comfort, CityCab
and Yellow-Top taxis by 10 cents.
For the Mercedes taxis, the flag-down fare will rise by 20 cents to
$2.80.
ComfortDelgro will also double the peak hour surcharge from July
10.
It is also adjusting its distance-related fare structure, which
means commuters will be clocking a shorter distance for every 10
cents metered.
So will SMRT, which owns 2,677 cabs, and Premier Taxis, which
operates 1,295 cabs, do likewise?
Dr Paul Barter, from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at
the NUS, said: "They'll probably more or less match. Where they may
differ, and they may try to differentiate themselves, is on some of
the other details, the timing of peak periods, especially when it
comes to booking, because then people can make an active decision
about which company they will choose."
Dr Barter added that in a competitive taxi industry, most of the
cab companies are expected to be operating efficiently and they do
not have many options when it comes to cost cutting.
So they turn to fare adjustments to defray operating cost.
There is one other way to keep cost down but that would require
some policy changes.
Dr Paul Barter said: "There may be a public policy case that could
be made - that taxis are a special type of car and they should not
be necessarily lumped in with the Category A cars as they currently
are for the purpose of taxes like additional registration fee or
here in Singapore, we have the vehicle quota which means people
have to buy an extra certificate of entitlement."
For SMART Cab, it says it will observe market reaction and consult
its drivers.
But it is likely to follow suit.
The other player, Trans-Cab, did not respond to Channel NewsAsia's
queries.
Trans-Cab operates 1,642 taxis while SMART Cab has 655 taxis. -
CNA/ir
