Premier Taxis

[jpatokal]

Just happened to take my first ride in one of the new taxi companies, namely Premier Taxi. Veeeeery nice! The cars are basically silver Mercedes Benzes outfitted with leather seats, massive leg room, CD collection, air deodorizer and other random frills -- but the good part is that fares are exactly the same as usual, and booking one of these things costs $3.00, less than the $3.20 you'd pay for your bog-standard Comfort cab! :!:

But with only 50 out of the ~19,000 cabs in Sg, the odds of getting a Premier taxi randomly are approx 0.25%. Improve your odds and give them a ring at 6363 6888, because that's what I'll do the next time I have to face the long trek from Jurong to Changi Airport...

Anybody tried out the other new companies Trans-Cab or Smart yet?

[jpatokal]

Gotta pimp these guys a little more: took 'em to the airport last week in blessed silence, without that oh-so-annoying ding dong! ding dong! ding dong! you're usually subjected to. :!: Turns out Premier cabs have the limit cranked to 110 km instead of 90 km, allowing you to move at a decent clip on the expressway without getting bonged. Cabbies also tend to be industry veterans who jumped at the chance to escape from their bondage to the Big 3; the reason Comfort/CityCab are now advertising heavily for new cabbies is that nobody wants to work for them anymore! As of April 5th, Premier (aka Silverline) now has 100 cabs on the road, with 50 more coming every month.

Their phone booking service could use a little work though, the radio in the background was blaring so loud I could barely hear the operator... And oh, the cars aren't Benzes after all, just fancily kitted out and stretched Nissans.

[iamroot]

Hows the cab charges in Singapore as compared to that of other countries? And the quality as well.

[jpatokal]

Hows the cab charges in Singapore as compared to that of other countries? And the quality as well.

Middle of the road. Singaporean taxis are very expensive by Thai or Malaysian standards, but dirt cheap compared to most of Europe. A trip from the airport to the city costs me around 200 baht (~S$8 ) in Bangkok, around S$15 in Singapore, but over 30€ (~S$60) in my home country!

Quality is middle of the road -- that 30€ does get me a Merc (no other choices!) instead of a Toyota, but then again, I'm perfectly happy in a Toyota as well as long as it doesn't break down and gets me where I want to go. But I have (AFAIK?) never been cheated by a Sing cabbie and once (1) had one refuse to use the meter, whereas both practices are very common in KL and Bangkok.