Why surcharges and guidelines can't fix the cab crunch
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-- ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONGIf you ran a home-based business selling cakes, and it rained so heavily that delivering your customers’ orders became a problem, what would you do?
Sure, you’re getting many calls from buyers, because no one wants go out in the thunderstorm. But you’re likely to get caught in a jam, and that means long delays and therefore fewer deliveries.
Worse, you might get into an accident on the way, and that could put you out of business for the next few days.
Okay, you’ll get a few irate customers complaining about poor service, but hey, it’s just not worth the risk, especially as you’ll probably earn less today anyway. Besides, it’s just cakes, right? No one’s going to starve just because you close shop for a day.
That’s probably what many taxi drivers figure out when the raindrops start to hit their windscreens, and it’s understandable that some of them will quickly conclude: Stop driving.
A recent study said it found that there were fewer taxis plying the roads when it rained, although taxi operator ComfortDelgro has figures indicating otherwise.
But talk to any cabby, and some will candidly admit that they do take a break when it rains, or know of colleagues who do.
And if you really think about it, it not only makes sense, but it’s not even really wrong, is it? (Note to frustrated passengers: just stay with me here.)
Under the current taxi business model, every cabby is a businessman. Every month, he rents the car from the operator, then runs his own “business”, driving as much as he wants. Apart from having to obey certain rules, he alone decides where and when he wants to drive, and answers only to himself on how much he wants to earn.
Like the cake maker, he can choose to earn less.
Of course, if you’re a taxi passenger caught in the rain, this will be utterly unacceptable. How can taxis stay off the roads when they’re most needed? And what kind of service do you call this, anyway?
Clearly, it is a problem when a country’s taxi service fails to meet the demands that its customers have. And it’s something that the Government and operators have tried to address over the years, using a plethora of rules, policies and incentives.
There’s GPS units to help the operator locate empty cabs to speed up bookings – or to check when they’re parked in one spot for too long. There’s all sorts of surcharges, to encourage cabbies to drive into town and to stay on the roads at peak hours. And there’s a long list of rules and guidelines, warning against choosing customers, poor service, dirty cabs and so on.
But none of it seems to have solved the problems of availibility completely.
Cabbies still occasionally ask whether you are going their way (wasn’t it supposed to be the other way round?), wait for call bookings instead of plying the roads, and stop driving when it rains.
Ultimately, I believe, the measures have their limitations simply because at the end of the day, the cabby is a businessman, not an employee. And therefore, he can only be encouraged or incentivised to improve his service, and not forced to.
So perhaps one possible answer to commuters’ woes is to relook Singapore’s taxi business model, and ask: Is there another way of selling taxi services?
The extreme opposite would the public bus model, where drivers are employed and therefore cannot choose where and when they drive. The onus is then on the operator to maintain the quality of service.
Applying this wholesale to the taxi trade will probably not work, because cabbies do not ply fixed routes like buses. They could be made to drive, but without any incentive to pick up passengers, many might just cruise around empty.
Perhaps there can be a mix of models, where cabbies are paid a fixed income to ensure they drive a minimum number of hours, as well as a cut of the fares to encourage them to pick up more passengers – just like hired salesmen who get commissions.
Some of these models have been employed abroad, with taxi operators hiring full-time drivers, or paying them by the trip. But many of these models work for “private-hire” systems – that is, taxis have to be pre-booked. Or they are employed for fixed routes, such as between the city centre and the airport.
Singapore’s operators do offer call booking, but here’s the catch – apart from the limousine and special cabs, it’s the same pool of drivers. That means that passengers often end up competing for cabbies and their cars, not cabbies competing for passengers’ business.
Perhaps Singapore could do with a bigger variety of business models, to meet different types of passenger demand: Taxis plying the roads for immediate hire, but whose availability will depend on their drivers’ preferences; and private-hire taxis whose service can be better regulated, but will have to be booked in advance.
In a way, the bus industry already has it: There are public buses that run regularly and cover common routes; express buses that ply specific routes at peak hours; and a wide range of privately-run minibuses catering to specific users, such as students, factory workers and condo residents.
Whether some of these models can be profitable will ultimately depend on demand and supply.
At present, these two are highly volatile, but cannot match because of the fixed fare structure.
Bidding for taxis at peak hours or bargaining could solve the problem, but would leave the system extremely messy and open to price-fixing and cheating.
But perhaps a variety of taxi operators, competing with different types of services with different fare structures, could hopefully increase the chances of matching demand and supply a little more closely.
That’s why you have cake shops, and those who sell cakes on order. This way, everyone gets to buy their cake and eat it too.
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SPH hor!!!!.........tia tio ho.............
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Take taxis driver and compare to cake shop towkay??? Walau, really seibei bo leow.
Cake shop towkays live ang mo chun, huang SLK merc, cake shop open more and more, TDs, if lucky can own a HDB, if not can end up staying at Loh kun chun, day in day out huang taxis, rain or shine on the road, wu siang lang know?? Cake shop aircon nice nice, rain or shine also no problem, knn..
...knn, SPH really never learn, reporter all jiak sia one lah.
Come come, be it leslie or lassie, lah lah, be uncle relief for a few weeks, than you can be a true taxis reporter
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Good observation have to agree with the news article...
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The taxi woes will not be solved as long as these bunch of $-faced farkers are in charged. The rules & policies are formulated such that the one who benefits from the system are the taxi companies, not the drivers nor the commuters.
People who have not earn a living as a taxi driver before should refrain from giving "advice" from the taxi driver's perspective. Kiang jio ho, mai gay kiang.
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Surcharge
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http://expatlingo.com/2012/06/18/trying-desperately-to-get-around-hong-kong-on-a-very-rainy-saturday/ Why dont they compare hk too. Its the same everywhere when it rains Haha silly reporter, you think the cab company will employ someone at say 1500, give medical benefits with seven days leave and dont know if they will get a profit? Liabilities 1500X12 plus seven days pay plus alfa versus 3600X12 rental paid to them month regardless if got customers or not, no worries if accident because if its td fault charge td, if the other party fault charge the other party. Which do they chose? Haha pay commision, pay 10% of the already cheap taxi fare? From town to yishun with cbd surcharge plus 25% surcharge of 25 dollars means 2.5. the driver work 8 hrs solid good times 300 get 30. Bad time 100 get 10, gyahaha even the prc or bangalah also can tell you he treat you drink one tiger no need work so hard la, just get basic salary lah.
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Originally posted by bowah:
Take taxis driver and compare to cake shop towkay??? Walau, really seibei bo leow.
Cake shop towkays live ang mo chun, huang SLK merc, cake shop open more and more, TDs, if lucky can own a HDB, if not can end up staying at Loh kun chun, day in day out huang taxis, rain or shine on the road, wu siang lang know?? Cake shop aircon nice nice, rain or shine also no problem, knn..
...knn, SPH really never learn, reporter all jiak sia one lah.
Come come, be it leslie or lassie, lah lah, be uncle relief for a few weeks, than you can be a true taxis reporter
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So how?
Come up with a rain surcharge?
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Originally posted by charlize:
So how?
Come up with a rain surcharge?
Good idea...........
Than all the TD just wait for rain to come............sunny day, bo drive.........
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Originally posted by charlize:
So how?
Come up with a rain surcharge?
Possible,i remember that Mcdelivery don"t deliver on rainy days.Recently,they came out with the surcharge,but i am not too sure whether they will deliver on rainy days after the surcharge.
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Originally posted by quickpick:
Possible,i remember that Mcdelivery don"t deliver on rainy days.Recently,they came out with the surcharge,but i am not too sure whether they will deliver on rainy days after the surcharge.
kns, i become their deliver man few time on rainning day...
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Originally posted by Rbs70:
Good idea...........
Than all the TD just wait for rain to come............sunny day, bo drive.........
Hmm...
Light rain - $2 surcharge
Moderate to Heavy Rain - $4 surcharge
Thunderstorm $6 surcharge!!! Then suddenly, sunny day no taxi. How? Sun surcharge!!
Cloudy - $2 surcharge
Partly Cloudy - $4 surcharge
Sunny - $6 surcharge!!!
Imagine thunderstorm in CBD booking: $3 + $3.30 + $6 +$3.40= $15.70!! Haven even move the vehicle! Shiok ! Imagine onli la!
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Originally posted by Red5xx:
kns, i become their deliver man few time on rainning day...
Hi bros Red5xx,u mean they oncall you to send the delivery item?So u must deliver to the unit doorstep?How much extra they pay you?
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Centori1965
good ideal :
Let's Get All member to Sign then sumit up to Ah Gong ... Lol
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Originally posted by Red5xx:
kns, i become their deliver man few time on rainning day...
Ya I also kanna when drive Wish. Whole car smell of french fries cos no enclose boot. KNN....
SMLJ? Mercs also do Mcdelivery? LOL
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Originally posted by hammerhammer8888:
Ya I also kanna when drive Wish. Whole car smell of french fries cos no enclose boot. KNN....
SMLJ? Mercs also do Mcdelivery? LOL
wish la...
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Juz like today.very heavy rain,jam everywhere as usual n poor visibility.many pax, but my income some hw lower than normal sunny day.wasting time inside jam n if accident,one n half week income gone.....giving up on sph reporter...if everywhere taxi,then td eat ��� Liao
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There will always be a crunch during rain because demand will always be higher.
This one cannot be helped. But if they want to solve crunch during normal days then they need to look at some of the daft rules and LTA gotta stop molly coddling CDG.
Stop this CBD surcharge and have a flat starting of $4 ($4.50 for Mercs) and a 30% surcharge from 5 to midnight.
Penalise companies who raise rentals and the COE by over bidding in order to change their fleet. Or take taxis out of the COE exercise and charge them a flat COE capped at a reasonable amount. This will give the companies no excuse to raise rentals.
Why CDG be allowed to gain back their cost within 2-3 years? Why can't they wait 3 - 3 1/2 years?
To fix CBD crunch, take out the charge for cabs entering empty or fix it at 50cts all the time for entering the CBD.
A lot of other things they can do, it's a question of whether want or don't want.
If they continue to force drivers to choose between helping themselves (and their families) and serving the public, the answer is very obvious as to which we will choose.
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i dun want to say much ...
very meaningless ....
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when there is a cab crunch, y nobody say: it lta who let the paxs down? The design of traffic flow so lousy, so slow, so obvious. I got cbd peak hrs ting, but i dun take it.Yet, ten years fm now. It will still be the same.
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If they let me be the Minister for Taxi Services .
I make sure Singapore will have no taxis problems .
I also make sure Singapore cabbies will be a happier lot .
And i also will make sure commuters will be the happiest .
And that will not happen if commuters keep voting for the current administrators .
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got to wait leh. Vote until they teng kor lor. Until more than 50% bhay tahan, than got chance. But aim for transport minister.. Good?
