IT'S a no-brainer, really. A rogue cabby with passengers paying inflated flat rates will end up on easy street far quicker than the driver who plays by the rules and uses his meter.

Take the cabby who ferries five people, each paying a $35 flat fee. He earns enough to cover his taxi rental and cost of diesel for the night.

"If I drive by meter, sometimes 15 trips wouldn't even cover my costs!" said an SMRT Taxis limousine driver, when asked about his earnings.

He takes home between $2,500 and $3,000 a month after factoring in rental and diesel costs.

But the rule-abiding cabby who uses the meter makes just $1,500 to $2,000.

So it is no mystery that some taxi drivers defy Land Transport Authority (LTA) inspectors and tout for trade, refusing to switch on the meter.

Cabbies caught touting or overcharging can be fined up to $500 and suspended, or terminated if they get enough demerit points.

Another SMRT cabby said they just "play hide-and-seek with the inspectors" as they recognise them by sight now.

Despite The Sunday Times expose last week, finding a rogue cabby who will take you for a ride is still easy to do.

A team from The Sunday Times took a spin in six cabs, including five Mercedes-Benz limousines, at favourite touting places Clarke Quay and HarbourFront.

The cabbies have a similar routine: they switch on the limo sign, keep the engine running and wind down the window if a potential passenger is spotted.

Fares are quoted, usually a flat rate, and some haggling occurs before the passenger gets into the taxi.

The cabbies were unrepentant and did not consider what they did touting. Haggling with a potential client while sitting in a cab was different from approaching them on the street, they said.

One SMRT cabby charged The Sunday Times team $25 to go from Clarke Quay to HarbourFront, a $6 trip normally.

A Comfort cabby known as Mr Tay said he was not overcharging by quoting a flat rate, although he stung The Sunday Times team $20 from Clarke Quay to Yio Chu Kang, twice what a meter would have shown.

"You're willing to pay a higher price and I'm willing to drive you. It's a private agreement. What's illegal?" he asked.

Their prey tend to be the usual suspects: "ignorant tourists" and "generous Indonesians", who get in without bargaining and shy off lodging complaints as they are here for only short stays.

Crafty Mr Tay, a cabby for 15 years, even targets drunk foreigners at clubs.

"They are gone by the time they get on, so I can easily charge them $50 and above per trip," he said.

Returns are even better during festive periods.

"Christmas and New Year, that's when we get our bonus. I've even charged foreigners up to $100 per trip," one Comfort cabby boasted.

But they are being a bit more cagey following last week's Sunday Times report.

The Clarke Quay touts keep their walkie-talkies hidden while they loiter near the taxi stand, discreetly offering foreigners their "express limo service".
Other cabbies parked nearby with the "on call" sign glowing, waiting for unsuspecting foreigners to approach them.

If a cabby deems an offered price too low, he passes the deal on to colleagues via a walkie-talkie. One Comfort limo driver said his "walkie-talkie group" has up to 170 members.

Mr Cedric Foo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, thinks the LTA and taxi companies should enforce the no-touting policy "more rigorously" and with stricter penalties.

Cabbies can simply jump from one operator to another if caught overcharging and there is no industry-wide black list.

A spokesman for ComfortDelGro, Singapore's largest taxi operator, said a black list would raise standards but it would not initiate one as "competition is rife".