Taxi Drivers or PHV Drivers Might Be Delivering Your Food & Groceries Now

This is a true story: I ordered a food delivery and got a surprise of my life this afternoon.

The rider isn’t a rider: it’s a driver. I nearly wanted to cancel because I don’t know what the heck is going on but I couldn’t because he’s accepted the order.

And then, soon after, this news hit Singapore.

Taxi Drivers & PHV Drivers Now Allowed to Deliver Food & Groceries…Temporarily

Do you know that before today, taxi drivers and PHV drivers aren’t allowed to deliver food and groceries?

There was a big hoo-ha back in 2017 when Amazon Prime Now was launched in Singapore and the company got taxi drivers and PHV drivers to deliver their items, but that was against the law unless the car has a passenger, too.

Of course, back then, Amazon said there was always a passenger in the taxis or private-hire cars, but that was in 2017 when we could all have a good meal with our friends in a hawker centre without knowing what social distancing is.

Simply put, the law is that taxis and PHVs cannot do delivery: they’re meant to carry people and not goods.

But extreme times require extreme measures.

With more people ordering food and groceries online, the authorities are now going to temporarily allow that. Or in the chim terms, “temporary liberalisation of #P2P regulations”.

Any sentence with the word “liberalisation” means it’s serious business.

In a Facebook post by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, he said that “tighter safe distancing measures, working from home and tele-commuting, demand for home deliveries, whether for food or groceries, has grown.”

He then explained the rationale behind the law that prevents taxis and PHVs to transport goods, as it could affect the traditional passenger service and contribute to traffic jam.

But the world’s not traditional now, so they’d be allowing taxis and PHVs to transport both food and groceries, which will take effect from now until the end of June 2020.

Here’s his post:

With taxi drivers and PHV drivers all facing a much lower demand during this COVID-19 outbreak, which could worsen as more people stay at home, this would allow them to get some income during this downtime.

So don’t be surprised if you see a taxi filled with six bags of McDonald’s—it’s not a hungry driver. A big family is waiting for their McSpicy.