On the first of March, it was reported that two taxi companies, Trans-Cab and Premier Taxi, the second largest and second smallest fleets in Singapore respectively, are planning to implement surge pricing for bookings through Grab.
And two days later, ComfortDelGro reportedly express its interest as well. According to the report, observers have projected the other taxi firms would follow suit too.
That sounds suspiciously like taxis trying to emulate Uber.
One major difference between Uber and standard taxis, is that during peak hours it’s way cheaper to hail a cab, whereas it’s easier to call for a ridiculously expensive Uber with up to 4x surge pricing.
This has caused taxi drivers to complain about losing business, even though people have been complaining about Uber surge pricing being way too expensive. What gives?
I won’t claim to understand, but just know that the taxi companies mentioned above have already informed the Public Transport Council (PTC) about their plans, and Prime, the smallest taxi fleet, is also considering the idea.
According to much smarter people like SIM University economist Walter Theseira, better responsiveness from having surge pricing is a good thing, but we risk not being able to hail a cab on the streets at all.
Also, others have mentioned that taxis would then lose their competitive edge of having a fixed price, as people prefer the certainty.
In any case, this would mean that taxis would become more expensive, and become possibly too similar to Uber.
We’ll see. Maybe it’s time to just take public transport and nothing else. But then the MRT breakdowns…
Jeez.
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Featured Image: straitstimes.com
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