Taxi fare not fair

Lately, taxi companies have decided to increase fares. Actually, they phrased it as "revising their rates", which I naively thought not to be increasing fares. How naive of me. Anyway, as of now, I'm still not exactly sure what changed and what didn't. I was still trying to adjust to the last fare hike.

One interesting observation though, the loudest people complaining are the young people. Of course that could easily mean I haven't been talking to enough older people, which it does. Anyway, I find this interesting because  young people seem to be devastated by this, and it really sounds like they have been crushed by such an increase in fares.

Personally, I don't see this as such a bane as I would, perhaps a bus rate hike, because I see a taxi ride as a luxury. And if my economics hasn't failed me, it just means I will take less cab rides in the future. And when I really really want to do it, say for instance I have a lot of stuff to move, I'm still going to take a cab, the increase in fares isn't going to affect my decision much.

I think it affects young people that much is that we have started to see the taxi as interchangeable with buses and mrt, perhaps not to such a great degree, but people nowadays do take it at some kind of regularity. My parents and their generation tended to see taxi rides as something to be avoided, an unnecessary expense. I like to think like my predecessors as often as my values would let me. Sometimes, (i.e when I'm crazy) I wish I got married at 16 like the Arabs and the farmers in the past. Anyway, moving on, I do marvel at the regularity that some (of course not all) people who seem to take taxis every other week, think about it, you definitely know a few.

This doesn't "outrage" me because this is companies being the companies that they are. They are not supposed to look out for your welfare, they are supposed to look out for their profits. I have a GodGrandfather who is a taxi driver for as long as I knew him and retiring soon, and he doesn't make much, any way you look at it. Generally, from what I understand, nobody seems to profit from these fare hikes. Drivers lose more potential customers every time the price hikes, and they still have to pay back that same amount to the company, who in turn subsidize the petrol they use, which drivers will tell you is not enough. Taxi is an industry that is lose-lose, and you still expect the driver to smile at you.

I also don't get as outraged because this is actually, many of you don't know this, a trend in developed nations. Japan is one of the countries where taxis are so ridiculously expensive that people don't ever take it except for emergencies, such as late for interviews. I use the term "emergencies" loosely. To put it in perspective, The flag down rate for a Jap taxi costs 710 yen for the first 2km, close to $12sgd, whereas a Singaporean taxi would cost $2.80 + $0.60 for a 2km ride. Few places are known for taxis, the only one I can think of is New York City.

My third reason is that people who are less well off financially don't ever really need to take cabs so it doesn't cut an even bigger chunk of their already small amount of disposable income. I doubt you want to hear me elaborate on that.

I think I just wrote a GP essay without even really trying. I'm not going to write a conclusion.