Death of street-hailing? 'Very hard' to hail a cab by the road now, say drivers and passengers

SINGAPORE: Taxi driver Chan Kim Min's passenger waited 40 minutes at the taxi stand outside OG People's Park before he happened to drive by. 

The passenger had not called for a cab, Mr Chan recounted to CNA about the passenger he picked up in February.

It surprised the 67-year-old, who has been driving a ComfortDelGro taxi for 24 years, as he is used to accepting bookings from passengers who have called a cab or those that come in through his company's booking app, CDG Zig.

"If you want to flag down a cab by the road nowadays, it's very hard to get one," he said in Mandarin.

While his passenger did not express frustration at the long wait time, a recent survey found that passengers' satisfaction with taxi and private-hire car services dropped in 2022, with the score for wait time falling the most. 

Respondents in the Public Transport Council on customer satisfaction for point-to-point transport services survey were asked to indicate on a scale of one to 10 the importance of, and their satisfaction with, key service attributes, based on their most recent journey in a taxi or private-hire car.

The survey results released on Feb 6 found that satisfaction with taxi stand accessibility and waiting time scored the lowest at 7.6 and 7.1 respectively. 

HARDER TO GET A CAB

Passengers who still flag down taxis noted it is "impossible" to get a ride the conventional way, said those who spoke to CNA.

One passenger, Ms Natalie Pang, "very rarely takes cabs in the first place", but if she does, she would wait by the road or at a taxi stand. 

The 35-year-old only turns to an app if she needs a cab late at night and uses the CDG Zig app exclusively. 

"(Hailing a cab on the) main road is impossible, but I once by chance managed to flag down one taxi in the last seven months," she said.

Another passenger, Ms Keryn Wai, added that while it is hard to hail a cab by the road, it is not any easier at a taxi stand as many drivers prefer passengers to have a booking.  

"I've been told by taxi uncles that (the number of taxis) reduced a lot since COVID, and that's why there aren't that many on the road now. A portion of those who are left are doing Grab, Gojek, Tada too. So they prefer to wait for business via the apps or even the ComfortDelGro bookings," the 31-year-old said. 

Mr Chan said that he would also share similar reasons with his passengers when they complain to him that it is increasingly difficult to flag down a cab. 

The shortage of drivers is an industry-wide trend. The number of monthly active point-to-point drivers fell from around 69,000 pre-pandemic to 55,000 in the last quarter of 2022, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor said in Parliament on Mar 3. 

The decline is steeper for taxi drivers, with about 9,000 fewer active drivers compared to pre-pandemic. Many drivers who left the industry were those driving night or weekend shifts, she added.

The lack of drivers has thus resulted in high surge fares and longer waiting times, especially during the late evening or at night.

Ms Wai, who used to take cabs at least two to three times a week, has since cut down to once a week at most. When she is running late, she waits by the roadside or a taxi stand while trying her luck on ride-hailing apps.

But most of the time, "the apps come through (with a ride) first", she said.

FEWER PASSENGERS ALONG THE ROAD 

Even as street-hailing passengers struggle to get a ride, drivers, too, struggle to pick up passengers along the road.

Data from the Land Transport Authority revealed a huge difference between the amount of street-hailing and ride-hailing trips over the last two years. 

The average daily number of ride-hail trips was about four times the average daily number of street-hail trips for each month in 2021, with this gap widening in 2022. 

In November 2021, for instance, the average number of daily street-hail trips was 112,000, compared to an average of 451,000 daily ride-hail trips. That same month in 2022, the average number of daily street-hail trips sunk to 97,000, while the average number of daily ride-hail trips jumped to 496,000. 

Those who flag down a taxi by the road are "usually above 50 years old", pointed out Mr Chan.

"There is the occasional younger passenger, but they're usually waiting at a taxi stand," he said, highlighting the passenger who had waited for 40 minutes.

Another driver, who only wanted to be known as Mr Chia, agreed that "very few flag down" his taxi these days. "Almost all use the (ComfortDelGro) app and phone," the 72-year-old said.

While fewer street-hailing passengers have not affected Mr Chia's take-home salary much, Mr Chan has seen his pay dip by several hundred dollars a month. But the latter does not want to get onto ride-hailing apps, as there is "too much competition" there.

"I'm an old-timer already, I don't want to fight with others. My salary will definitely be less (without a ride-hailing app), but I've accepted it," he said. 

SURGE PRICING 

Those who choose to hail a cab by the road, despite having ride-hailing apps installed on their phones, said the surge pricing on ride-hailing apps is a turn-off. 

Ms Wai once checked that a ride from Newton to Serangoon would have cost her S$22 to S$25 on a ride-hailing app during peak hour. In the end, she hailed a taxi along the street for S$12.

"The ride-hailing apps have been more expensive recently, with Grab being the worst. There is almost always a surge pricing, 30 to 80 per cent more than the usual. The few times I managed to flag down a cab, it's 30 per cent cheaper than any of the (ride-hailing) apps," she said. 

"And it's one thing to be expensive, but by the time I finally get a taxi or a ride via the apps during (peak hour) timings, I could have just taken public transport. It's even worse when it's raining," she added. 

Ms Pang only uses the CDG Zig app and is not on other ride-hailing platforms. 

"I think I downloaded the Grab app in 2020 only. And when I used it, the prices were always higher than ComfortDelGro and (the ride was) always slower to arrive," she said. 

Likewise, Mrs Diane Tan, a 32-year-old mother, estimated the wait time for a Grab ride to be longer than hailing a cab along the main road or at a taxi stand these days.

While she tries to use public transport as much as possible and hardly uses ride-hailing apps anymore due to inflation, she noted that when there is a price surge on these apps and it is not during peak hour, taking a "normal cab might be cheaper". 

"Anyway, things like (the availability of) e-payments are no longer differentiating factors, because if I flag down a cab, I can still pay by card and so on," she added.