If S$160 daily rental for MaxiCab is too high, why not just lower rental?

ComfortDelGro took out an advertisement tucked away in the classified section of The Straits Times last Friday (picture above).

The ad read:

With effect from 9 May 2016, a S$3 surcharge per passenger is applicable where there are more than four adult passengers or equivalent on board all ComfortDelGro MaxiCabs. It is not applicable for flat rate transfer services.

This is to inform paying customers that ComfortDelGro will soon levy a surcharge when there are more than four passengers in a limousine taxi.

From next Monday, May 9, 2016, ComfortDelGro’s seven-seater MaxiCabs will include an additional fee of $3 per person, for the fifth, sixth and seventh passenger.

The surcharge, however, will not apply to flat-rate services, such as bookings to go to the airport for $55, for example.

The Straits Times, reporting off sources familiar with why this is happening with ComfortDelGro now, said “the majority of its drivers had signed a petition requesting the levy, to cover the high daily rentals of over $160”.

The ST article also positioned ComfortDelGro’s decision to up prices as justified, as it is merely joining other cab operators in levying a surcharge.

As comparison, SMRT has levied a $2 surcharge for every passenger exceeding four adults in its seven-seater Ssangyong and London taxis since 2011.

Premier also has a similar $2 per passenger surcharge for its seven-seater SilverLux fleet.

Prime levies a flat surcharge of $9 per trip, as long as there are more than four passengers in the vehicle.

Then the question remains: If rentals of S$160 a day are too high, why not lower it instead?

By the way, this is a rhetorical question.

Please do not answer.

 

Top photo via Singapore Taxi Driver

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- Belmont Lay