SINGAPORE – Taxi drivers will get more protection from fare evaders when new penalties kick in from May 9, the Public Transport Council (PTC) said on April 29.
Passengers who do not pay their taxi fares will be fined $200 for the first offence and $400 for the second offence, on top of the restitution payment of the unpaid taxi fare. This is up from the $100 and $200 fines currently enforced.
Repeat offenders who commit three or more offences and offenders who do not make a restitution payment of the unpaid taxi fare will be taken to court.
According to PTC Chief Executive Alvin Chia, there has been a rise in taxi fare evasion cases in recent years. In 2015, there were a total of 240 fare evasion cases, three times more than iin 2013, and a 90 per cent increase from the 125 cases in 2014.
ljessica@sph.com.sg
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