Excellent Letter on the Taxi Industry

[scroobal]

The issue here is that Taxi Industry Senior Executives despite their hire pay (remember MP Goh Chee Wee's million day package from NTUC Delgro) failed to keep up with the times and commuters who are customers are not pleased. They have failed to protect the very staff, the taxi drivers who generated the revenue and gave them the scale and the accompanying perks. One should be reminded that without Government intervention in the 70s, NTUC Comfort would not exist. There were many private taxi licenses (yellow/black cabs) which was subsequently stopped and their licences bought over. The early years there so so many improvements for taxi drivers and their welfare via comfort.

I cannot believe that National Taxi Association which was formed only in 2010 and headed by a cabinet minister and 5 other PAP MPs and ex MPs have not done enough for the 10,000 odd members. What were they dong for the last 5 years?

I have no doubt that Comfort beats anyone else for safety, performance and reliability but where are they when it rains, when there is no surcharge etc. These are operating mechanism that should have been worked out by the Comfort Sr Exec and NTA with LTA.

Lets be frank, there is no way that Uber and Grab can penetrate to this level, drop price by 15% and 14% unless there are issues and opportunities. NTUC Comfort is a behemoth in terms of scale and operation. It is attached to NTUC which in turn has a pipeline into Singapore Labour Foundation which is a MOM stat board. It is also one of the richest with funds that goes into millions. Its the bank that funds NTUC. It is also more mysterious than PA. In essence, they had the resources and the political clout but did not use it or were plain incompetent.

My guess is that the powers up there want the market to be opened up. Why else would Temasek invest in Grab some years back. You don't have to read the tea leaves on this.

 

[GoldenDragon]

A friend of mine was relating his experience when he was in California, San Mateo. He took an Uber cab, and was chatting with the driver when he asked what do they make, the answer was around USD100k/ year. Just to be sure he did not hear wrongly, he asked the driver again and that was what he was told.

The driver was driving for about 2 years with uber. Told him he was very happy with the arrangement, he used his own vehicle to make the trips and it's a full time job for him. The driver likes the flexibility of it and is able to also ferry his kid around.

My thought is that the advent of technologies has made all these glc or taxi hiring model redundant.
Each and every driver is their own boss, no director fees or CEO salary to pay and piggy back on all these drivers.

The key difference between American Uber drivers and ours is the vehicle. Most of our drivers are renting at approx $1850-2k a month. American drivers, if their cars aren't fully paid up, cannot be paying the same amount for instalments. Similarly, it is much easier to chari makan in M'sia. Ownership of vehicle is key.

 

[scroobal]

Cars are also much cheaper there. US20k.

The key difference between American Uber drivers and ours is the vehicle. Most of our drivers are renting at approx $1850-2k a month. American drivers, if their cars aren't fully paid up, cannot be paying the same amount for instalments. Similarly, it is much easier to chari makan in M'sia. Ownership of vehicle is key.

 

[GoldenDragon]

Cars are also much cheaper there. US20k.

Absolutely. A friend of mine who moved to the US in the late 70s is now an Uber driver. 8K monthly average. 6-8 hrs a day and he takes the weekends off. I don't think the same outcome can be replicated here.

 

[Rogue Trader]

... The driver likes the flexibility of it and is able to also ferry his kid around....

That's actually the game changer. The barriers of entry into the taxi industry has been totally blow away. Driving taxis doesn't even to be a full time job now.

I have colleagues in China who moonlight as car sharing app drivers in their own time to supplement income. There's no way full time drivers can fight against part time drivers. Car pooling (a form of resource sharing) is ever more efficient now.

There is really a transportation revolution going on

 

[frenchbriefs]

Cutting fares is bad news for the drivers no?unless Uber decides to take it all from their bottomline.pretty soon all taxi drivers will be making mcdonalds salary minimum wage from the influx of mass wannabe drivers.pls guys we have to protect the sanctity and monopoly of our taxi companies.if not how are our taxi uncles going to send their children to university and still find the time to nap on the road 2 or 3 hours a day?

 

[shiokalingam]

The issue here is that Taxi Industry Senior Executives despite their hire pay (remember MP Goh Chee Wee's million day package from NTUC Delgro) failed to keep up with the times and commuters who are customers are not pleased. They have failed to protect the very staff, the taxi drivers who generated the revenue and gave them the scale and the accompanying perks. One should be reminded that without Government intervention in the 70s, NTUC Comfort would not exist. There were many private taxi licenses (yellow/black cabs) which was subsequently stopped and their licences bought over. The early years there so so many improvements for taxi drivers and their welfare via comfort.

I cannot believe that National Taxi Association which was formed only in 2010 and headed by a cabinet minister and 5 other PAP MPs and ex MPs have not done enough for the 10,000 odd members. What were they dong for the last 5 years?

I have no doubt that Comfort beats anyone else for safety, performance and reliability but where are they when it rains, when there is no surcharge etc. These are operating mechanism that should have been worked out by the Comfort Sr Exec and NTA with LTA.

Lets be frank, there is no way that Uber and Grab can penetrate to this level, drop price by 15% and 14% unless there are issues and opportunities. NTUC Comfort is a behemoth in terms of scale and operation. It is attached to NTUC which in turn has a pipeline into Singapore Labour Foundation which is a MOM stat board. It is also one of the richest with funds that goes into millions. Its the bank that funds NTUC. It is also more mysterious than PA. In essence, they had the resources and the political clout but did not use it or were plain incompetent.

My guess is that the powers up there want the market to be opened up. Why else would Temasek invest in Grab some years back. You don't have to read the tea leaves on this.

Bill Gates: How to Fix Capitalism

 

[frenchbriefs]

Absolutely. A friend of mine who moved to the US in the late 70s is now an Uber driver. 8K monthly average. 6-8 hrs a day and he takes the weekends off. I don't think the same outcome can be replicated here.

They say that is only possible at the start in the first few months Uber infiltrates a city with incentives,afterwards the hourly profit drops to $12,14 an hour.

 

[kingrant]

Excellent points by Mr Lim. If more taxi drvers quit COMFORT to join Uber or Grab, COMFORT taxi rental business will go south, and deservedly so. Instead of protecting errant taxi drver behaviour within its own ranks, Mr Ang should be reprimanding them.

Ever realised that NTUC when it was set up as a cooperative was supposed to help member workers cope with rising costs by keeping prices down thru competition has now forgotten its raison d'etre, and instead going all out for profits thereby shooting its own foot. Ditto Fairprice, Income..

http://theindependent.sg/how-can-politicians-run-taxi-association-to-advise-cabbies/
How can politicians run taxi association to advise cabbies?
By The Independent - April 25, 2016 4 4244
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By: 永久浪客/Forever Vagabond

It was reported in ST on Sunday (http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/fare-cuts-by-uber-grab-will-hurt-sector-taxi-body) that the so-called National Taxi Association (NTA) is criticising about the recent price cuts by Grab and Uber, saying they not only hit their drivers’ earnings but, if left unchecked, could also hurt the taxi industry and commuters.
“It’s an unhealthy and unsustainable business strategy,” said NTA executive adviser Ang Hin Kee, who is also a PAP MP in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

On April 14, Uber cut fares by an average of 15 per cent followed later by Grab, which slashed its prices by up to 14 per cent.

Mr Ang said cab companies are now under pressure to lower their fares but stated that “we don’t want to go down this road”. Mr Ang, only an adviser of NTA, has become its spokesperson.

NTA run by PAP politicians

According to its website (http://www.nta.org.sg/about-us/who-we-are.html), NTA is said to be affiliated to NTUC. “We welcome all taxi drivers in Singapore to join us,” its website stated.

The association appears to be run by a “council of advisors”, made up of PAP politicians:
1. Chan Chun Sing – Chairman (Tanjong Pagar GRC MP)
2. Ang Hin Kee – Executive (Ang Mo Kio GRC MP)
3. Ong Ye Kung (Sembawang GRC MP)
4. Edwin Tong (Marine Parade GRC MP)
5. Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Nee Soon GRC MP)
6. Seng Han Thong (former Ang Mo Kio GRC MP)

Except for Seng Han Thong, all the rest are current PAP MPs. Mr Seng, by the way, was attacked by a 74-year-old disgruntled ex-taxi driver some years ago. He felt that Mr Seng was not taking any action to help him regain his lost taxi licence. The old man, who was formerly with ComfortDelGro, punched Mr Seng leaving him with a bruised lip during a meet-the-people session.

Given that the council of advisors are politicians who haven’t even driven a taxi before, are they in a position to “advise” our Singaporean cabbies? It’s ironical, if not comical, to hear that an adviser to a taxi association was himself punched by a former taxi driver over taxi matters.

Cabby to MP Ang: You don’t speak for us

James Lim, who lost his job in his late fifties and couldn’t find a suitable one, became a taxi driver. He writes well and regularly blogs about his life as a cabby.

When ST put up a news report last year (‘Cabbies cry foul over rival drivers’, 30 May 2015), quoting NTA adviser Ang accusing transport app providers and rental car companies of “creaming off profits”, Mr Lim immediately wrote on his blog to refute MP Ang (http://cabby65.blogspot.sg/2015/05/thank-you-uber-grabtaxi-hailo-and.html).

He wrote, “In the first place, the news article reported mainly the opinions of a single person, Mr. Ang Hin Kee, who is NOT a cabby but an adviser of the National Taxi Association (NTA) and a Ang Mo Kio GRC, Member of Parliament. Undoubtedly, his views cannot be depictive of Singaporean cabbies in general.”

“To me, he seems more like a spokesman of COMFORT which Temasek has an interest than of Singaporean cabbies,” Mr Lim added.

“I think Mr. Ang is essentially saying that COMFORT is the only taxi operator whose profits from taxi booking is now being ‘creamed off’ by these companies because others taxi operators like Premier, Transcab, SMRT or Prime are not affected as they inherently have very few taxi booking jobs to begin with. Consequently, my heading for the news article would instead be ‘COMFORT cry foul over transport providers app’,” opined Mr Lim.

Mr Lim said that these 3rd party taxi booking apps has turned out to be the “best things that ever happened to Singaporean cabbies”. Opportunities and options to earn more are open to all taxi drivers. He noted that many COMFORT cabbies are using the 3rd party apps to do more booking jobs to earn more.

Mr Lim is also of the view that cabbies who have their own car can dump cab firms like COMFORT so as to use their own car instead.

He explained, “This is a disaster scenario for taxi owners like COMFORT. It is an expensive operation to constantly keep a large fleet of taxis on the streets of Singapore. COMFORT’s main source of revenue is what they receive from the rental fees of drivers, so if too many cabs stand empty for too long, COMFORT will not only had their profits ‘creamed off’ but will face bankruptcy.”

“Now, for the first time ever, taxi operators will have to give serious consideration to how their actions affect the lives of their drivers. If they are wise, they should think of how to improve the working conditions of their drivers – like reducing the 250 km minimum mileage, high rental, indiscriminate sacking, repair costs and so on,” he added.

Lastly, Mr Lim felt good that the mighty COMFORT for once has been brought to its knees.

Mr Lim asked in jest, “Hey, COMFORT, do you want your drivers to desert you? The days of your authoritarian, arrogant, uncaring and high-handed attitudes towards your drivers need to change. Remember, they are your partners not employees!”

Indeed, with technology and the Internet these days, even authoritarian regimes like those in the middle-east can be brought down to their knees.

Meanwhile, it’s not known NTA, “advised” by 6 PAP politicians would be brought to its knees by these 3rd party transport app providers.

 

[Debonerman]

Perhaps some social websites could go interview veteran Comfort drivers and have a look at their total day takings to give us a better picture? And maybe ask them where were they when it rains and there are no surcharges?

 

[dr.wailing]

I don't think the same outcome can be replicated here.

Why? What are your reasons that lead to this conclusion?

 

[BobaFett]

Taxi companies screwed by Uber hahaha

 

[Debonerman]

Why? What are your reasons that lead to this conclusion?

That he is sees the picture from outside of the well?