FEWER people are taking cabs these days as more hop on buses and trains, or cut back on travel expenses.
On average, there were 893,674 taxi trips made a day in the first three months of the year, the lowest in five years, after recovering steadily from a post-Sars low.This is about 8,805 fewer rides a day than the same quarter last year, and down another 74,673 rides from 2007.
For commuters, this means fewer complaints about waiting times at taxi stands.
A Land Transport Authority (LTA) survey of 30 taxi stands in the city found that year-on-year, January waiting times were shorter, while in February, it remained largely unchanged.
For taxi drivers, the news was not so good.
As expected, the dip in ridership had hit the pockets of cabbies. Drivers were earning about 10 per cent less, said ComfortDelGro, the largest of six taxi companies here, with 15,000 of the 24,000 cabs on the roads.
After deducting rental and fuel costs, a taxi shared by two drivers working in shifts collected $166 a day, going by the meter readings of 8,000 Comfort cabs monitored over the first five months of the year.
This worked out to an average of $83 a driver a day, compared with $94 from a similar survey in April last year.
Call bookings - a more lucrative source of income for drivers than cruising for passengers along the streets - were also down, said a company spokesman.
Cabbies such as Mr Yeow Khee Beng were feeling the pinch.
The 62-year-old, who has been driving a taxi for more than 20 years, said he pocketed about $30 to $40 a day this year after paying his rental and his diesel charges, which came up to $80.
'Last year, I could get $50 to $60 a day. Nowadays, you see fewer people waiting on the road for a taxi or even in the taxi queues. It is harder,' he said.
The acting adviser to the Taxi Operators' Association (TOA), Aljunied GRC MP Yeo Guat Kwang, attributed the dip to a combination of Singaporeans tightening their belt, better public transport and fewer tourists.
Legal executive Nadia Tan 35, is among those who are giving taxis a miss these days.
She no longer takes cabs home after work because the higher surcharges - a 35 per cent peak hour surcharge and a $3 city surcharge - are 'just too crazy'.
Instead, she tries to leave her Shenton Way office slightly earlier to beat the evening rush on the MRT.
Commuters like her have made public transport more popular. For the first quarter this year, 4.87 million rides were made a day on buses and trains, compared with last year's 4.78 million.
Mr Yeo said: 'The opening of the Circle Line, more premium buses...it is definitely hitting us.'
But the TOA, which represents the taxi drivers' associations, said it was not overly concerned about the dip in numbers at the moment.
Currently, most drivers tell Mr Yeo they earn about $5 less a day, which is one or two fewer trips a day.
Helping to cushion the impact, about $13 million in rebates from the Government's tax relief measures that taxi companies received have been channelled back to the drivers.
The worry is whether the downward trend will continue, said Mr Yeo.
The association, together with the taxi companies and the LTA, are working together at see how they can help, he said.
For a start, the LTA is providing $1 million to help promote taxi ridership.
This money, to be matched by the companies, will be used to hold promotions, possibly discounts and tie-ups with shopping centres and tourist attractions from next month.
The TOA, on its own, will target car owners. Mr Yeo said: 'We want them to give up their cars for a cheaper, but just as good, taxi ride.'
Also from next month, the association will hold training sessions for drivers at motor workshops so that they can upgrade their skills while waiting for their taxis during monthly mandatory checks.
Cabbies will also get a $10 allowance for attending these one- to two-hour sessions.
Commuters must feel like they are getting better service standards if they going to pay more for a taxi ride, said Mr Yeo.
