Fears that customers would shy away from taxis, causing the earnings of cabbies to drop, seem to have been unfounded, according to surveys done by the country's two biggest taxi companies.

ComfortDelgro, the largest taxi operator here with about 15,000 of the country's 24,000 taxis, saw a 16 per cent increase in takings for a cabby's full day of work.

This is going by a survey of 5,000 meters. For a full-day shift, cabbies are earning $187.92 - up from $162 before the fare revision - even after deducting the cost of fuel and cab rental.

SMRT, which has about 3,000 taxis on the road, said cabbies reported a 20 per cent jump in gross income in the first quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter. The data came from a survey of about 300 taxi drivers.

As part of a move to ease taxi shortage and raise the drivers' earnings, the six taxi companies raised their starting metered fare from $2.50 to $2.80 in December.

The meter was also adjusted to tick faster with 20 cents charged for every 385m up to 10km travelled, compared to 10 cents for every 210m.

The peak hour surcharge was also tweaked from a flat $2 to 35 per cent of the metered fare. The surcharge for picking up passengers in the city centre also went up from $1 to $3.

After resisting taxis in favour of public transport, more commuters are going back to cabs.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.