LTA could do more to help taxi drivers: Taxi association

SINGAPORE: The National Taxi Association on Wednesday (Nov 26) responded to changes to the Taxi Availability (TA) standards, saying the Land Transport Authority (LTA) could have gone further in assisting taxi drivers facing challenges meeting the requirements.

The LTA on Wednesday announced it would apply the third-year TA standards from Jan 1, 2015, which meant the minimum percentage of taxis required on the roads will be increased to 85 per cent of each taxi operators fleet during the core peak periods of 7am to 11am and 5pm to 11pm.

Additionally, the minimum percentage of taxis plying at least 250km daily will be increased to 85 per cent on weekdays, from the current 80 per cent. However, this will be lowered to 75 per cent on weekends and on public holidays.

Responding to the changes, NTA outlined three areas the LTA should consider: Shortage of relief drivers; computation of taxi vehicles in TA; and the changing taxi industry landscape.

WANTED: RELIEF DRIVERS

For the issue of relief drivers, NTA said while the percentage of shift drivers has increased from 53 per cent in 2012 to 66 per cent as at September 2014, this still translates to about 10,000 taxi drivers who are one-man operators that drive long hours and may fall short of the TA requirements.

It said that these operators face difficulties in finding relief drivers due to a decline in the pool of Taxi Driver Vocational Licence (TDVL) holders, as well as competition from taxi operators looking for drivers to hire their taxis that have not been taken by other drivers. The number of TDVL holders dropped to 99,392 in August 2014, from a high of 100,382 at the beginning of the year.

Such developments ultimately impact the ability of operators to meet the TA requirements and the unintended outcome would be additional pressure on taxi drivers to meet the revised requirements, NTA stated.

As a possible solution, NTA reiterated its suggestion of encouraging new TDVL holders to join the industry as relief drivers first. With majority of taxi drivers already driving 12 hours a day, the key is to make every taxi work hard, not the drivers, it said.

It added more than 50 per cent of TDVL holders are currently inactive, and reaching out to them to rejoin the driver pool will go a long way in addressing taxi availability.

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LTA could do more to help taxi drivers: Taxi association