On-board terminals stop working; cabbies to get rental offset for lost time
By
Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
The technical glitch, which cost affected drivers over an hour of business yesterday, rendered mobile data terminals on board the cabs useless. The terminals are necessary for call bookings and cashless payments. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN
ABOUT 800 cab drivers will be compensated by taxi giant ComfortDelGro after a technical glitch cost each of them over an hour of business yesterday.
The glitch, which ComfortDelGro said was caused by a computer virus, rendered mobile data terminals on board the cabs useless. The terminals are necessary for call bookings and cashless payments.
Long queues of cabs formed outside ComfortDelGro's taxi service centre in Sin Ming Drive from as early as 9am until about noon yesterday.
From 10.30am, Traffic Police were on hand to untangle the gridlock that formed outside the premises, which are next to the Fiat car showroom.
Ms Jeslin Teo, chief executive of Fiat agent TTS Eurocars, said: 'We have another entrance to the showroom, but I had to make a few U-turns to get in today.'
Several ComfortDelGro staff were seen shepherding the cabs into the service centre, where the drivers waited for their turn.
A cabby who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim said: 'When I started my cab this morning, the terminal did not start up but there was a message telling us to come here...This is on our time and money.'
A ComfortDelGro spokesman said affected drivers will be compensated. She said each will get a one-off rental offset of about $25 - or roughly one-quarter of the daily rental rate of a cab - 'as a gesture of goodwill'.
'The gesture will cost the company $20,000.'
ComfortDelGro, which operates a $23 million satellite-based taxi dispatch system, said it was able to cater to all call bookings during the morning period despite the glitch.
The affected group of taxis represents only 5 per cent of ComfortDelGro's 15,000-strong fleet.
As there are over 24,000 taxis in Singapore, the glitch and its corresponding repair went largely unnoticed among commuters.
Rival taxi companies did not report any change in their cab booking numbers either yesterday.
A spokesman for SMRT Taxis said the company experienced 'no apparent surge' in call bookings yesterday morning. Smart Taxis also said there was 'no increase' in its bookings.
Demand for cabs has generally fallen in recent months due to the economic downturn.
According to the Land Transport Authority, call bookings last November numbered about 2.15 million, 9.3 per cent lower than in October and 20.4 per cent lower than in September.
