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New rules to raise service standards worry small taxi firms
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
THE meter is ticking away for some taxi companies. Smaller and newer players are worried that they may face more stringent requirements when their current operating licences expire in the next two years or so and they apply for new ones.
The Straits Times understands the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been in talks with the industry on plans to introduce rules aimed at lifting service standards.
Details are likely to be announced shortly. For now, an LTA spokesman would only say: 'Nothing is firmed up yet.'
Sources, however, said the plans will include requiring all players applying for or renewing a licence to ramp up their fleet size to at least 400 vehicles at the end of the first year, and reach 1,000 vehicles in three years' time.
Currently, newcomers are required to have 100 taxis within the first year, and 400 by the fourth.
Another likely new requirement: operators must invest in satellite-tracked taxi dispatch systems.
These would help a taxi company locate cabs and send them where they are needed.
The operating licences for most taxi firms here, valid for 10 years, will expire in 2013. The exception is Prime, whose licence expires in 2017 as it entered the market in 2007.
The taxi operator licensing system was implemented in 2003. It was part of a Bill passed by Parliament that liberalised the industry, paving the way for newcomers to enter an industry long dominated by two players: ComfortDelGro and SMRT.
Four other operators have been granted operating licences since: Trans-Cab, Premier, Smart and Prime. ComfortDelGro has the biggest fleet with about 15,500 taxis, while Prime has the smallest with 650 vehicles.
The legislation states that rules governing the taxi operating licence can be changed as and when the authorities see fit. However, operators will be given due notice before changes are made.
The possibility of a satellite-tracked taxi dispatch system, which will involve millions of dollars in sunk cost, is getting some newcomers worried.
Smart Cab general manager Roger Goh said: 'It is a cost burden. Not only upfront cost but also maintenance and operating costs, which can be a killer. Big companies can absorb these costs, but not small companies.'
He added that many of his drivers prefer picking up fares on the street because of the certainty it provides.
When taking a call booking, cabbies have to make an empty trip to pick up the caller, wait for the caller, and sometimes go away empty when the caller changes his mind or had hopped into a passing cab, he said.
Premier Taxis' managing director Lim Chong Boo baulked at the prospect of mandatory satellite booking systems. 'Won't it be more efficient to have one common call centre shared by everyone?' he asked.
Mr Lim said many operators - as well as drivers - are already facing cost issues, such as rising fuel prices.
'If they're doing this, why liberalise the market in the first place?'
He added that companies must be given freedom to find their own niche.
Trans-Cab is the only new firm here that has a Global Positioning System- tracked dispatch system.
In November, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said in Parliament that the LTA was 'reviewing how service in the taxi industry can be further improved to better meet the needs of commuters and will announce the improvements by early (this) year'.
On the probable changes, National Taxi Association adviser Seng Han Thong said: 'We welcome competition big or small. The key point here is improving service level, which we support. Will this force out smaller players? We have not heard of any concerns yet.
'But I believe companies can adjust if given time.'
Meanwhile, SMRT has become the first beneficiary of a $1 million fund set up in 2009 to help the industry attract more customers.
An LTA spokesman said that it has approved one programme by SMRT to help improve service levels and promote good service by taxi drivers.
In the latest service audit conducted by the LTA, SMRT scored the worst among all operators here. It was fined $69,792 for service lapses on 18 occasions between January and September last year.
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
THE meter is ticking away for some taxi companies. Smaller and newer players are worried that they may face more stringent requirements when their current operating licences expire in the next two years or so and they apply for new ones.
The Straits Times understands the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been in talks with the industry on plans to introduce rules aimed at lifting service standards.
Details are likely to be announced shortly. For now, an LTA spokesman would only say: 'Nothing is firmed up yet.'
Sources, however, said the plans will include requiring all players applying for or renewing a licence to ramp up their fleet size to at least 400 vehicles at the end of the first year, and reach 1,000 vehicles in three years' time.
Currently, newcomers are required to have 100 taxis within the first year, and 400 by the fourth.
Another likely new requirement: operators must invest in satellite-tracked taxi dispatch systems.
These would help a taxi company locate cabs and send them where they are needed.
The operating licences for most taxi firms here, valid for 10 years, will expire in 2013. The exception is Prime, whose licence expires in 2017 as it entered the market in 2007.
The taxi operator licensing system was implemented in 2003. It was part of a Bill passed by Parliament that liberalised the industry, paving the way for newcomers to enter an industry long dominated by two players: ComfortDelGro and SMRT.
Four other operators have been granted operating licences since: Trans-Cab, Premier, Smart and Prime. ComfortDelGro has the biggest fleet with about 15,500 taxis, while Prime has the smallest with 650 vehicles.
The legislation states that rules governing the taxi operating licence can be changed as and when the authorities see fit. However, operators will be given due notice before changes are made.
The possibility of a satellite-tracked taxi dispatch system, which will involve millions of dollars in sunk cost, is getting some newcomers worried.
Smart Cab general manager Roger Goh said: 'It is a cost burden. Not only upfront cost but also maintenance and operating costs, which can be a killer. Big companies can absorb these costs, but not small companies.'
He added that many of his drivers prefer picking up fares on the street because of the certainty it provides.
When taking a call booking, cabbies have to make an empty trip to pick up the caller, wait for the caller, and sometimes go away empty when the caller changes his mind or had hopped into a passing cab, he said.
Premier Taxis' managing director Lim Chong Boo baulked at the prospect of mandatory satellite booking systems. 'Won't it be more efficient to have one common call centre shared by everyone?' he asked.
Mr Lim said many operators - as well as drivers - are already facing cost issues, such as rising fuel prices.
'If they're doing this, why liberalise the market in the first place?'
He added that companies must be given freedom to find their own niche.
Trans-Cab is the only new firm here that has a Global Positioning System- tracked dispatch system.
In November, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said in Parliament that the LTA was 'reviewing how service in the taxi industry can be further improved to better meet the needs of commuters and will announce the improvements by early (this) year'.
On the probable changes, National Taxi Association adviser Seng Han Thong said: 'We welcome competition big or small. The key point here is improving service level, which we support. Will this force out smaller players? We have not heard of any concerns yet.
'But I believe companies can adjust if given time.'
Meanwhile, SMRT has become the first beneficiary of a $1 million fund set up in 2009 to help the industry attract more customers.
An LTA spokesman said that it has approved one programme by SMRT to help improve service levels and promote good service by taxi drivers.
In the latest service audit conducted by the LTA, SMRT scored the worst among all operators here. It was fined $69,792 for service lapses on 18 occasions between January and September last year.
wasn't he punch by a taxi driver sometime back. hahaha. having been punched by a taxi driver, he suddenly qualified to be a taxi adviser now. 
