A S$77 million support package to help taxi and private-hire car operators affected by the Covid-19 outbreak was announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Feb. 13.
The government will contribute S$45 million towards the package, with the remaining contributed by taxi and private-hire car operators.
Eligible drivers to receive up to $20 per day
The Point-to-Point support package (PPSP) comprises of two components for the drivers.
The largest component is a $73 million special relief fund (SRF) to help active full-time taxi and PHC drivers defray business costs.
It comprises $41 million in government contributions and $32 million in operator contributions.
About 40,000 eligible drivers will receive up to $20 per vehicle per day for three months.
Of this, the government will contribute $10 per vehicle per day, with the remainder coming from contributing taxi and PHC operators.
Eligible taxi hirers will automatically receive the relief through their taxi operators starting tomorrow (14 Feb 14 2020), with no need for applications.
Active drivers who do not qualify for the SRF can also benefit from some financial assistance.
The Government and National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) will jointly set up a Government & NTUC Driver Care Fund for needy drivers, with the Government contributing $2.7 million towards this fund.
Waiver of licence fees
The LTA will waive three months of operator licence fees, totalling about S$1.3 million.
The authority will also delay the implementation of the Street-hail Service Operator Licence and Ride-hail Service Operator Licence.
The scheme will take effect from September 2020, instead of June.
The PPSP complements the tripartite care package for quarantined drivers which was earlier announced on Feb. 1.
In addition, the government, taxi and private-hire car operators, and the unions have also worked together to supply drivers with masks, hand sanitisers and temperature-screening services to support Covid-19 precautionary measures.
Top photo from Wikipedia.