THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) has turned down a marine company's application to be the seventh taxi operator here.

Tiong Asia Marine, which repairs, paints and cleans boilers for the shipping industry, applied in May, despite signs that the market was overcrowded.

An LTA spokesman said it had rejected the application 'after due consideration'. No reason was given.

Since the cab industry was liberalised in 2003, four newcomers have joined incumbents SMRT and ComfortDelGro. There are now around 24,700 cabs on the road - from just over 19,000 in 2003.

But taxi ridership figures have been sliding. For the financial year ended March, average cab ridership was 907,000 a day - down from 927,000 the year before and a record 991,000 three years ago.