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ComfortDelgro Asks Drivers To Take Picture Of Grab/Uber Cars At Taxi Stands, Says They’ll Report Them

2017-07-04 , 8:04 pm

Private car hires and the traditional taxi industry has never seen eye-to-eye.

Perfectly understandable when you consider how the former is here to disrupt the business of the latter.

But you got to admit that Uber and Grab has been great for Singapore. Not just for the commuters but the taxi companies itself.

The taxi companies which has been stagnant for years has started stepping up again.

Just think: only after Grab and Uber came onto the scene do you start seeing flat taxi fares and improved taxi mobile applications.

But that’s a thought for another day.

ComfortDelgro launched another strike against private car hires.

It was reported on Straits Times today that the taxi company sent a text message to all its drivers.

They instructed the drivers to keep a lookout for Uber or Grab cars that pull up inside LTA taxi stands or bays, or any other illegal practices.

They asked the drivers to take photos of such vehicles that clearly display their license plate numbers as well as the date, time and location of the photo.

The company told drivers that they will report these vehicles to LTA.

In the message, they also told drivers they may have to sign an undertaking and appear in court to testify.

Unsurprisingly, drivers of private hire vehicles (PHVs) were unhappy with the move by ComfortDelgro.

A driver, Chris Koh, said that the number of PHVs in Singapore is more than traditional taxis. He wished that the LTA would move to review the private car vs taxi stands policy.

“Instead of creating more divisiveness in our society, taxi drivers and private hire drivers should be encouraged to co-exist,” he commented.

Surprisingly, some cabbies were against the move as well.

A cab driver, Henry Tay who previously drove for Comfort thinks that this will just create more disputes between taxi drivers and Uber/Grab drivers.

“This whole thing should be handled by the LTA. Drivers should just concentrate on doing their job, which is to drive around looking for fares,” he said.

Another cab driver said that he won’t act on the message because he would have to appear in court to testify.

ComfortDelgro Explains Why They’re Taking Such Drastic Measures

A ComfortDelgro spokesman said that they have been receiving feedback that their drivers are unable to stop at taxi stands because of private hire cars occupying the space illegally.

“Taxi stands are important pick- up points for our drivers and we will do our best to ensure that they are not misused,” he added.

So far, ComfortDelgro is the only taxi company to issue such a message to its drivers.

What do you think? Do you think it’s right to make fellow drivers on the road bao tou against each other?

On a separate note, Uber and Grab drivers better be careful ‘cuz it’s not just LTA cameras you got to be afraid of.

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Feature Image: straitstimes.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com