SMRT Taxis extends full rental waiver, expands food delivery tie-ups

TO help cushion the financial impact of "circuit-breaker" measures, SMRT Taxis will continue to provide the full rental waiver for its cabbies until June 1, 2020.

This extension will cost SMRT an additional S$6 million, bringing the total support for its cabbies to around S$20 million, the company said on Wednesday.

"We would like to assure our taxi partners that we're taking care of them during this difficult period," said Tony Heng, senior vice-president of SMRT Road Holdings. "We're constantly exploring other ways to support our taxi partners."

To provide jobs for cabbies whose livelihoods have been "badly affected" by the tighter restrictions during the pandemic, the company has also been expanding its collaborations with food and beverage (F&B) operators on delivery orders.

So far, SMRT has recruited 400 taxi drivers to support its F&B partners, including restaurant reservation firm Chope.

SMRT aims to recruit more than 500 drivers in total, to support these delivery tie-ups.

The company is also participating in community initiatives such as Project Makan, with its Strides Transportation private-hire vehicle drivers delivering food to needy children and their families that are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Strides, a subsidiary of SMRT Taxis, provides vehicle leasing and chauffeur services.

About 30 Strides drivers have stepped forward to help deliver meals twice a day to some 500 families, SMRT said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, SMRT has been helping its cabbies find short-term job options as well as opportunities for a career change to become bus captains with SMRT Buses.

For those who are still driving taxis and limousines, the company is generating more trips for them, such as by getting its business partners to buy taxi vouchers in bulk. Within SMRT, all staff have been asked to take SMRT taxis for their work trips if they are using point-to-point services.