The Big Read in short: What a rapidly shrinking taxi industry means for older drivers, commuters

The entrance of ride-hailing applications such as Uber and Grab back in 2013 and 2014 respectively was met with derision by many taxi drivers like Mr Oh, who felt they had lost business to the new entrants.

While he used to pick up only about seven passengers a day before using the application, he now picks up about 12 passengers a day. However, he is still paying the price: Due to increased competition from the other ride-hailing platforms, a drop in passenger demand amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic, as well as increasing fuel and rental costs, Mr Goh said that his recent take-home income is about 35 per cent less compared with pre-pandemic.

TODAY’s checks indicated that the number of drivers with a Taxi Driver's Vocational Licence above the age of 60 is relatively high. Statistics from 2019 show that about 34 per cent of those with a TDVL are 60 and above. While private-hire vehicles have taken on a larger share of the point-to-point market here, the total number of P2P vehicles — both taxis and private-hire vehicles — has been tumbling over the course of the pandemic.on private-hire rides, much to the dismay of commuters.

"It's a market service that meets a market transport need... As that need evolves, and as street hails continue to decline, then the market model needs to change," said Assoc Prof Theseira. He revealed that as of February 2019, the proportion of TDVL holders that were between 60 and 74 years old was 33.4 per cent, while those between 40 and 59 was 59 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of active private hire car drivers dropped from 38,000 in November 2020 to 35,700 in June this year.In 2019, the number of private-hire vehicles reached its peak of 77,141, but then fell to 67,990 in 2021, about a 11 per cent decline. The number of street-hail trips, available only to taxis which can pick up customers who flag them, has fallen over the past one-and-a-half years.

However, some older taxi drivers told TODAY that it is harder for them to start using mobile applications as a way to get more customers, as they have been used to years of picking up passengers from flagdowns, a declining practice. While he could have signed up for these new apps, Mr Yeo said in Mandarin that he is already “very familiar” with the ComfortDelGro’s application, which he had only learnt to use just before the pandemic, and is thus not keen to learn using other apps.Though he could conceivably earn more by diversifying and using more applications, Mr Yeo said that he treats driving a taxi as a “retirement job” and does not mind the opportunity cost.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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