Straits Times 25 March 2011 - Civil Servants To
Go Cashless For Cab Fares
Government set to save $100,000 a year when they are put on
ComfortDelGro's Cabcharge.
AN AGENCY tasked with creating economies of scale in the Government
has struck a money-saving deal with the largest taxi company
here.
Vital.org, previously known as the Centre for Shared Services, said
it aims to get officers from 40 government and government-linked
agencies to use Cabcharge, a cashless fare-payment scheme offered
by ComfortDelGro, when they take taxis for work-related trips.
Over the contract's four-year period, this is expected to save the
Government close to $400,000 in cab fares, or about $100,000 a
year.
The savings come from a discount on an administrative fee that
Comfort levies for Cabcharge payments.
Asked why public officers cannot simply use cash and thus save on
these administrative charges in the first place, Vital.org
explained that cash payments exact a cost too - in the form of
inconvenience and time spent making and processing transport
reimbursements.
It added that some taxi receipts are handwritten and illegible.
Mr Clarence Ti, chief executive officer at Vital.org, said:
'Officers who travel for work often have to pay first and make a
claim later. We now have an opportunity to reduce their burden of
being out of pocket for travel expenses.'
The card-based payment system also gives the Government another way
to review transport expenditure based on card records, he
added.
Cabcharge is also valid in Australia and Britain, which means
convenience for officers who travel to these countries for work as
well.
Last year, the 40 agencies spent about $3.6 million on taxi
fares.
The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is one of the first 16 government
bodies to have signed up to go cashless for cab fares.
Among the remaining 15 are the Singapore Tourism Board,
International Enterprise Singapore, the Attorney-General's Chambers
and the National Environment Agency.
Mr Tan Chee Sean, SAM's manager in charge of programmes for the
ongoing Singapore Biennale, hailed the convenience of the scheme:
'We recruit hundreds of volunteers for the Singapore Biennale.
Since December, these volunteers have made some 100 taxi
trips.'
The 16 agencies on the scheme have jointly chalked up 5,413 cab
trips worth $71,000 since December.
ComfortDelGro said Vital.org's deal is the single largest one it
has clinched so far.
Mr Yang Ban Seng, ComfortDelGro's taxi business chief executive,
said: 'We have about 2,500 Cabcharge customers here. They make
about 300,000 trips a month or a third of the total number of
cashless trips our drivers make.'
Other cashless payment modes include credit cards and Nets.
Vital.org, which serves more than 100 ministries, government
departments, organs of state and statutory boards, said it saved
the Government $9.5 million in travel expenses last year - out of a
total of $47.7 million that 95 public agencies spent on air
tickets.