More on taxi fares...

A day after ComfortDelGro announced their taxi fare changes, other taxi companies have taken the first step to adjust their meters too.

Smart Taxis, with 800 vehicles, is aligning its new fare structure with that of the market leader. Besides raising meter fares, Smart said it would triple the city area surcharge and impose a 35-per-cent peak period premium to replace the flat surcharge.

I suppose the rest of the other companies will do so gradually, that is to follow the leader. the dilemma they face will be: Lower the price, and a passenger may still not bother to wait for that particular taxi to arrive; raise the flagdown fare but keep surcharges lower, and passengers may boycott these taxis. Therefore, the possibility of everyone following the leader is very high.

I have to say that I'm a rather frequent taxi-commuter especially so for the wet weather nowadays. With all these changes, I really got to think twice before flagging for one...

And if everyone starts to think like I do, is it true that the businesses of these taxi drivers are going to be even worse and hence has the problem been solved?