SINGAPORE – Taxi drivers will not be required to clock a minimum daily mileage starting from next year (2017).
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Saturday (Dec 17) that it will be simplifying its Taxi Availability (TA) framework and scrapping the requirement for cabbies to ply at least 250km every day.
The authority explained that in recent years, taxi booking apps have enabled a better matching between cabs and commuters.
There are also more options for commuters such as private-hire car services the likes of Uber and Grab, the LTA added.
While the daily minimum mileage requirement will be scrapped, the LTA said it will maintain regulations requiring the bulk of a taxi operator’s fleet to be on the roads during peak hours.
It will, however, simplify this by removing the requirement for what is called the “shoulder peak”, of between 6am and 7am, and 11pm and midnight.
Between the peak periods of 7am to 11am, and 5pm to 11pm, taxi operators have to continue to ensure than 85 per cent of its fleets are on the roads.
The TA framework was introduced back in 2013 to help commuters get a taxi.
The LTA said that with TA, the percentage of taxis on the road during peak hours has increased from 82 per cent in 2012, to 93 per cent in the first nine months of this year.
The move was welcomed by the National Taxi Association (NTA), which said that the revisions will help cabbies to minimise empty cruising.
This article was first published on December 17, 2016.
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