Transportation Woes

The cost of living is rising everywhere. It is more expensive in Canada in the months I was living there, especially since the CAD was on par or around the same as USD, yet the same items cost more than in the States.

And in Singapore, I was treated to the news of taxi fares rising (courtesy of TODAY in the plane from Japan to Singapore). I have been back for close to a month now and I noticed the gas is between S$1.90 - S$2.00 a litre. The other impact of rising cost of fuel is the increase of electricity bills. Other increase is flour, cooking oil (ration in effect in Malaysia now), etc but that is another issue.

Transportation. Already it is still a luxury to own a vehicle in Singapore with the road tax, insurance, COE, gas and parking charges etc. Even with a 90% loan on a small car, I believe it will still add to close to S$1k a month to pay for all the necessary (excluding maintenance and unexpected expenses). So that leaves majority of people relying on the public transportation.

Apparently bus fares went up recently in October 2007. It is considered not much as it was a few cents, when compared to Canada but unlike in Canada where a one-way trip is valid for 90 mins including transfers on bus/train/seabus, here it is based on per trip/mode of transport.

The increased taxi fares are the most confusing this time round. And didn't we just have an increase in early 2007?

Effective 17 December 2007, here are the rates for Comfort-Delgro:
Meter Fare
The first 1 kilometre or less
Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric Taxis - $2.80
Hyundai Sonata Taxis - $3.00
Limousine Taxis (Sovereign, Presido, MaxiCab & LimoCab) - $3.20

Every 385 metres thereafter or less up to 10 km - $0.20
Every 330 metres thereafter or less after 10 km - $0.20

Every 45 seconds of waiting or less - $0.20

Booking Fee
Comfort Transportation
Current Booking *
Prime Time
Mondays to Fridays:
7.00am to 9.30am/5.00pm to 11.00pm - $3.50

Non-Prime Time
All other times (including Saturdays, Sundays and all Public Holidays) - $2.50

Advance Booking (at least half an hour in advance) - $5.20

Limousine Taxis
Current Booking * - $8.00
Advance Booking (at least half an hour in advance) - $16.00
*Applicable at the time booking job is confirmed.

City Area Surcharge
Monday - Saturday : 5.00pm to Midnight - $3.00
*Applicable for cab hired within the CBD area and at the time of boarding. Not applicable on Public Holidays and payable on top of the Peak Period Premium.

ERP Charges
Passengers are required to bear the ERP charge shown on the upper display of the In-vehicle Unit. The ERP charge is deducted each time the taxi passes under the ERP gantry.

Peak Period Premium
Monday - Friday : 7.00am to 9.30am/5:00pm to 8:00pm - 35% ofmetered fare
*Not applicable on Public Holidays.

Public Holiday Surcharge
From 6.00pm on the eve of a Public Holiday to Midnight of the day of the Public Holiday*. (ie: the five major public holidays, New Year's Day, first and second of Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Chirstmas Day) - $1.00
*Applicable at the time of boarding Where the public holiday falls on a Sunday and the following Monday is a holiday, the Public Holiday surcharge will be payable up to Midnight of Monday.

Late Night Surcharge
Midnight - 5.59am - 50% of metered fare

Others
a. Every trip starting from Changi Airport, Changi Air Freight Centre, Airport Police Station and Airport Logistics Park of Singapore
Friday to Sunday (5.00pm to Midnight) - $5.00
All other times - $3.00

b. Every trip starting from Seletar Airport - $3.00

c. Every trip starting from Singapore Expo Centre - $2.00

d. - A surcharge pegged to the prevailing ERP rate is payable by passengers alighting at Fuji Xerox Towers along Anson Road.

e. A 10% administrative charge on top of total metered fare is applicable for Credit and Charge Card payments. The prevailing GST is chargeable on top of the 10% administrative charge.

f. A $0.30 administrative charge on top of total metered fare is applicable for NETS payment.

That is more or less the gist of the taxi fares structures in Singapore. How convoluted is that? It is never a simple matter of paying according to the meter.

So with this inrease in taxi fares, I have kinda cut down on my use of taxis now (unless absolutely necessary).

So far I have taken taxis maybe 4-6 times since I came back, which is like a record for me now and I have actually taken the last train home (last train at 11:40pm and last bus at 11:15pm - reason why I usually take taxis home as no bus for me when I go out late).

It is around a 30% fare increase on non-peak hours for me. What used to be $6+ trip is now $8+ from Paragon. And with midnight charge, it came to around $18 when previously I could even get back at $10 or max $12 from Orchard. And taxi from Serangoon MRT is now $3.40, up from $2.80 or 3.00. Taxi from Liat Towers is now $10+ compared to $8+.

So yeah, I am so NOT happy with the taxi fare increase. And I thoroughly dislike the way the newspapers always compared the fares in Singapore with places like NY, London, Tokyo, etc where they convert the various countries currencies into Singapore dollars and said how cheap it still is in Singapore. They should do the comparison dollar to dollar and add in the average pay those people get in their home countries.

Again, as usual. Everything is going up, except people's salary (unless you are working in the Singapore government ;p)