According to an article on Asiaone, the Transport Mini$ter Raymond Lemon Lim said:
Based on figures provided by ComfortDelGro, Singapore’s biggest taxi operator, cabbies are pocketing about $11 more a day, earning about $318.
By the most conservative calculation based on metered fare alone, fares have gone up by 8.3%. (That figure is derived by the old metered fare of 20cts every 420m then compared to only 385m now. i.e. 35/420, which is approximately 8.3%.)
However, the cabbie has only earned $11 more, netting them $318 now which means they used to earn about $307 formerly. That translates into just 3.6% increase in income. Not even a 50% increase of the 8.3% fare increase!
And that isn’t the best part yet. The cabbie needs to make about 16 trips of $20 to make that amount a day. $11 over 16 trips means each cabbie is making about 69cts a trip.
Now compared that to our PM’s pay which increased 22.5% (from $3.1 million to $3.8 million) and clearly, the fare increments are * gasp * NOT enough!
They should do more to help cabbies… increase the fares even more! And along with that perhaps now we don’t even need to wait more than a minute for a cab compared to the impressive average of 6 minutes that Lemon Lim is boasting about.
Addendum
The last cabbie I chat with told me… a Toyota Crown’s rental is about $92 a day and I heard the new Sonatas are more than $100. For an income of $318, 1/3 of that goes to pay the company renting them the cab. Now, if I am not wrong, COE prices has come down quite a bit compared to several years ago… do we see a comparative drop in rental to assist the cabbies?
So much for having done all they could to help cabbies.
Erm DG, it’s xtrocious, not xtralicious…I haven’t tasted myself, so I can’t say if I am xtralicious :p
But this is just what the gahmen wants us to do – work like robots…this way, you have less chance for mischief…hahah
Jialat> Thanks for pointing out. It’s been corrected. 🙂
Jin Dulan> LOL! I agree with you, absolutely. In fact, I’ll buy even more than just 3 lots of their share.
SL> Thanks for sharing with us the rental per day of a Sonata. I knew it was above $100. Just didn’t know if it’s $102 or $106.
xtrocious> It will take up 8.6 hrs to earn $318 dollars for a 40 mins $25 trip. And each trip will have to be back to back. Which means the poor cabbie, cannot shit, cannot eat, cannot rest a little bit. Now perhaps they need to sing a song…
“Driving cab is no fun, drive from morn till sat of sun. Cannot shit and cannot eat. Cannot rest a little bit…”
I think Today did a story today (pun not intended) that the widely quoted S$318 actually refers to 2 shifts i.e. only S$159 per 12 hour shift…
Prior to that, I actually did some back of the envelope calculations to find out the magnitude of achieving such a sum…
I frequently need to take cabs to the airport from my place in Bukit Gombak and each trip would average around S$25 for a 40-minute ride…
So for the cabbie to make S$318 (before the clarification), he would have to complete nearly 13 of such trips that would take him a total of 8.5 hours, assuming he drives non-stop and there is no traffic jams along the way…
Realistic? Hmmm…sigh
I am driving a Sonata for CityCab. My night shift rental is $51 ($51 x 2 = $102 per day.)
if it is $92 dollar a month .. i do not need to buy a car liao .. i just go rent a taxi … then CD is really doing a GREAT community service … n i guaranteed i will not complain anymore! LOL
“a Toyota Crown’s rental is about $92 a month”, hey, I think it should be “a day” right?