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Extortion by cab companies.

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judaspriest
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Extortion by cab companies.

Post by judaspriest » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 2:01 pm

So the next round of cab fare hikes (a.k.a. extortion by cab companies) is through. One of the Merc drivers told me he pays $135/day to the cab company to hire it. Including fuel costs it works out to about $180 a day. That's $5400 a month he pays just to run his cab.

I think the regular cabs are leased at $94 a day or something like that?

So how much does comfort make from ripping off cabbies? They rake in something like $1.5-1.7 million a day?

Instead of doing something with that money, they resort to ripping off customers and cabbies.

I'd been putting this off for a while, but I guess it's time to buy a car, add to the pollution and traffic. What's to prevent these characters from raising the flagdown fare to $10 next year? PTC doesn't do anything anyway.

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Post by ksl » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 2:42 pm

Got too agree, the cabbies are ripped off, to a certain extent, some pay less however for their cars, depending on the cars age, but I've been told 80$ a day by one old guy, with quite an old cab.

Not sure how many cabs, I thought around 2000,in Singapore but it could be double that!

Maybe an article in the New Paper may cause some discussion in favour of cabbies!

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Post by Strong Eagle » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 4:20 pm

ksl wrote:Got too agree, the cabbies are ripped off, to a certain extent, some pay less however for their cars, depending on the cars age, but I've been told 80$ a day by one old guy, with quite an old cab.

Not sure how many cabs, I thought around 2000,in Singapore but it could be double that!

Maybe an article in the New Paper may cause some discussion in favour of cabbies!
22,000 cabs in Singapore according to Happy Times. Older Toyota Crowns cost $94 per day, 7 days a week. Newer taxis you see are $104. Cabbies must pay for radios.

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Post by morton » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 4:25 pm

while i'll not disagree with the statement that the cab companies are ripping off their drivers, or that sometimes the drivers are ripping off their passengers, the fact remains that it's a business and the object is to make a profit.

whenever i get jack of them - which is frequently - i do 2 things. i go back to buses and shuttles for a while, and i also remind myself that singapore cab fares are the cheapest of just about any major city i've ever worked in. catch a cab in sydney, for example, and you'll quickly come to appreciate a singapore taxi ride.

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Post by ianlaird » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 6:01 pm

Being expat from the UK its bad how cheap the standard charge is when u get in a cab 2.50sgd (no booking etc), you cant even get in a cab in Glasgow, Scotland for less than 5sgd.

I always give tips, cab comes to 7 dollars i give them 10, at the weekend there i gave a cabi 50 dollars to take me home from Zoukout to Plaza Singapora, I am sure he was happy with that, 15-20 cab ride.

One of them told me he only makes 2500 a month!! I double that in rent alone, I feel sorry for them!

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Post by ksl » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 7:17 pm

Strong Eagle wrote:
ksl wrote:Got too agree, the cabbies are ripped off, to a certain extent, some pay less however for their cars, depending on the cars age, but I've been told 80$ a day by one old guy, with quite an old cab.

Not sure how many cabs, I thought around 2000,in Singapore but it could be double that!

Maybe an article in the New Paper may cause some discussion in favour of cabbies!
22,000 cabs in Singapore according to Happy Times. Older Toyota Crowns cost $94 per day, 7 days a week. Newer taxis you see are $104. Cabbies must pay for radios.
yes 23.000 :oops: it should have been! not 2000, :wink: I think one needs to know or expose what the company is actually raking in, it is true that cabbies do get a raw deal, thats why i always give them a tip!

Maybe the Cab Company can justify, the high charges..but I do know, a few friends of mine in the UK drive taxis, they pay a fixed installment fee, for the radio and satnav equipment, and a rental fee ! The cabbies shares is takings normally 50/50...I remember from my last trip in august 5km was 5 pounds, and minimum wage is just over 5.25 per hour, I think, so Singapore is catching up pretty fast! Taking us to the cleaners more than likely! Personally I feel the cabbies have no backing, and get taken advantage of!

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Post by Strong Eagle » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 8:56 pm

Well, when you consider that City, Yellow Top, and Comfort are now owned by the same company, the word 'monopoly' comes to mind.

Singapore government could easily fix this by permitting cabbies to own their own vehicles.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 9:17 pm

Strong Eagle wrote:Singapore government could easily fix this by permitting cabbies to own their own vehicles.
Assuming that they did that who would provide the servicing? Otherwise it would only be a short while before they start looking like bluebird taxis in Jarkarta.
Last edited by sundaymorningstaple on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by rhino » Tue, 11 Dec 2007 9:21 pm

Strong Eagle wrote:Well, when you consider that City, Yellow Top, and Comfort are now owned by the same company, the word 'monopoly' comes to mind.
More like an oligopoly perhaps? :wink:

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Post by Wind In My Hair » Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:42 am

rhino wrote:
Strong Eagle wrote:Well, when you consider that City, Yellow Top, and Comfort are now owned by the same company, the word 'monopoly' comes to mind.
More like an oligopoly perhaps? :wink:
Oligopoly in the petrol industry, monopoly in the cab industry. Today I seriously considered buying a car. But I've gotten so lazy cabbing around that the thought of having to drive, find parking etc puts me off.

Oh well, on the bright side, higher fares means I can write off bigger expenses for tax purposes, hopefully bringing me down a tax bracket.

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Post by Eze » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 1:02 pm

Although its really a high increase of fare, esp. the peak period surcharge.
& I curse them for it... =D

But looking on their side of the story, all the cost of living expenses have risen, so have petrol.

yah... so.... i kinda understand their starting point of increasing the fare.

But that does not mean I will take the cab during peak hours at all~~!!

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Post by bigfilsing » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 1:12 pm

Strong Eagle wrote: 22,000 cabs in Singapore according to Happy Times. Older Toyota Crowns cost $94 per day, 7 days a week. Newer taxis you see are $104. Cabbies must pay for radios.
Made my day!!
Should start a list of alternative names

Bent(s) Times

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Post by bigfilsing » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 1:33 pm

I dont think they should be allowed to use their own cars.
At least the current system makes for standardised level of service. The issues with that level is a different matter.
Given too much freedom the whole service would go to hell. Just look at surrounding countries.

I feel sorry for the cabbies too. I make a point of over tipping the good ones and there are quite a few. What peeves me most are the ones that think because they are a cabbie they are a proffesional driver.

I'd love to see some kind of rating system ( online or otherwise) with a quarterly update visible on their cabs. A tad childish i know but it may get the bad cabbies attention.

As for the fees they pay ...tricky one. If i were a cabbie i'd want a flat rate per day rental. Question is whether the rental amount is realsitic against potential income.

If it were a profit share only business there'd have to be targets in place otherwise the cab company's would worry about their overheads and we'd be were we are now.
It would provide them with an opertunity to impliment a bonus sytem whereby after certain targets are reached the cabbies share would increase. Could work!

What gets me most and reduces my sympathy for cabbies is their insistance on changing shift at the busiest times of the day and refusing to drive when it rains. If you can;t drive in the rain ...you can't drive !!

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Post by drusilla » Fri, 21 Dec 2007 5:19 pm

i don mind the hike in fares, but can't stand cabbies choosing their passengers...

i mean, i do understand that they have to change shift and all that, my dad was a cabbie, mind you... but they should just go ahead and drive on to their destination instead of trying their luck and stopping to ask where u're headed... then they refuse you... causing me to miss the next empty cab that just drove by!!

sometimes, if i see there's no cab coming behind, and i'm not in a hurry, i ask the driver instead,"where are u going exactly? if i'm going the same way, does that mean i don't need to pay??" :P :???:

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Post by zjules » Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:23 am

I dont think its fair to compare taxi fares directly with other countries. A driver the other day was telling me, 'taxis here are so much cheaper than UK', and my response was, well, cars cost about half as much in UK as here, so people buy their own, so dont need to use taxis as much, so its ok to pay more once in a while. Theres many other things to add to the equation..

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