This morning, I took a cab as I was late for my tuition. Once I boarded the cab, regrets overwhelmed me. The increase in taxi fares starts today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few days ago, a few friends and I were discussing about the price hike and Xiujiao mentioned that the meter will jump at 20cents instead of the usual 10cent. I was shocked but doubtful as I thought it might be a rumour. She was right. The meter really jumps at 20cents now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The worst thing was, I was stuck in a jam which I have never encountered in that road before. For a 10-minute wait, I was charged more than $3!!!!!!!!!!!! At a point of time, I really wanted to alight the cab and just take the damn bus. But I was less than a kilometre away from my student's house. For the whole time, the only things I have my eyes on were my watch and the meter.
With an initial charge of $2.80 and $3++ for being stuck in the jam, it cost me $8 for a cab ride which used to cost me less than $5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKING HELL!!!!!!!!!!
Out of frustration, I decided to check out Comfort Delgro and some other taxi providers' website.
Meter Fare
a. The first 1 kilometre or less
Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric Taxis $2.80
Hyundai Sonata Taxis $3.00
Limousine Taxis (Sovereign, Presido, MaxiCab & LimoCab) $3.20
b. Every 385 metres thereafter or less up to 10 km $0.20
Every 330 metres thereafter or less after 10 km $0.20
c. Every 45 seconds of waiting or less $0.20
City Area Surcharge
Monday - Saturday: 5.00pm to Midnight $3.00
Peak Period Premium
Monday - Friday: 7.00am to 9.30am
Monday - Saturday: 5.00pm to 8.00pm 35% of metered fare
W T H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“According to the TOA, the ‘more-than-20-per-cent increase in diesel pump price since early this year translates to a $12 to $15 increase in daily fuel cost’ ” Though the cab drivers need to compensate for this increase in fuel cost, this price hike is totally ridiculous!!!!!! Now, the driver can easily earn almost double of what he used to earn for each ride. By making less than 5 rides, the driver can easily earn the extra $15 needed to compensate the increase in daily fuel cost. Maybe I should consider being a cab driver now too.
I understand that the drivers need to make ends meet but why can’t the company just reduce the rental fee of taxi? With the increase in income of the drivers, I bet the rental fee of taxi will increase eventually too. The burden is on the poor passengers now. Like what Dear always says, “The poor gets poorer, the rich gets richer.” Anyone knows who is the boss of Comfort Delgro?
With this drastic increase in cab fare, will the standard of customer service improve too? I seriously doubt so.
And for those who want to call for a cab in city area, think twice before you do so. Before you even land your butt in the cab, it costs you $10.30!!!!!! ($3 City Area surcharge, $2.80 flag down, $3.50 call charge, $1 or 35% of metered fare for Peak Period surcharge)
Unless I can make claims for my taxi rides, I guess the chances of me taking cabs in future will be greatly reduced. I always thought taking taxis will always be cheaper than owning a car. I beg to differ now.
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