Letter to the editor
Hi The Independent,
I really enjoy reading your website because of the fresh perspective you often bring when you report any news. So I did some calculations on ComfortDelGro’s empty taxis recently and thought you would be interested in it.
It was recently reported that the taxi industry in Singapore has an idle rate of 9.1%, I think this figure could possibly be higher now, especially for ComfortDelGro.
Based on LTA’s latest figures, ComfortDelGro has 15472 Comfort and CityCab taxis in their fleet. Taking the idle rate of 9.1%, that adds up to around 1408 cabs.
However, TODAY recently reported that more than 3,000 ComfortDelGro cabbies have expressed interest in joining Grab. This means that the number of idle cabs under their belt could go up to at least 4408. This also means that ComfortDelGro could possibly have a new idle rate of 28.5%.
It is also reported that the economics of the taxi business here is such that the costs of having 1 idle taxi requires about 7 hired taxis to cover. With the new idle rate, this means that ComfortDelGro has around 1 idle taxi to 3 hired taxis, and they could be in trouble.
Anyway, just thought all the entrance of Grab/Uber is making things very interesting for the taxi industry, esp ComfortDelGro, in Singapore.
Best regards,
William Tan