Complex cab fares enough to drive you crazy

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There are some 30 types of cabs in Singapore, in at least eight different colours, across seven brands.

If that is not enough to make commuters dizzy, there are:

• close to 10 different flagdown fares, 
• three different metered fare structures, 
• more than 10 different types of surcharges, and
• eight types of phone booking charges

It does not help one bit that operators are now allowed to adjust fares at will. So, even if you managed to memorise the dizzying permutations of fares, you would need to be eagle-eyed to spot the perpetual changes.

How did Singapore come to this state?

Well, it started in 1998, when taxi fares were deregulated. The Land Transport Authority said then that the move was to allow taxi companies “to set fare structures based on their assessments of prevailing market conditions”.

Why are there two fundamentally different policies for taxis and other forms of public transport?

Here, the authorities are rather inconsistent. Taxis are considered public transport when it comes to the tallying of public transport ridership numbers. Operators are given special dispensation when it comes to Certificate of Entitlement bidding, and granted bigger tax rebates than private car buyers are if they choose environmentally friendlier models.

But elsewhere, they are deemed private transport. Operators enjoy a laissez-faire environment no different from that of car rental companies (in fact, they operate like car rental companies), free to set whatever rates they choose.

This became more apparent when the Government liberalised the industry in 2002, a move that saw several new players entering the fray. The move resulted in a more competitive market that proved beneficial to cabbies in terms of more employment choices and attractive terms, but left a question mark over service standards.

The Government recently put in place new measures to force taxi operators to improve service levels by imposing a minimum mileage a day. Whether that will work remains to be seen.

At least one taxi company – Premier – is reacting in a somewhat perverse way to regulations. It has jacked up its peak-hour booking charge to $4.50, compared with $3.30 charged by most others.

LTA says that companies are required to publish fare changes, but this is of no help when there are so many rates to remember.

Costs aside, commuters are not well-served in Singapore, as many visitors will attest.

There has been an almost 50 per cent surge in cab population from 2002 to last year. However, despite having about 28,000 taxis on the road, a higher cab-to-resident ratio than most developed cities, frequent complaints of “can’t get a cab when you need one” still recur.

• Hong Kong’s 18,000 taxis make about one million trips per day. Singapore’s 28,000 cabs do slightly under a million trips.
• On fares, Hong Kong also seems to have a more efficient system. Its cab fares are government-regulated and a lot less complex. The flagdown rate is a uniform HK$20 (S$3.20), with every 200m or one minute of waiting time charged at HK$1.50. Surcharges are few and low. For instance, phone booking is HK$5 (S$0.80), but many taxi operators will waive this
• The market is tightly controlled too, with no new taxi licence issued since 1994. 
• Taxis are instantly recognisable, with three basic colour schemes (red being the most prevalent).

It is time for the Government to re-regulate fares and the industry if it considers taxis as public transport.