ComfortDelGro Waiving 50% of Taxi Rentals Due to Fewer Passengers During Heightened Alert

I’m sure everyone might have noticed the long queues of taxis at taxi stands in recent days, waiting for the few customers that come along. 

With the latest COVID-19 restrictions, people can only go out in groups of two, and employees should work from home by default. Naturally, the drop in people going out has resulted in quite a significant impact on business for taxi drivers.

In order to help support taxi drivers who have been affected by this decline in business, Singapore’s leading taxi company, ComfortDelGro, has also rolled out a few measures to help relieve the financial burden on its drivers. 

Taxi Rental Waiver to Be Raised to 50%

On Tuesday (18 May), ComfortDelGro announced that it would be raising the daily rental waiver for its taxis from 20% to 50%. 

This comes after several raises in the taxi rental waiver since last Friday (14 May). The company had first raised the rental waiver from 10% to 15%, before raising it to 20%

As reported by The Straits Times, the taxi company had provided full rental waivers for its drivers from April to June during the circuit breaker last year.  

Other Support Measures 

The taxi rental waiver is a part of a series of support measures rolled out to help support badly-affected taxi drivers during this tough period. 

The COVID-19 Driver Relief Fund (CDRF) was announced early this year in January and it will last till June. The CDRF scheme includes payouts to taxi and private-hire drivers totalling to about S$116 million.

Under the CDRF scheme, eligible drivers received a monthly payout of S$600 per vehicle every month from January to March, and a monthly payout of S$450 per vehicle every month from April, the latter of which will last till June.

This was in addition to the S$655 million that had already been given out to drivers under the self-employed person income relief scheme, and the Extended Special Relief Fund (ESRF) for the industry.

In addition, ComfortDelGro has also announced that it would continue its waiver on call levies till 30 June. 

In addition, it seems like there are more measures to be introduced.

National Trade Unions Congress (NTUC) director Yeo Wan Ling announced in a Facebook post on Monday (17 May) that the National Taxi Association (NTA) and National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA) have been in talks with various organisations for more support measures during this heightened alert period.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT), Land Transport Authority (LTA), as well as various taxi operators and ride-hailing platforms have all been involved in these talks. 

According to Director Yeo, NTUC has also been in talks with Transport Minister S. Iswaran and Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor for enhanced financial support, and an extension of the CDRF. 

Other suggestions that have been brought up in these talks include the extension of grace periods in HDB carparks, and reducing Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates on arterial roads to S$0. 

Taxi Drivers Badly Affected by New COVID-19 Restrictions 

As reported in The Straits Times, both taxi drivers and private-hire drivers saw a reduction in revenue after the new heightened alert restrictions came into effect on Sunday (16 May). This was followed by a further decline in earnings the following days. 

With taxi drivers only being allowed to drive two passengers from different households at any time, taxi demand and business for the taxi and private-hire industry is expected to experience a significant fall. 

Last year, it was reported that many taxi drivers had to be sent to take on other jobs in other sectors, the majority of which were in the food delivery sector. This was amid a fall in taxi demand and spike in demand for food delivery services due to the large amount of people staying home during the pandemic. 

Feature Image: Dr David Sing / Shutterstock.com