Follow Singapore Investment Immigration, follow Singapore Life: In Singapore, where the cost of owning a private car is among the highest in the world, taxis are a vital means of transportation. Regarding emerging ride-hailing apps, Singapore stipulates that to ensure passengers ride with legally licensed taxi drivers, service providers must be drivers holding a Singapore taxi license and driving vehicles registered as taxis.
Singapore currently has four ride-hailing app operators: Grab Taxi, EasyTaxi, Uber, and Hailo. Among them, the British company Hailo entered the Singapore market only in October last year.
To vie for market share, various ride-hailing apps frequently launch irregular promotional offers, such as one-day fare discounts, waived booking fees, and cashback incentives.
In response, Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) stated last November that to protect the interests and safety of passengers, it plans to regulate third-party ride-hailing app services in the second quarter of 2015. Under these regulations, all drivers and vehicles providing such services must meet five criteria.
Drivers holding a taxi license and vehicles registered as taxis are the primary requirements. Furthermore, all drivers and vehicles providing third-party ride-hailing services must apply for registration with the LTA in advance; those who succeed in their application will be issued a qualification certificate valid for three years.
Third, all charges and surcharges during the journey, including flag-down fares, distance, time, and booking fees, as well as peak-hour surcharges, must be disclosed to passengers in advance. Additionally, booking fees using ride-hailing apps must not exceed the rates implemented by existing taxi companies.
Fourth, to ensure that the public has equal access to taxi services and to prevent drivers from rejecting passengers, the LTA stipulates that when booking a taxi via a ride-hailing app, there is no need to inform the driver of the destination in advance.
In addition, the LTA also mandates that all ride-hailing service providers must offer basic customer service, including lost and found services, inquiries, and complaint handling.
Beyond ride-hailing apps, major taxi operating companies in Singapore also provide convenient and prompt telephone and SMS booking services. After experiencing these, the reporter felt that, to a certain extent, SMS booking is even more reliable than ride-hailing apps, as the majority of drivers still accept SMS bookings.
The LTA also launched a service at the end of last year providing passengers with information on the number and availability of nearby taxis, though it does not currently support booking services. Furthermore, the government is testing a taxi information system based on thermal sensing and smart camera technology to notify taxi companies of passenger waiting data at taxi stands in real time, so that vehicles can be dispatched to meet service demand.
