Discussion Forum

As a "tan-jiak" (occupational) taxi driver, let me offer my two cents worth:-

Our taxi-population ratio is one of the highest in the world as correctly indicated in the TA Report (http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/lta/media/20120727_Factsheet_ImprovingTaxiAvailability.pdf). 

However, I disagree that mileage is the best indicator to measure our taxis' availability. Quite a number of taxi drivers I know are not occupational drivers. They use the taxi as their means of private transport more than to provide public transport. Some run their own business like real estate agents, insurance agents, courier services, etc..Hence, they have dual use for the taxi (1) as a mode of private transport and (b) as a source of income. So for this category of taxis, mileage were clocked but they don't translate to these taxis being available for hire.

In my opinion, the taxi availability crunch is only at certain hours of the day or when there are certain activities/holidays/etc... Other than these peak-periods, you'd see loads empty taxis everywhere.... Thus, passengers' demand patterns for taxis can be deemed as quite predictable and this give rise to the many reasons why taxi availability is affected.

Factors leading to taxi availability crunch during "peak-periods" are a combination of the following:-

1)  The non "tan-jiak" drivers not available for hire because they are busy picking up family members or running errands.

2)  Drivers changing shifts. Their shift timings clashes with high-demand timings, Their shift changing locations further estricts their availability.

3)  Many commuters stay far away from their work places that requires long travelling time (not to mention traffic jams during "peak-hours". This means when a taxi is hired, it will take a longer time before it becomes available again. And during peak hours, the demand is from the city. Housing estates don't offer much commuters

4)  To a certain extent, a taxi driver's window of opportunity for business is very limited. Thus, taxi drivers that "work smart" will become picky during that window of opportunity. They will try to make as many trips as possible before the crowd simmers down. Once that window of opportunity is missed, taxi drivers really have to slog to bag in enough earnings to cover his expenses as there are very little passengers on the streets to pick up and they have to compete with other taxi drivers teeth and nail for them. So for these "smart" drivers, they will reject long trips because a long trip may only earn him $30 but his outlay is half hour (if no jam) to destintion and another half hour back to the city. Within that hour, he could take 4 to 6 short trips of $10 each. These "smart" drivers won't take calls becuase they don't want to get out of that short trip momentum. So, these profile of drivers can be very easy to identify. But to mitigate and encourage drivers to take long trips during peak hours is challenging.

5)  Many taxi drivers are reluctant to pay ERP charges to get into the *****D when their taxi is empty because, they run a risk of not being able to get a passenger to recover the *****D surcharge. So even if a passenger make a current booking for the taxi, only available taxis inside the *****D will respond. The position of ERP gantries also affect the availablity of taxis. For buildings where drivers have to exit and re-enter the *****D or where drivers have to incur additional *****D even when they are already within the *****D (like the gantry at MBS and Dhoby Ghaut.Exempt taxis from ERP and it will encourage taxis to get into the *****D.

6)  Many commuters on the other hand are reluctant to pay the $3.00 *****D surcharge. They rather get outside the *****D to hail a taxi to avoid paying the *****D surcharge. So this is where there's a mis-match. Driver have to pay ERP to get into the *****D only to find that commuters have gone outside to wait for taxis. Drivers then scout for deals from the outside the *****D going into the *****D. Those "smart" commuters trying to cheat the system whom not going into the city will find themselves out of the bargain. And these are the commuters that are more likely to cry foul.

7)  There is no "Alert System" to prompt empty taxis on where are the areas that have high demand at that moment. Hence, you will find (for example) a long line of empty taxis at Centre Point with little passengers but long line of passengers at Takashimaya with no taxis when these 2 locations are just a stones throw apart.

8)  Limitations of taxi stands is also another reason why certain taxi stands have long lines of passengers but no taxis. For example, A taxi stand with long line of passengers in the queue but the taxi stand only permit 2 taxis in the bay. Another example is the accessiblity of the taxi stand. Places like Vivo City, Takashimaya, Tiong Bahru Plaza, etc are not favourite places for empty taxis to go to... the enroute traffic is a big turn-off.  Also, taxi stands at Far East Plaza, Shaw Centre, Ion are also not favourites among taxi drivers because there's no *****D surcharge. They are outside the *****D but within such close proximity to it that gives no incentive for drivers to go there.

Great job on the COE front by taking taxi companies out of the Cat A arena. However it doesn t make that much of a difference when eventually Cat A quota is reduced when taxi companies are taken out.

What I would like to suggest, to improve car ownership for people who need to use a car, while reducing the car population at the same time, is to reduce Cat B and open Cat quotas and give it to Cat A.

If you think about it there s no reason why cat B and open cat only have a premium of 20k compared to cat A. It should easily be double. Reason is cat B and open cat combined provide a high number of COEs for the luxury segment.

What should be done is to cut the quota for Cat B and open Cat, and give to Cat A. Cat A comprises largely bread and butter cars and the owners (hopefully) use it for more essential purposes. So what should be done is to try to bring down the prices for Cat A whereas allowing prices for Cat B and open Cat to appreciate more, because the people who buy in this cat can afford it.

When massive usage of taxis that have been used for other kinds of work instead of taxi driving to ferry passengers, like real estate agents, insurance agents, courier services, etc, and even rent it for personal usage, we can arrive at a no-brainer conclusion that the whole taxi licence program has been abused...for many years. And flooding the market with a lot of taxis does not solve the problem either. This only benefits the taxi operators with high profits, while those who are really making a living from taxi driving or "tan-jiak" taxi driver would be having a harder time. With all kinds of incentives at hand, still do not even solve the problem at all. And to make matters worst, the ERP only worsen the situation. It's ironical that privatisation really lead to win-win situation, and until now what we see is

taxi operators win (with fat profits) - taxi drivers lose (as the market is continually flooded with more taxis) - passengers lose (even though they are paying higher charges)