TAXi

And so it begins. Today the new pricing scheme for taxis have kicked in, for Comfort taxis that is. I had the pleasure of riding a comfort taxi on its maiden day. I have to admit that I felt the pinch. The question on my mind -while I watched in trepidation as the meter, which seemed to be increasing at a uncanny and almost insane rate-was how am I going to pay for this? I don’t mean in the literal sense, I made sure I increased how much I carried by 49%, the same amount of the purported increase. Instead, the question of where this added 49% is going to come from is a more macro and long-term question.

The increase in the taxi fare is certainly warmly welcomed by cab drivers, yet what about the commuters? I do understand that this hike is considered ‘inevitable’ and that even with the hike; it is still comparable to the fees charged in Hong Kong. But this does not answer the question, which I am posing. Where is the added fee going to come from? My pay has certainly not increased by 49%! The end result of this hike is childishly simple. The commuters suffer. They have to now pay more for exactly the same service. Although the hikes may have been ‘inevitable’ does this warrant such a sudden and drastic increase? I don’t believe it does. The magnitude of increase is simply ludicrous!

Furthermore, I would like to touch on the simultaneous increase by all other cab companies, except for prime taxis (bless your souls). The liberalisation of the taxi industry by the Singapore government had been to incite competitiveness. Instead, all the other companies have conformed to the prices of the big boss (comfort). Where is the competitiveness there? If there were any competitiveness, it would mean that prices would be falling, as the firms will seek to lower their cost so as to produce cheaper price service to increase its customers. Instead, we see this monopolistic nature that we are so familiar with in the oil industry. Where the producers increase prices across the board so as to gain more profit. Undermining the government’s previous intentions to increase competitiveness.

Some say that this hikes help to solve the problem of the lack of taxis in the CBD during peak hours. Does it? If this were the case, why not just have the hikes only for peak hours. Instead, the hikes are effective everywhere, I did not know that there was a lack of taxis in the Clementi. This does emphasize that the reason for this hikes does not hold water. Sure, it is substantiated in the city during peak hours. But at other times, it merely looks like an unprecedented hike that lacks reason.

I do understand that cab drivers are complaining about the increase rents and how life is hard for them. Yet, it does not give taxi companies the right to increase these prices, thereby affecting another group of individuals-the people who take cabs. Instead of addressing the problem of higher rents, they have only tried to offset it by increasing rates. Ie, they are not solving the problem. Only alleviating it. Where’s the logic in that?