According to AsiaOne News:

AS MR A.L. Tan’s cab comes into sight, an A4-size handwritten sign on his dashboard is what a potential passenger will see first.

‘Not 35% surcharge peak hour’, it says.

He has resorted to waiving the surcharge after last month’s cab fare hike.

‘I used to make up to $130 during peak hours,’ said the cabby of 15 years in Mandarin. ‘Then the customers were scared off and I couldn’t even make $10!’

Cabbies complain that passengers are disappearing during morning and evening rush hours. What used to be a $2 flat surcharge for travelling between 7am and 9.30am, or 5pm and 8pm, is now calculated as 35 per cent of the metered fare.

A passenger travelling from Ang Mo Kio MRT station to Choa Chu Kang’s Lot 1 Shopping Centre pays about $14 outside peak periods. Slap on the surcharge during peak hours and the fare is now $19.

Although cab companies are optimistic that the recent fare changes will raise drivers’ incomes, cabbies themselves are not so sanguine.

Most of the 20 cabbies The Sunday Times spoke to say that passengers are more receptive to the 30-cent higher flag-down fare, but baulk at paying the peak-hour surcharge.

Of the 10 passengers The Sunday Times spoke to, seven said they now avoid taking cabs whenever possible, especially during peak hours. The others said that they still take a cab at least once a day.

Property agent A.C. Yeo, 54, said she now takes the train to work instead. A cab ride from her Bishan flat to her office in Toa Payoh used to cost her $6.50 during peak hours. Now, it has gone up to about $8.

To encourage more passengers to catch taxis during peak hours, some cabbies such as Transcab’s Mr Tan have come up with their own strategies.

Comfort cabby B.P. Pang, 52, is giving out discounts together with his business card in the hope of increasing his passenger base.

For a $27.40 trip from Tampines to Cecil Street, including peak-hour and Electronic Road Pricing surcharges, Mr Pang charges his passenger $21, giving him a 23 per cent discount.

He usually gives discounts only to customers whose fares exceed $20, in the hope that they will call for his cab in future.

‘I used to get at least six customers during peak hours, now I don’t even get two,’ said the cabby of three years in Mandarin.

Comfort cabby Jack Ng, 47, admits to touting at bus stops for potential passengers. Down goes his windscreen as he drives by and yells out: ‘Taxi, taxi, no surcharge.’

He said in Mandarin: ‘Many people have turned to buses and trains since the fare hike. So I try my luck at bus stops and tempt them with my cheaper fare, without the surcharge.’

Even with his new tactic, Mr Ng says he takes home about $80 a day, a 30 per cent dip from before. But he is optimistic that business will pick up as more customers are asking for his phone number and calling him when they need rides.

Sales manager Maria Woo, 35, for example, has become Mr Ng’s regular passenger, ringing him for a ride during peak hours. She takes a cab at least five times a day for business meetings.

‘He doesn’t charge me the 35 per cent and the on-call charges, saving me up to $65 a week!’ she said.

Asked if it was legitimate for cabbies to offer customers discounts, a spokesman for Comfort, Singapore’s largest taxi operator, said that cabbies are essentially their own businessmen.

She added: ‘It is their prerogative to give discounts to their customers should they so desire.’

While some cabbies are fighting the passenger drought, others are using the lax period to take longer breaks at coffee shops.

SMRT cabby S.K. Tang, 50, said: ‘Driving around looking for passengers is just costing me more diesel.’

Comfort cabby D. Ghing, 60, said cabbies are now trying to ‘out-drive’ each other for passengers.

‘Customers are like Hollywood stars now – one passenger flags, four cabs will zoom in,’ said the cabby of 25 years. ‘It’s a dog-eat-dog world here.’

- Taxi companies are blood suckers, they alway think of complex charging methods and quoting silly excuses to control or motivate drivers to drive at certain time. Now, taxi drivers have to cut into their own pockets to earn a living like this article here.

What will be my version of the best “PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION” Taxi methods? I feel there should be only metering charges only and no other types of charges. Starting flag down price can go up to $3 to $4 and metering can jump slightly faster but eliminate all surcharges. Call booking can be either free or just 60 cents like 1900. I can assure you that even the bus drivers will take taxi home!!

If ALL taxi companies don’t budge on the current complex charges then there should be more taxi companies to be opened to COMPETE with the rest probably with FREE PHONE BOOKING and flat taxi charges without complicated surcharges.

If current status quo remains, soon there will be private drivers out there giving out free phone booking number on newspaper for alternative private transportation services at simple flat rate and on demand.

I can imagine a network of cars fitted with GPS monitored with hired and non-hired status updated online in real time. The private driver can be booked online via internet booking and the system will send a sms to you automatically when the private car is about to arrive via online sms service by automated GPS software to send estimate time of arrival and private car description. The car can be fueled by Compressed Natural Gas and much cheaper now compared to oil.

If GPS Booking device are widely available as a gadget, then private drivers can also track potential customer requesting pick up automatically and like the game “Crazy Taxi” and the driver will be directed to the customer via a constantly updated digital road map with the customer position identified as a red dot.

The private driver can reject or accept the “mission” in the nearest empty car priority basis.

Another idea is a Privately own bus to pick up regulars to different but nearby location like factory bus or those mini-bus that pick up soldiers booking in or out from remote taxi unfriendly camp sites.

Another idea is the western style “Thumbs Up” hitch-hikers method, any privately own cars who want to make a quick buck can take these hitch-hikers for a small fees if they are going to the same direction or near your destination can share the cost of fuel for a flat fee that sounds like touting but private picks up.

Soon you might see privately owned cars with signs indicating that they are “hitch-hiker friendly” and stated their “fees” openly in a running LED lights. ^_^

Of course another trend might be co-sharing of private vehicles between a day shift worker and a night shift worker, this must be 2 people staying together or near each other within walking distances and enough trust that they take care of the car.

Oh, ya…and the taxi companies to budge and change their fees to more competitive rates before all of the above starts to happen might be a possibility. Either way, oil prices will continue to raise and taxi drivers and commuters will continue to suffer.

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