Diesel Price Hike. What it means to you.

Taxi companies is facing the pressure to raise taxi meter fares as taxi drivers begin to feel the pinch of rising operational costs.

The Taxi Operators’ Association (TOA) has been in discussion with taxi companies over the past few months on raising taxi fares. This comes with the increasing price of diesel which currently sits at $1.523 per litre, an increase of 50 cents per litre from 2006. Together with the GST hike, the association estimates that the operating cost for a driver has increased by about $780 per month.

Observers spoken to agreed that taxi fares here are lower compared to those in other developed cities, and increases in fares would help taxi drivers fight rising costs.

Mr Han Songguang, a researcher in the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore, pointed out that while bus fares have increased this year due to rising costs, taxi fares have “lagged behind”. He feels that fare increases for taxis will take place “sooner or later”.

For now, we can only expect prices to increase if market leader Comfort Delgro makes the first move to increase prices, which we are sure they will.

It is only a matter of time.

Credits: Jarvis