The economy of taking taxi

Introduction

Taxi is hailed as the most expensive personal transport for those who do not own a car.  It is deemed impossible to book during peak and shift changing hours and costs a bomb for long distance travel.  In this tiny island, there are 6 taxi operators fighting for the slices of market share with demand always outstripping supply.

Mobile Apps

With the emergence of taxi apps such as GrabTaxi, EasyTaxi and Uber, there is simply no turning back now.

Conventional booking methods adopted by taxi companies are outdated and could not cope with the demand of the customers.  I have personally waited 30 minutes on my mobile and still there is no taxi available as informed by the operator.  Perhaps, the operator is the bottleneck as well as a cost factor.

Mobile app connects the customer to the taxi driver directly and eliminates the middleman.

Supply of taxi

More importantly, mobile apps also do not restrict customer to a particular taxi company and broaden the choices of the customer. In particular, private cars under Uber can respond and indirectly UberX forms the 6th "taxi company".  To consumers, more is always good as choices are available to meet demand.

From another perspective, taxi drivers can wait for bookings instead of circling round and round to hunt for prospectives thereby saving petrol.  It is a win-win situation.

Consumer Experiences

The satisfaction from customers is the ultimate measure of whether the services are good.  By having more choice, direct messaging and contacting with the driver, real time tracking of approaching taxi, cashless payment and the ability to give ratings on the drivers complete the entire service evaluation. By the conventional method of calling for cab, it is always a one-way traffic and there is hardly any feedback loop unless you lost something or the driver is nasty.

Cheaper taxi fares?

Uber claimed that there is a 25% savings if you book UberTaxi.  We managed to get an actual case of UberTaxi during off peak period clocking a distance of 23.91km and a trip time of 24:55min.  The charged fare is S$20.62 which is 19.1% cheaper than normal cab rate (S$24.58).

Another saving can be the booking of premium cab for short distance of less than 12km.  The standard rate is S$38 for less than 4km or S$50 for other distance.  Using UberExec, a short distance of 6km costs only S$22.10.  This is especially useful during peak hours and normal cabs are hard to come by.

Extra goodies

GrabTaxi offers GrabCar (6) and GrabCar (13) which can accommodate more than 4 passengers.  This is particularly handy when we wish to move in group and booking of multiple taxis is a co-ordination nightmare.

EasyTaxi has the lowest booking fees of only $2 during off peak period and like all 2 mobile apps, provide cashless or credit card billing services.

Uber has an ongoing promotion which gives $10 for one-timer.  Enter promotion code uberdear can instantly give you $10 to try out their service.

Conclusions

It is exciting to look forward and guess what these companies are offering.   We have yet to try out MoobiTaxi, Split it, Come Fetch Me, Taxi Monger and Taxi Booking.  They are new comers and are looking for their pie of the cake in the taxi industry.  To consumers, it is always good news that more mobile apps are available to offer choices for us.  Perhaps, the best is yet to come.