ST forum letter writer ruthlessly destroys what taxi man Ang Hin Kee claims about lowering prices

Gurmit Singh Kullar is the hero we deserve, and also the hero that we need right now.

Nyi Nyi Thet | April 26, 2016, 10:59 AM

You might have read a widely shared article over the weekend where the National Taxi Association's executive advisor Ang Hin Kee stumbled through explained why price cuts by ride sharing apps are ultimately harmful to Singaporeans.

The gist of his beef with price cuts? There is a potential for these ride-sharing apps to go on a price hike of gargantuan proportions after ruining the market of the innocent, benevolent taxi companies.

Now, you might be thinking: Isn't it a bit hypocritical for what is essentially a monopoly to be giving dire warnings about the harmful nature of monopolies?

Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black, and then chastising the potential harm a blackened kettle will have on the Singaporean people?

That's probably a rather weak analogy, so I'll turn it over to Mr. Gurmit Singh Kullar, who wrote the forum letter equivalent of a first round knockout.

The letter

The writer wasted no time in laying out what he saw as the crux of the issue at hand.

"It is unfair for the National Taxi Association (NTA) to criticise Grab and Uber's creative business strategies when some of the taxi body's members' bad behaviour is the source of the problem to begin with."

He then dove further into what he considered "bad behaviour".

"Even today, the bad behaviour persists — choosing customers by destination, zooming by taxi queues or hiding in carparks to wait for bookings to come in, not accepting electronic payment and disappearing before the surcharges kick in."

Now I can feel some of you nodding vigorously in agreement — well, prepare your Tiger Balm plasters because Gurmit was dropping stone cold gems all over the place.

Next, he highlighted the extent to which the LTA had gone in order to ensure more taxis stay on the road.

"The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had to step in to introduce city area and other surcharges to entice taxi drivers to stay on the streets.

Now, a commuter booking a taxi in the Central Business District in the evening could be paying close to $10 without the taxi having moved an inch — three times the regular flag-down fare."

But noted, quite rightly, that even with those measures, the problems people have with taxis prevailed.

"Still, these measures did not improve the availability of taxis, and the LTA subsequently imposed a 250km daily coverage requirement."

Gurmit also highlighted an oft-ignored fact by executives like Ang Hin Kee, that taxi drivers are also able to join third-party ride sharing apps.

Adaptability is a huge part of survival, and taxi drivers aren't exempt from the need to evolve in both service aptitude and technological savviness.

"If taxi drivers aren't willing to adapt, commuters will readily find alternative service providers who meet their needs, regardless of price."

He ended off the fireball of a letter with some words of wisdom.

"One cannot blame entrepreneurship for solving customers' problems, and most certainly, one cannot ask to be saved from a fire while fanning the embers."

TL;DR: Competition is always good.

 

Top image taken by Gerald Chan

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