Easing Singapore Taxi Woes

The Reach portal recently asked for views on how to alleviate taxi supply issues that has been a bug bear for residents and commuters:

Despite having one of the highest taxi-to-population ratios in the world, there is still a demand-supply mismatch where the demand for taxis during certain times of the day, especially in the morning and evening on weekdays, far outstrips supply. This is compounded by the fact that most of this peak demand is uni-directional (either suburbs to city, or city to suburbs) and confined to certain areas of Singapore (CBD area, shopping belts etc).

Many suggestions have been made to enhance the current fare system, but the LTA said the industry has been largely deregulated since the late 1990s, and fares are thus determined by the taxi companies and the market forces of supply and demand.

Other suggestions have been to do away with surcharges altogether. The midnight surcharge was originally introduced in order to ensure that there were enough taxis on the roads during the wee hours of the night. But with the high demand of, and with the call-booking system available, the midnight surcharge has outlived its purpose. The other surcharges such as peak hour, CBD, airport etc have also created artificial peak periods and distorted the islandwide distribution of taxis.

What other suggestions do you have to ease the taxi woes in Singapore? What are your views?

My response:

Problem is a classic transportation problem - how to manage peak time demand. Same problem occurs for buses, MRT etc in urban centres all over the world

If one were to build capacity (i.e. supply more taxis) for peak time demand, this would mean that during non-peak times, there will be an over supply situation , making it not financially viable for taxis companies and taxi drivers.

Suggestion 1: Allow private cars to double up as taxis during peak time periods e.g. 5pm to 8pm. Private car owners can tregister to become part-time taxis. They will be issued some simple removable signage that indicates that they are in taxi mode, and perhaps a simple meter (even meter is not necessary as one can just use the odometer and charge per km). Signage can also include where the "part-time taxi" intends to go, so that normal car commuters can pick up passengers on the way home.

Suggestion 2: Encourage taxi companies to move "shift-changing"times to 3pm, not 4-5pm as is the case today

Suggestion 3: Remove all taxes on green taxis (incidentally, goverenment should remove taxes on all green cars e.g. Prius)

Suggestion 4: Encourage multiple pick ups for taxis (i.e. pick up passenger 1, then passenger 2, maybe even passenger 3 going along the same route). The current taxi meters actually allow for this.

Suggestion 5: Encourage share a cab policy in taxi ranks. Hmmm, how to convey this - maybe a whiteboard that allow people to list their destinations. Or encourage shopping centres to have an attendant asking passengers where they are going and if they are willing to share a cab (it is in best interests of shopping centre to reduce congestion in their taxi ranks e.g. Robinsons Centrepoint, Takashimaya