LTA issues certificates of registration to GrabTaxi and Hailo; what does it mean?

Here's what regulation does.

Jonathan Lim| December 01, 03:51 PM

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has released a statement announcing that it has issued certificates of registration to GrabTaxi and Hailo to operate their third-party taxi booking mobile applications in Singapore.

It is still processing applications submitted by UberTAXI, MoobiTaxi, Karhoo, and ConnexTaxi.

LTA added that "existing service providers which were already operating before 1 September 2015 are allowed to continue operating without a certificate of registration. As a transitory measure, if these existing service providers had applied to register with LTA before 1 December 2015, they will be allowed to operate without a certificate of registration until their application has been processed."

Operators who are found operating a third-party taxi booking app without being registered is liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

So here are conditions registered operators must comply with:

- Dispatch only licensed taxis and drivers holding valid Taxi Driver’s Vocational Licences

This ensures that commuters are served by taxis and taxi drivers who are operating legally in Singapore, i.e. they are regulated under LTA’s Taxi Quality of Service (QoS) and the Taxi Driver’s Vocational Licence (TDVL) regulatory frameworks.

Non-taxi booking options (e.g. booking of Private Hire Cars) must be differentiated from the taxi booking option, and commuters must be given the option to refuse such non-taxi options.

Are you jumping at the line that these third-party taxi-booking app operators have to make sure that commuters are served by taxi drivers with TDVLs? Does that mean all those Grab Car and UberX drivers can no longer ply the road?

Don't get mixed up. This whole registration is for TAXI-booking apps and not non-taxi options such as Grab Car and UberX drivers (the regulators are still trying to work out the regulatory framework on that one).

Which is to say when you book a taxi with GrabTaxi, a taxi driven by a driver with a valid licence should turn up at your doorstep, not a non-taxi.

 

- Fare-related safeguards for commuters

All information on fare rates, surcharges and fees payable for the journey must be specified to commuters upfront, before commuters accept the dispatched taxi. These include the flag-down fare, the distance and time rates, the booking fee charged by the service provider, and where applicable, peak period and location surcharges. Alternatively, third-party taxi booking services can provide commuters with the option to set their user preferences to automatically reject certain types of taxis or taxis with certain fare rates and surcharges.

To ensure that taxi services remain equally accessible to all members of the public, bidding and pre-trip tipping for taxi services are not allowed. In addition, the booking fees charged by third-party taxi booking services cannot exceed the booking fees charged by taxi companies.

Here's the line that will raise your eyebrow and your response depends on whether you are a cynic or not - "booking fees charged by third-party taxi booking services cannot exceed the booking fees charged by taxi companies"

Cynic's response: Eeeyer, gahmen again trying to protect the taxi companies. All these Temasek-linked companies. Pui.

Non-cynic's response: Oh great, third-party taxi booking services can only charge lower booking fees and not above that stated by taxi companies. Anyway, didn't GrabTaxi get investment from Temasek-owned firm Vertex Venture?

 

- Taxi booking services cannot require commuters to specify their destinations when making bookings

While the taxi industry has shared that knowing prospective passengers’ destinations can encourage drivers to accept bookings, there are concerns amongst commuters that some taxi drivers may avoid bookings to certain destinations. Thus, the regulatory framework prohibits third-party taxi booking services from requiring commuters to specify their destination when making bookings. Nevertheless, commuters can still do so if they wish to.

Everyone who needs to book a taxi to ulu parts of Singapore can now savour the sian look on the driver's face when you say "Uncle, Tuas South please!", or when you're at the airport and go, "Uncle, Tampines. Thanks!"

Currently, GrabTaxi's app still requires you to input your destination before a booking can be made. Perhaps this will change now that it is registered.

 

- Allow commuters to indicate special needs

Third-party taxi booking services must allow commuters to indicate special needs (e.g. wheelchair or bulky luggage).

More power to the consumer. Yes?

 

- Customer support services for commuters

Third-party taxi booking services will be required to provide basic customer support services, such as lost and found services and avenues for commuters to raise queries and complaints.

Ok.

 

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