As expected, we are facing another round of public transport fee hike right after the General Elections. There are many implications to this hike and it signals the spirit of the incumbent government towards infrastructure pricing.
However, it is timely for me to make a few short statements regarding the hike in taxi fares announced this week.
We are already familiar with the fee structure of taxi charges. My focus is on the general pricing mechanism of transport fares. Our population has increased and will continue to increase, given the government’s economy strategy. Increasing public transportation infrastructure should be our first priority. Increasing prices for taxis – and I am sure increases for bus and MRT and taxi rental will soon follow – will do nothing except hurt the end user.
Taxis are a crucial service required by Singaporeans who may be sick, handicapped, blind, by pregnant women, and by for those who are unfit to travel by bus or MRT. Taxis are not a luxury, but are necessary services for Singaporeans staying in locations far away from major transport nodes, and for those that need to arrive to their destination faster.
I condemn the increase in transportation fares without first soliciting feedback from the public.
I also want Singaporeans to take an active role in preventing further increase in fares for buses and MRT without private transport companies first trying to increase the capacity to support growing population in Singapore.
I will elaborate on the recent public transport fee hike during the Parliamentary Budget Debate in March next year.
Lina Chiam, NCMP
Singapore People’s Party
I don’t think they made a honest statement claiming the lastest increase in taxi fares is for taxi drivers sake. Every time they increase taxi fares taxi drivers income become lesser. Only those taxi drivers who drive a couple more hours may earn the same income before the increase in fares. Taxi road tax used to be $2.2k/yr was increase to $7.7k/yr and now $6k/yr. How come taxi pay higher road tax than non-commercial privately owned vehicles(less than $2k/yr)? The reason they gave was taxi are a luxury. Hard to accept this reason because taxis every day share among many people where else privately owned vehicles use by a single person or single family. Another reason they gave was taxis are commercial vehicles. Don’t they also use private vehicles for business purposes? Hawkers use their private owned vehicles to ferry their food and supplies. Insurance agents, housing agents and outdoor salemen also use their privately owned vehicles for business related purposes too. Accountants drive their private owned car to client office for business purposes can also be consider commercial vehicles. There is a saying, you have one thousand reasons, they have one thousand and one reasons. They are the authority we are not therefore what ever they say carry more weight. Why impose $2 surchage for taking taxi in S’pore Expo which is right next to the main road when pax in Changi Naval Base about 4km away from the main road or Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal about 2km away from main road need not have to pay location surcharge? As though we don’t know, they simply want to drive away taxi customers so that S’pore Expo MRT station will not end up a white elephant. Today taxi drivers driving hours are stretched to their limit. It’s not fair to penalize those who board a taxi inside CDB because during peak period demand for taxis is island wide.