SINGAPORE: ComfortDelGro (CDG) will offer a new flat fare option on its taxi booking app from Apr 10, it announced on Monday (Apr 3).
In a media release on Monday, CDG said its new flat fare option will be made available alongside the traditional metered fare and commuters will be able to choose the one that best suits them.
The flat fare option takes into account the distance to be travelled and computes a fare based on existing surcharges, CDG said.
Once a flat fare is chosen, there will be no additional surcharges levied unless the passenger changes the destination point or makes unplanned stops along the way. Travel delays due to traffic jams will not result in a higher fare, unlike the metered fare option, it added.
CDG CEO Yang Ban Seng said the flat fare option will provide passengers with upfront certainty for bookings, reducing confusion.
To encourage drivers to take on flat fare bookings, the company also said it would waive the call levy and reward those that take on the most number of flat fare bookings.
Flat fares are not currently available for taxis hailed along the street, advanced bookings and premium taxi services, CDG said.
Commuters using CDG’s mobile app will have the choice of a flat fare or metered fare when they make a booking from Apr 10. (Source: CDG)
The new feature comes less than a month after authorities gave the green light for taxi companies to introduce dynamic fares, popularly known as surge pricing.
Ride-hailing app Grab – which has exclusive partnerships with all Singapore taxi companies except CDG – announced soon after the approval that it would launch a new service offering fixed fares subject to surge pricing.
CDG said it is still exploring the possibility of dynamic fares, as it was “important to allow time for our drivers to get used to flat fares and for the company to monitor our fare pricing competitiveness in the market … (and) to ensure that our street hail customers are still being served”.
