From next Monday, commuters who make bookings for
Comfort and CityCab taxis may choose to pay a flat fare on these
rides, ComfortDelGro announced on Monday (April 3).
The operator, in charge of about 60 per cent of
the taxi fleet here, added that it is still considering whether to
provide dynamic pricing — as other taxi companies have done since
last month — saying that it was “important to ensure that our
street-hail customers are still being served”.
The new flat-fare option, which must be made through
the ComfortDelGro mobile application, takes into account the
distance to be travelled and computes a fare based on existing
surcharges. Once a commuter chooses this option, there will be no
extra surcharges unless he or she changes the destination point or
makes unplanned stops along the way. Travel delays due to traffic
jams would not add to the fare, unlike the metered-fare option,
ComfortDelGro said.
Commuters who still want to use the metered-fare option
may continue to do so depending on their preference.
The flat-fare option will not be available for street
hail, advanced booking and premium taxi services, the operator
said.
As for its taxi drivers, ComfortDelGro said it would be
waiving call-booking levies for them, to encourage them to take on
flat-fare bookings. Those with the most number of flat-fare
bookings fulfilled will also be rewarded.
Last month, the Public Transport Council and Land
Transport Authority gave approval to taxi operators to roll out
dynamic pricing — or surge pricing — for trips booked through
mobile apps.
Collaborating with ride-hailing app Grab, taxi
companies SMRT Taxis, Prime Taxi, Premier Taxis, Trans-Cab and HDT
Singapore Taxi took up this option.
ComfortDelGro said in its statement yesterday: “Dynamic
pricing, which essentially allows for fares to fluctuate with
commuter demand, is something the company is still exploring. It is
important to allow time for our drivers to get used to flat fares
and for the company to monitor our fare pricing competitiveness in
the market. It is also important to ensure that our street-hail
customers are still being served.”
Commenting on this latest move by ComfortDelGro,
transport expert Park Byung Joon from the Singapore University of
Social Sciences said that this flat-fare option by the operator
would provide a competitive edge against other services offered by
Grab and Uber, by continuing to appeal to commuters who are
flagging taxis on the streets.
“This is the oldest strategy, which is to offer
something cheaper,” he said.
However, the moment they choose to go into dynamic
pricing, this could mean the end of the metered fares, given that
ComfortDelgro occupies a “dominant” position, he added. This could
ultimately lead to a price war among the various operators, or
force the operators to come up with more creative ways to capture
the market share, such as by coming up with a loyalty programme,
for instance.
Economist Walter Theseira from the same university said
that the market impact would ultimately depend on commuters’
preferences.
His view is that they are more likely to choose
private-hire companies because of their aggressive discounting
strategies, rather than flat fares from taxi firms.
Given that private-hire companies such as Uber and Grab
have “years of experience” in adopting dynamic pricing compared
with taxi companies, it is understandable that operators such as
ComfortDelGro is taking its time to develop the right formula for
dynamic pricing.
“Pricing is a difficult problem since the system must
balance supply and demand, while bearing in mind that both drivers
and commuters dislike volatility,” Dr Theseira said.
todayonline
来来来，大家一起玩
So long msg for wat. Flag rates mean cheaper fares to rider
translate to lower income for td. Where is the rental reduction?
Time to throw key.
