Basket.

I haven't posted for that long?

Well, anyway.

Taxi Fares to rise up to 49%

COME next Monday, prepare to fork out as much as 49 per cent more for a cab ride, now that ComfortDelgro, Singapore's biggest player, has unveiled its 'overhaul' of the current taxi fare structure.

This follows what it says was an 'in-depth review' of the taxi industry to address commuters' concerns, simplify the fare structure and encourage call bookings 'to better match the demand and supply of taxis'.

City Area Surcharge - Up

First, to incentivise more cabbies to ply the Central Business District during peak hours, the city area surcharge, which is now $1, will be raised to $3 between 5pm and midnight from Mondays to Saturdays.

The lack of taxis in the city at the end of office hours on weekday evenings is a frequent complaint from passengers, the company noted.

For drivers who are afraid of paying Electronic Road Pricing charges to enter the city and risk not getting a passenger, ComfortDelgro says it will even pay an 'ERP rebate' to cabbies who cannot land a passenger within 15 minutes of entering an ERP zone.

Late Night Surcharge - Up

The late night surcharge between 12am and 5:59am daily will be revised back to 50 per cent of the metred fare - instead of the staggered 10 to 50 per cent surcharges now in effect.

Will this revive the old problem of 'disappearing taxis' between 11pm to midnight? The company says no, 'given that the City Area Surcharge will be in force right till midnight, giving little reason for taxi drivers in the city to 'hide'.'

Peak Period Surcharge - Up

Instead of the standard $2 peak period surcharge now in effect between 7am and 9.30am on weekdays and 5pm to 8pm from Mondays to Saturdays, passengers will have to pay an added 35 per cent of their metered fare during those hours.

A detailed breakdown of this extra 'premium fare' will be shown on each receipt 'to ensure transparency', the company says.

Flag down, distance rate, waiting time - Up

As hinted earlier, the flag down fare will be raised by 30 cents from $2.50 to $2.80 for the first kilometre.

But the distance rate and waiting time will also be adjusted to 'more accurately reflect the cost of travel', it added. So instead of upping fares by 10 cents for each set distance or waiitng time, this will soon go up by 20 cents each time.

Specifically, every 385 metres for the second to 10th kilometres, and every 330 metres above 10 kilometres.

The waiting time will also be raised from the current 10 cents for every 25 seconds to 20 cents for every 45 seconds.

Call Booking Fee - Down

Bucking the trend of the increases, call booking fees will be cut from $4 to $3.50 during prime time hours, which are 7am to 9.30am and 5pm to 11pm on weekdays.

It stays at $2.50 for all other times.

10 to 49 per cent more in overall fares

Under the new pricing structure, ComfortDelgro says, the bulk of its passengers who travel during off-peak hours will pay 10 per cent more in fares.

All other passengers will be expected to pay between 18 per cent and 49 per cent more.

The biggest jump in fares will affect those who take cabs out of the city from Mondays to Thursdays, between 8pm and midnight. Instead of $7.65 currently for an average 9km trip, they'll have to fork out $11.40.

With all these changes factored in, ComfortDelgro explained, peak-hour cab fares in Singapore are about the same as Hong Kong's but still only half that of Sydney's.

Local fares are also only about a quarter of London's.

'Better match supply and demand'

Refering specifically to the current difficulty of getting cabs in the city during peak hours, ComfortDelgro's CEO (Taxi Business), Mr Yang Ban Seng, said: 'We think this fare revamp will better match supply and demand of taxis. Our aim is to try and ensure that more taxis will go to areas where they are needed most and at the times they are wanted most.'

Mr Nah Tua Bah, president of the Comfort Taxi Operators' Association, added: "The higher city area surcharge will act an an incentive for drivers to make that trip back into town."

Welcoming the increases, a joint statement by six taxi operators' associations called the latest fare adjustments 'fair and timely'.

The associations said cab fares should 'reflect the operating cost of the taxi business' and that the primary consideration should be the 'income stability' of drivers.

The group urged other taxi companies to follow ComfortDelgro's lead and also adjust their fares 'as soon as possible'.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yet another "fare adjustment", which is going to drive up the already ridiculous cost-of-living even higher. Let us have a look at the excuses being made this time around, and see why this particular increase is entirely unjustified.

1) ...'to better match the demand and supply of taxis'.

First off, this statement is so incredibly vague, and not very well-explained in the article, that it is never clear how higher prices are going to help anything but taxi companies to raise their profits. What do you mean by better "match[ing] the demand and supply of taxis"? If you raise fares in order to do this, it would stand to reason that you are working on the assumption that only the relatively well-off take taxis. But that is an assumption that is wholly invalid, as you shall see.

2) ...'more accurately reflect the cost of travel'.

Meaning? Give us statements that actually justify your scalping ways, not vague rationalisations of your greed, please.

3) Taxis are meant to be a premium service, not public transport.

This particular argument is one that makes sense on first glance. Look a little deeper and you'll find it's all bull. Sure, taxis are a premium service in the wonderful cities Singapore loves to compare itself with (London, Sydney, as seen in the article), but what is not mentioned is that the cost of private transport, i.e. buying your own car, in neither of those cities is as high as it is in Singapore. Thus, people have alternatives and taxis can indeed be seen as a luxury good. In Singapore, on the other hand, owning a car is extremely expensive: COE, ERP charges, petrol, the very cost of the vehicle itself. Thus many households do not own any at all, because they cannot afford it. When they run into emergency situations that might require quick and convenient transport from one place to another, the can only rely on taxis - because how many public buses have you seen are disabled-friendly? If for instance they need to take a feeble or disabled family member to the hospital, taxis are the only viable means of transport. And now fares are going up? "Better match demand to supply"? Don't fucking bullshit me, it's a "let them eat cake" attitude we're seeing here.

So, taxi companies, how does it feel to heartlessly get rich off the backs of the less fortunate?

4) This is for the welfare of the taxi drivers.

This is also a shitty argument, because, guess what, ComfortDelgro does not pay its drivers a fixed salary of any kind. Now, you would think that if they really had the welfare of their employees at heart, that they would consider doing something like that, because taxi drivers do have quite a miserable lot - driving around all day without guarantees of fixed earnings, having to put up with rude/uncouth/unreasonable/outright dangerous passengers and still having to pay a fixed rent every month at the end of it all. If ComfortDelgro was genuinely sincere about the "income stability" of its drivers, it would pay them at least a basic salary every month to help them along. But no, making money is more important than employee welfare, it seems.

Additionally, Comfort has argued that higher midnight surcharges will not make taxis more liable to hide until midnight, given that "the City Area Surcharge will be in force right till midnight, giving little reason for taxi drivers in the city to 'hide'." That's another crap argument, because now midnight surcharges are so incredibly lucrative, taxi drivers will still make considerably more by hiding. You would think the answer would be to make it less lucrative instead, but no, ComfortDelgro seems to make all its decisions based upon which alternative nets it more cash. The next step is going to be putting up taxi rentals, you'll see.

And thus we can see that there has been no adequate justification at all for this series of price hikes. Trying to make taxis a premium service in Singapore is not feasible in the least. It's public transport, and public transport prices must be kept low - unless you offer more decent alternatives to getting around, which would mean bringing down the cost of private transport. If both are expensive, are Singaporeans being encouraged to utilise natural locomotion to get themselves from place to place instead?

All ComfortDelgro wants is money. Well, I'm personally not going to give them that satisfaction. I'm never taking a taxi ever again in Singapore. If I'm caught out after midnight, I'll much rather walk home. It's a matter of principle.