By Maloperro11
More and more newer taxi models are plying the compact city state called Singapore.
The switch from the traditional Toyota Crown taxi to a much newer fleet of cabs seemed to be in full force these past few months in Singapore. Just the other day, I had the pleasure of sitting in a Honda Stepwgn taxi (sic - spelling is correct, though pronounced as Stepwagon) and on another occasion, a Toyota Fielder cab - models which otherwise are typically sold by parallel importers.
It is a nice departure from sitting in your average yellow-top taxi or NTUC blue cab from Toyota or Nissan for sure, and Singaporeans are now spoilt for choice. Imagine my surprise, when I was told that soon enough a local taxi company, SMRT, will roll out the huge Chrysler 300C taxis on the roads! See picture: It makes you wonder how the driver will make money driving this giant racer - it's as big as a Mercedez S Class with sporty looks and a huge ugly grille up front.
For many Singaporeans, taxis are still a personal transportation of choice for many whom who don't own cars (MRT being the first and cheapest public transport option). It makes sense that taxi operators now are racing to bring newer, better fleet to the fore.
Since the taxi industry was 'liberalised' and opened up to more operators some years ago, three new players have joined incumbents ComfortDelGro and SMRT. They are cooking-gas bottler Union Energy's Trans-Cab, car-rental company Smart Automobile's Smart Taxis, and Premier Rent-A-Car's Premier Taxis. Each taxi company have their own signature colour for their taxi fleets too to differentiate from each other.
The five players reportedly operate about 23,500 taxis on the roads here, that's 23 per cent more before the market was liberalised. The newer squadron of taxis too run on compressed natural gas (CNG) – a more economically viable alternative to diesel and probably unseen before some years ago. A taxi which runs on CNG has a car sticker or decal either on its rear window or boot.
CNG cars in Singapore I believe are given a 40 per cent discount on additional registration fees because they are deemed environmentally friendly. The new fleet of SMRT's green taxis mostly run on CNG.
So it's quite a relief to see that there is also a good environmentally-friendly reason in the use of these new fleets. They are just not eye-candies but are out there for good purpose.
I once joked that there is no telling which other models taxi companies will roll out now and it would be quite funny to see that the brand new car you are driving is also a 'taxi'! A few years, the Mercedez E class became a taxi. Now, the car that you are eyeing may already be driven around as a cab.
Just take a look at these newer squadron of taxis:
| Normal vehicles | Premium vehicles (higher booking charges) |
| Fiat Doblo Petrol | Mercedes-Benz E220 CDI |
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