ComfortDelGro to temporarily increase taxi fares on spike in fuel prices

FROM April 4, ComfortDelGro will be temporarily increasing distance fares on all its taxis due to a spike in fuel prices, said the transport company on Monday (Mar 28).

For regular taxis, distance-timed rates will rise by 1 Singapore cent every 400m (or every 350m after 10km) and waiting-time fees will go up by 1 cent every 45 seconds.

The flagdown fare, which was increased from March 1 by 20 cents, will remain unchanged, said ComfortDelGro in a media release.

This means that fares will increase by about 32 Singapore cents for every 10 km travelled.

Assuming a taxi driver makes an average of 10 to 12 trips a day, this would improve their daily earnings by between S$3.20 and S$3.84.

"This will help to cushion the impact of the recent surge in fuel prices, which has increased their daily fuel costs by between S$3.55 and S$13.50 in the last month alone," said ComfortDelGro.

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It added that this fuel-related price increase is introduced following strong feedback from its drivers. This temporary hike will be reviewed by the end of May this year and removed if fuel prices go down.

ComfortDelGro's move comes after several ride-hailing platforms, such as Grab, Gojek and Tada, also took similar measures. 

The transport company said that global oil prices have increased by over 50 per cent in the last six months, about a-third of which occurred in the last month alone, resulting in market pump prices crossing above S$3.

Jackson Chia, chief executive officer of ComfortDelGro Taxi, said the decision to introduce the temporary fuel-linked fare hike was taken after very careful consideration.

He said that taxi drivers are paying close to 14 per cent more in March, than what they were paying in February. This is despite the company partially absorbing the increase in fuel costs.

"The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has wrecked havoc on global fuel prices. In the last month alone, the price of petrol has surged by 21 per cent," he said.

"Even with the ongoing rental rebates and the special one-off rental rebate, drivers are still finding it difficult to make ends meet. We hope commuters will understand that this move is a measure of last resort and will be removed once fuel prices return to reasonable levels," he added.

This is the second time ComfortDelGro hiked fares due to an increase in fuel prices. The first fuel-related increase took place in 2008.

Shares in ComfortDelGro ended trading on Monday at S$1.48, up S$0.10 or 0.68 per cent.

READ MORE:

• Grab follows Gojek, Tada with temporary fee to help drivers defray costs

• ComfortDelGro taxi fare hike paves way for peers to take a similar tack

• Five taxi operators lodge fare adjustments with PTC, following hikes by CDG announced 2 weeks ago