SINGAPORE: The current fare surges plus difficulties in booking private hire vehicles and taxis were due to a higher requirement for rides as well as fewer drivers, Transport Minister S Iswaran said on Monday (Aug 1).
He was addressing a question by Member of Parliament (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) Saktiandi Supaat, who asked when the ministry has performed any studies to discover the causes of the higher fares and booking troubles.
In his written respond, Mr Iswaran declared that since January 2020, the number of active taxi and private car hire drivers has fallen by 18 % to about 57, 000 drivers as of June 2022.
The drop is due to the lower demand to get point-to-point transport throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Which is despite the Government setting aside more than S$530 million for support measures such as the COVID-19 Driver Relief Finance and the Special Reduction Fund, he additional.
However , demand to get such services has picked up sharply right after COVID-19 community secure management measures had been eased in March and April this season, Mr Iswaran stated.
This includes the reopening of international edges and the return of employees to the place of work.
“Daily point-to-point journeys have increased simply by 30, 000 within June 2022 when compared with February 2022, ” he said. “However, the number of point-to-point drivers has not increased since rapidly as demand, and this has led to fare surges plus booking difficulties. ”
He added that it will take time for your sector to adjust to the surge in demand right after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
“We are seeing signs that this market is reacting, ” he said. “Vocational licence applications have increased lately, and some drivers that left the point-to-point sector may slowly return in response to the larger demand.
“These will boost the supply of point-to-point drivers in the upcoming months. ”