SINGAPORE - To meet the spike in demand for taxis and private-hire cars since the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, the industry has been adjusting and steadily expanding, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor.
In 2022, there were 950 new applications for taxi and vocational licences a month, compared with around 650 a month in 2021.
The number of daily trips has also increased by 32,000 on average, 6 per cent higher than in 2021. There was an average of 530,000 daily trips last October compared with 585,000 in the same period this year, the latest month for which there is available data from the Land Transport Authority.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Dr Khor cited the reopening of Singapore’s borders and more employees returning to the workplace as pandemic measures ease as reasons for the rise in demand for taxi and private-hire car services.
Fares for taxis and private-hire cars have gone up, while such services have become harder to book, due to a reduced pool of active drivers as many of them had left the sector over the course of the pandemic, The Straits Times reported earlier this year.
In August, Transport Minister S. Iswaran said in response to a parliamentary question that the number of active taxi and private-hire car drivers here has fallen by 18 per cent since January 2020, to about 57,000 as at June this year.
Industry players here said they have been actively trying to onboard new drivers, while encouraging vocational licence holders who had left the industry to return.
“Demand for taxi services has picked up significantly since the reopening of the Singapore economy,” said a ComfortDelGro spokesman. “The shortage of drivers is, however, still acute and we continue to work hard at trying to recruit more drivers to our network.”
In November, the taxi operator teamed up with ride-hailing platform Gojek to jointly address the issue of driver shortage by giving Gojek users access to ComfortDelGro taxis via the Gojek app.
By looking at improving ride fulfilment rates, and thus driver welfare and earnings, the hope is that this will encourage vocational licence holders to rejoin the industry, said Mr Jackson Chia, chief executive of ComfortDelGro’s private mobility group.
The two firms also said that they will look at sharing resources, such as electric vehicles, and in other areas including insurance, driver training and vehicle maintenance.
On Thursday, Dr Khor conveyed her appreciation for taxi and private-hire drivers during the festive season by visiting Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road to spread Christmas cheer to them.
In her Facebook post, Dr Khor said: “I would like to convey my appreciation and thanks to all our drivers out there for continuing to provide us with essential transport services during this busy festive period.”
