SINGAPORE - ComfortDelGro, the largest taxi operator here, clocked a record 35.6 million taxi bookings in 2014. In a statement on Wednesday, it said that the new record - about 10 per cent higher than 2013 - was set despite growing competition from independent third party booking apps.

About half of these bookings were made through its taxi booking mobile app, which was downloaded 2.5million times during the year, the group said in a media release on Wednesday.

The most popular day for taxi bookings was Oct 31, one of the wettest Fridays in 2014. Over 124,000 bookings were made, 28 per cent more than the daily average.

Demand peaked in August when the southwest monsoon hit. Over 3.1 million bookings were made that month, 6 per cent higher than the monthly average.

The group is giving out taxi or diesel vouchers to 50 cabbies with the highest number of bookings for the year. This includes a 16-year veteran who clocked more than 8,300 booking jobs in 2014, which works out to an average of about 23 jobs a day.

ComfortDelGro has revamped its taxi booking app. It can now recommend routes and provide fare estimates, among other new features.

The group plans to extend the app to its businesses in United Kingdom and Australia. The app will be rolled out in Perth, Western Australia, later this year.

Its chief executive Yang Ban Seng said: "By extending our newly enhanced booking app to our sister companies, we hope to be able to improve the overall travel experience for our customers - wherever they are."