When asked to pay for these 'add-ons', the expatriate man refused and stormed out of the taxi despite taxi driver Foo Say Hock's explanations.

'I followed him inside the office building, found the receptionist and asked her to explain it to him. In the end he paid,' said the 60-year-old taxi driver who has been driving for eight years.

'We explain most of the time or we hand them the receipt to clear up doubt. But a simple model might be better for both sides.'

Several taxi drivers The Straits Times spoke to said that the series of surcharges added on to fares can sometimes get them in scraps with their passengers.

Even with taxi drivers claiming they are honest and that these are legitimate charges, passengers still believe they are being taken for a ride.

What leads to these disagreements?

In most cases, it is because the main panel on the meter does not reflect all the surcharges.

During the journey, the panel generally reflects the flag down rate and the charges based on the distance travelled.
When a passenger reaches his destination and asks for the fare, he expects to pay what is on the screen, but instead the taxi driver presses a button on the meter which then gives the full fare.

These surcharges, however, are reflected in the receipts of majority of the taxis.

ComfortDelgro, the biggest taxi company here, for example, said that their receipts show clear breakdowns of the different surcharges which are in place.

Among the surcharges which are in place are the airport surcharge, peak hour surcharge, public holiday surcharge and the call booking charge.

There is also the Electronic Road Pricing charge which passengers must pay, and the staggered midnight charges for taking a taxi in the wee hours of the morning.

While experts agreed that these charges may seem complicated to commuters, most supported the view that these charges served specific purposes.

NUS Professor Lee Der-Hong, however, believes otherwise.

The professor with the faculty of civil engineering pointed out that removing the surcharges and raising the flag down rate would work because for example, there would be difficulty in getting drivers to 'work the graveyard shift'.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.