SINGAPORE - All taxi and ride-hailing operators will have to notify passengers, drivers and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) within an hour of any systemic incidents that could impair the provision of point-to-point transport services.

This is part of a new set of standards that will be introduced, among a slew of other regulatory changes, as the authorities continue their review of the point-to-point transport sector.

To arrest a decline in the taxi fleet here, regulatory requirements will be tweaked to lower operating costs for taxi operators and, in turn, vehicle rental rates for cabbies.

They include extending the statutory lifespan of non-electric cabs from eight to 10 years.

LTA said the roll-out date for these regulatory changes will be announced later, adding that it will work with taxi and ride-hailing operators to incorporate the new requirements as part of their licence renewal.

During the debate on her ministry’s budget on March 5, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor said more people have come to rely on point-to-point transport operators for their commutes and livelihoods.

The new measures are aimed at minimising the impact of service disruptions and facilitating a stable supply of taxis and street-hail services, she added.

Once a systemic incident that could disrupt taxi or ride-hailing services is confirmed, operators must inform LTA, commuters and drivers within an hour, and they will have to submit an incident report outlining the measures taken to resolve the incident.

Additionally, ride-hailing operators must develop and regularly review contingency plans to mitigate future incidents, she said.

Another change is the minimum notice period that a taxi or ride-hailing operator must give if it intends to exit the Singapore market. Operators will have to submit an exit plan to LTA at least 120 days before surrendering their licence, up from 60 days now.

Operators exiting the market will also need to inform the public at least 60 days before surrendering their licence, so that passengers and drivers have enough time to take cash out of their electronic wallets and transition to other platforms.

For taxis, a number of changes will be made to make them more financially viable. To encourage more people to consider getting a taxi driver licence, LTA will streamline the training curriculum so that it takes less effort and costs less.

Dr Khor said the proportion of street-hail rides – where a taxi is flagged down – fell from 23 per cent in 2020 to 12 per cent in 2023.

During this period, the number of taxis also fell from 15,800 to 13,600.

But taxis and street-hail services continue to play an important role, serving passengers who may be less familiar with ride-hailing apps, she said.

Taxis are also critical in locations such as airports and ferry terminals, and they provide an important supply of rides, especially late at night when it is often more difficult to secure a private-hire car, she added.

The issue that the authorities have identified as part of its review is that taxis are subject to more stringent regulatory requirements than private-hire cars and this has led to higher operating costs.

Extending the statutory lifespan of non-electric taxis to 10 years will allow taxi operators to spread the cost of the vehicle over a longer period, Dr Khor said, and this can be done as the taxi fleet here is “highly roadworthy”.

She said taxis had a first inspection passing rate (FIPR) of 99.5 per cent in 2023, well above the 98 per cent passing standard for taxi operators.

To minimise downtime for cabbies, LTA will reduce the inspection frequency for taxis less than three years old to once yearly, from once every six months now.

On the flip side, Dr Khor said private-hire cars more than 10 years old had an FIPR of 84.5 per cent in 2023, below the 90 per cent passing standard for ride-hailing operators. To ensure these older vehicles are roadworthy, their inspection frequency will be cranked up from once a year to once every six months.

The requirement for smaller taxi operators to maintain a call-booking system will also be gradually removed, given the high cost relative to a low utilisation rate.

Dr Khor said the authorities are mindful that about 1 per cent of all taxi and ride-hailing trips are still booked via phone calls, and ComfortDelGro, which currently fulfils more than 99 per cent of such trips, will continue to offer this service.

“LTA will work with taxi operators to ensure that cost savings are passed to drivers,” she added.

On the ride-hailing front, changes will be made so that the needs of wheelchair users and families with young children are better met.

Dr Khor said LTA will work with operators to make it easy for passengers to indicate whether they have a foldable wheelchair or require a child seat, as not all ride-hailing apps offer these options upfront.

The apps will also need to indicate whether a matched vehicle can accommodate these needs, so that the passenger can book another ride within a grace period if he forgets to request the right vehicle type or if he is matched wrongly.

Private-hire car drivers who do not have enough boot space for a wheelchair or have no child seat in their vehicles will be allowed to cancel such bookings without penalty if the passenger did not indicate his needs or booked the wrong service. These moves will be rolled out towards the end of 2024, said Dr Khor.

Beyond these changes, she said LTA is studying suggestions for a separate certificate of entitlement category for private-hire cars, and it will address this in the next phase of its review, which will be completed by the second half of 2024.

LTA also intends to work with ride-hailing operators to make their apps more elderly-friendly, explore providing pick-up points that both taxis and private-hire cars can use, and look at whether operators with a larger market share should be held to higher regulatory standards.

Separately, to help taxi and private-hire car drivers who use electric vehicles (EVs) top up their batteries faster during the day, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said on March 5 that the Government will deploy a total of 120 fast chargers at about 60 Housing Board carparks islandwide, including those in Boon Lay, Redhill, Kallang Bahru, Tampines and Woodlands.

These fast chargers will be in HDB commercial buildings, and town and neighbourhood centres, as well as government agency JTC Corporation’s industrial premises that are frequented by high-mileage EV drivers during their breaks.

LTA said in response to queries it will leverage a large-scale tender awarded in 2022 to deploy a portion of these 120 fast chargers. A separate tender will be called for the remaining chargers.

Dr Khor said concerns have been raised over non-EVs misusing EV charging parking spots, and the hogging of such spaces.

In response to this, LTA will be distributing educational material to the public later in 2024 to instil good EV-charging behaviour, and it will look into suggestions such as allowing EV drivers to reserve charging spaces in advance.

In January and February, about 30 per cent of new cars registered here were EVs. Almost 50 per cent were hybrids.

During the debate, Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC), adviser to the National Taxi Association and National Private Hire Vehicles Association, urged the Transport Ministry to introduce more safeguards to protect drivers’ earnings and support those who face challenges going online.

She said point-to-point drivers face immense pressure owing to escalating costs, with many driving 14 hours or more daily to make ends meet. Other issues they face include a lack of transparency when it comes to the distribution of work, hidden costs and unclear earning structures.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast GRC), chief executive of taxi operator Strides Premier, later asked Dr Khor whether more is being done to level the playing field between taxis and private-hire cars.

“I’m not sure if these new measures are too little, too late. I hope not,” he said.

In response, Dr Khor said the proposed changes are those that can be made quickly to help taxi companies reduce operating costs.

She added: “By nature, (taxis and private-hire cars) complement each other, and they work on slightly different models... That’s the reason why we are looking into how we can maintain a stable and adequate supply of taxis.”