<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Oct 29, 2008
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Comfort fuel levy to go <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
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ComfortDelGro Corp will lift its 30-cent fuel surcharge on Nov 12, one day after small newcomer Trans-Cab. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
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TAXI giant ComfortDelGro Corp will lift its 30-cent fuel surcharge on Nov 12, one day after small newcomer Trans-Cab.
The other operators, including Smart Automobiles, Premier Taxis and Prime Taxis, are expected to follow suit.
But since cab operators have to give the Public Transport Council a two-week notice on any revision, the earliest the contentious levy can be lifted all round is Nov 12.
In a statement released a day after Trans-Cab said it would scrap the surcharge, ComfortDelGro said it would remove the levy from 6am, Nov 12.
Publicly-listed ComfortDelGro has 15,200 taxis, representing 60 per cent of the market. Trans-Cab, part of cooking gas supplier Union Energy which entered the taxi industry when it was liberalised five years ago, has 2,200 vehicles.
Mr Seng Han Thong, advisor to the Taxi Operators' Association, a body which represents cabbies, said: 'In view of the current low diesel price, it is timely that the diesel surcharge be removed so that more commuters will be encouraged to take taxis.' Taxi ridership has fallen by 7 per cent to around 921,000 a day, from 991,000 in 2006 - before the first of two fare hikes was implemented. At the same time, the taxi population has grown by 6 per cent in the last two years to about 24,400.
=> Thru' hiring PRC FTrash @ $800/mth?
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Comfort fuel levy to go <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
ComfortDelGro Corp will lift its 30-cent fuel surcharge on Nov 12, one day after small newcomer Trans-Cab. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->
TAXI giant ComfortDelGro Corp will lift its 30-cent fuel surcharge on Nov 12, one day after small newcomer Trans-Cab.
The other operators, including Smart Automobiles, Premier Taxis and Prime Taxis, are expected to follow suit.
But since cab operators have to give the Public Transport Council a two-week notice on any revision, the earliest the contentious levy can be lifted all round is Nov 12.
In a statement released a day after Trans-Cab said it would scrap the surcharge, ComfortDelGro said it would remove the levy from 6am, Nov 12.
Publicly-listed ComfortDelGro has 15,200 taxis, representing 60 per cent of the market. Trans-Cab, part of cooking gas supplier Union Energy which entered the taxi industry when it was liberalised five years ago, has 2,200 vehicles.
Mr Seng Han Thong, advisor to the Taxi Operators' Association, a body which represents cabbies, said: 'In view of the current low diesel price, it is timely that the diesel surcharge be removed so that more commuters will be encouraged to take taxis.' Taxi ridership has fallen by 7 per cent to around 921,000 a day, from 991,000 in 2006 - before the first of two fare hikes was implemented. At the same time, the taxi population has grown by 6 per cent in the last two years to about 24,400.
=> Thru' hiring PRC FTrash @ $800/mth?
