SMRT fined $7,851 for lapse in cab service

For two months, taxi operator SMRT failed to answer at least 90 per cent of the calls to its taxi dispatch system during evening peak hours (5pm to 8pm) and off-peak hours (8pm to 11pm), a Straits Times report said on Tuesday.

For not meeting the audit targets set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in January and February, it was fined $7,851.

The monthly audit of service levels looks at three areas: ease of getting a cab over the phone; safety as reflected by the accident rate; and the number of customer complaints.

According to the report, LTA has set a minimum standard for them and taxi operators are given a fine if they fail to make the grade for two months in a row.

The report said this is not the first time that SMRT, Singapore's third-largest taxi operator with about 3,000 taxis, has been fined for failing to meet service standards. Last year, SMRT was fined about $70,000 under the same audi, the report said.

But SMRT said there was a reason for failing to meet those targets.

SMRT's acting deputy director for customer relations Eunice Lui told the paper: "We did not meet the call answer rate for January and February 2011 because of some system glitches which have since been rectified."

She added that the company passed every category of the audit from March to July.

Four other fail to make the grade

Four other operators did not make the grade, with some performing worse than SMRT, the report said.

Smart, got a fail grade on 37 occasions.

The operator with 730 taxis failed to match at least 70 per cent of phone bookings with taxis.

For at least 90 per cent of the time, it also failed to confirm a taxi within five minutes of the call.

Passengers who called in were kept waiting for confirmation for more than 10 minutes for at least 65 per cent of the time.

The company also had a driver offence rate of 0.02 or more accidents per 100,000km.

Prime Taxi had 12 fail grades. It failed to meet standards for matching calls with taxis, minimising waiting time for taxi confirmation; and keeping drivers' conduct in check.

Comfort and CityCab, both operated by ComfortDelGro, had four fail grades for not matching at least 90 per cent of the calls with taxis in January and February.

Premier received a fail grade and Trans-Cab, two. They will not be fined.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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