This had served him well — until the pandemic struck and his income took a drastic hit as people stayed at home and preferred to book their rides on ride-hailing applications.
The entrance of ride-hailing applications such as Uber and Grab back in 2013 and 2014 respectively was met with derision by many taxi drivers who felt they had lost business to the new entrants. But not all senior taxi drivers whom TODAY spoke to were as open as Mr Oh to adapting to new technology.He recalled that when ride-hailing applications entered the Singapore market almost a decade ago, there was a strong temptation for taxi drivers to quit their transport companies and join these platforms.
Although he has been getting more customers of late due to the increase in transport demand following further relaxation of Covid-19 measures, his income has yet to see an uptick, he said. Statistics from 2019 show that about 34 per cent of those with a TDVL are 60 and above. In contrast, only 8.5 per cent of those with a Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence are above the age of 60, as of 2019.
British daily The Guardian reported in October last year that the tumultuous state of the medallion can be traced back to its artificial inflation. This trend was observed after Grab had entered the Malaysian market in 2012, while the decline was further exacerbated by the pandemic, with drivers leaving the profession as demand for rides fell.
Still, Singapore University of Social Sciences transport economist Walter Theseira said that it is not the end of the road for the taxi industry — provided it adapts. And the same goes for taxi drivers, regardless of age. As for older taxi drivers struggling to adapt, Assoc Prof Theseira noted that it does not make sense “to manipulate the market model for taxi services just to save these jobs”.As taxi drivers continue to grapple with falling incomes — amid ever-rising overhead costs, neverending competition from private-hire car services and lingering effects of the pandemic — the future of Singapore’s taxi industry has once again come under the spotlight.
Conversely, the number of private-hire vehicles skyrocketed more than threefold — from 18,847 in 2014 to 67,990 in 2021. While Uber exited from the Singapore market in 2018, new players such as Gojek and Tada also made their entry.While the past decade has seen a significant drop in the taxi fleet size and an increase in the number of private-hire vehicles, the pandemic has resulted in a general decline for both categories.
The average number of daily rides for both taxis and private-hire cars was 576,000 in January 2021, with the figure dropping to about 469,000 in June 2021, during the period of Phase 2 when there was a spike in Covid-19 cases in the community. The converse is true for ride-hail trips — those that involve customers calling in, or using the app to book. These are rides by both taxis and private-hire cars.
“Now, it’s different. We are competing on the basis of calls and customers who book us on the application,” said the 65-year-old, referring to the company’s ride-hailing application.under the Government’s new licensing framework for the P2P transport sector, along with three other P2P companies — Grab, Gojek and Tada Mobility.
Calling it quits was what former taxi driver Andy Guan, 40, did when he saw that his earnings were not increasing even though demand had been higher at the start of this year. “I’m now using an e-bike, and my daily operational cost is probably only S$3 to S$5 of electricity for charging… I don’t need to spend on fuel, daily rental, or think about summons, parking tickets and so on.”
He asked some taxi-driver friends for help, and they taught him how to download and use the Grab application on his smartphone. Soon, he was ferrying passengers in his taxi both the traditional way and based on Grab bookings. “Someone just needs to help you to download the application, and then help you to get familiar with it,” he said.For older commuters who have not warmed up to using mobile applications to book their rides, the shrinking number of taxis has left them standing on the roadside, literally, as they wait for a passing cab.
The entrance of ride-hailing applications was met with derision by many taxi drivers who felt they had lost business to the new entrants.
One will always remember how they turned on the “Busy” signal to wait for an “On-call”, and how they magically disappeared before the midnight surcharges kicked in. To them, too bad so sad.