<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Taxi for disabled welcome - but not its fee
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SMRT's 2.5-litre Hyundai Starex cab comes with wheelchair-friendly features like an automated hydraulic ramp, but some find the $8 booking fee too steep. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A new SMRT taxi which is user- friendly for wheelchair-bound customers has drawn mixed reactions.
While the 2.5-litre Hyundai Starex cab has a specially trained driver and an automated hydraulic ramp to help them get on board, potential customers said the $8 booking fee is steep.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>OTHER OPTIONS Wheelchair users have other taxi options.
If they make a booking with Comfort and CityCab taxis which are run by ComfortDelGro, they can ask for a manual ramp.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>They can flag it down on the roads and pay the $3.20 starting fee but chances of spotting the cab are slim. There is only one in service for now, but four more will be introduced by the year-end. The cab was launched by SMRT Taxis at the Singapore Zoo yesterday.
On the $8 booking fee, Ms Sherena Loh, 49, senior manager of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said: 'Unlike people who take luxury cabs for added comfort, the wheelchair users who need this special taxi have no other choice. And very likely, they do not have the means to spend that much on transport.'
Most wheelchair users, she noted, are not working and belong to the lower-income group.
Said Ms Loi Boon Lee, director of community partnerships at the Society for the Physically Disabled: 'SMRT has been giving its support to people with disabilities. We hope it will review this booking fee.'
SMRT said the taxi's bigger capacity and wheelchair-friendly features warrant the $8 charge, which is similar to that for booking a limousine cab.
Yesterday, SMRT also donated $180,000 worth of taxi services to 150 beneficiaries from four hospitals and two voluntary welfare groups.
One beneficiary, Mr Razak Ismail, 41, a data entry officer, is excited about the new taxi.
'It's very user-friendly. I don't need to use any energy or exert myself to get into the cab,' he said.
What more can be done to make it easier for wheelchair-bound commuters to travel? Send your views to [email protected]
Do you think the booking fee for the new wheelchair- friendly taxi is too expensive? Log on to straitstimes.com to have your say.
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SMRT's 2.5-litre Hyundai Starex cab comes with wheelchair-friendly features like an automated hydraulic ramp, but some find the $8 booking fee too steep. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A new SMRT taxi which is user- friendly for wheelchair-bound customers has drawn mixed reactions.
While the 2.5-litre Hyundai Starex cab has a specially trained driver and an automated hydraulic ramp to help them get on board, potential customers said the $8 booking fee is steep.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>OTHER OPTIONS Wheelchair users have other taxi options.
If they make a booking with Comfort and CityCab taxis which are run by ComfortDelGro, they can ask for a manual ramp.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>They can flag it down on the roads and pay the $3.20 starting fee but chances of spotting the cab are slim. There is only one in service for now, but four more will be introduced by the year-end. The cab was launched by SMRT Taxis at the Singapore Zoo yesterday.
On the $8 booking fee, Ms Sherena Loh, 49, senior manager of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said: 'Unlike people who take luxury cabs for added comfort, the wheelchair users who need this special taxi have no other choice. And very likely, they do not have the means to spend that much on transport.'
Most wheelchair users, she noted, are not working and belong to the lower-income group.
Said Ms Loi Boon Lee, director of community partnerships at the Society for the Physically Disabled: 'SMRT has been giving its support to people with disabilities. We hope it will review this booking fee.'
SMRT said the taxi's bigger capacity and wheelchair-friendly features warrant the $8 charge, which is similar to that for booking a limousine cab.
Yesterday, SMRT also donated $180,000 worth of taxi services to 150 beneficiaries from four hospitals and two voluntary welfare groups.
One beneficiary, Mr Razak Ismail, 41, a data entry officer, is excited about the new taxi.
'It's very user-friendly. I don't need to use any energy or exert myself to get into the cab,' he said.
What more can be done to make it easier for wheelchair-bound commuters to travel? Send your views to [email protected]
Do you think the booking fee for the new wheelchair- friendly taxi is too expensive? Log on to straitstimes.com to have your say.
