Taxi flag-down rate up due to COEs

[ChewCheng]

COE goes up, taxi rental goes up but when COE comes down.

All keep quiet as if nothing has changed.

SINGAPORE - If you hail one of 300 new Chevrolet Epica taxis operated by TransCab, expect to see a flag-down fare of $3.60 on the meter.

The transport operator rolled out a new fleet of such taxis in January this year and raised the flag-down fares for these cabs by 20 cents from $3.40.

The fare hike was due to higher Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices at the time, said TransCab general manager Jasmine Tan yesterday.

She said the COE for the new fleet of taxis in January was about $90,000 per car, up from about $50,000 previously.

Some 1,000 taxis of the same model that TransCab rolled out in September 2011 continue to have a flag-down fare of $3.40.

Commuters will be able to differentiate the new taxis from the old by the colour of their window rims.

The older taxis have white window rims and white tops while the newer ones have red window rims instead.

The rise in COE prices is why rental rates for drivers differ for the two types of cabs as well, Ms Tan explained. The new ones cost drivers $123.05 a day, compared to $115.56 for the old.