The Fast and the Anxious: Are concerns brewing in Singapore’s taxi industry?

Taxi booking applications are changing the game.

Newly appointed transport minister Khaw Boon Wan surely has a lot on his plate right now, including Singapore’s changing taxi industry which is currently being marred by concerns from the public.

According to analysts from Maybank Kim Eng, one of the most pressing matters the new transport minister has to attend to is the changes brought about by newcomers Uber and Grabcar.

Analysts say commuters are worried about their physical safety and the lack of regulatory oversight on these new players.

Meanwhile, incumbent taxi players are also griping about how they are creating an unfair playing field.

“We expect Minister Khaw to impose regulations to ensure the safety of commuters when using the new operators. This could be in the form of mandatory training for drivers and maintenance standards for the vehicles used,” Maybank Kim Eng said.

However, analysts say the newcomers are likely to be allowed to continue their operations as they help ease the shortfall in taxis during peak hours.

As they would be allowed to operate, Maybank Kim Eng says this would mean tighter competition for incumbents ComfortDelGro and SMRT, with the latter being affected more due to its larger taxi fleet.

Meanwhile, analysts from UOB Kay Hian remain positive on ComfortDelGro’s taxi outlook.

“According to our channel checks, current taxi hire out rate for CD’s remains largely unaffected at about 99%. (The other 1% of the unhired taxi fleet is due to down time for fleet renewal purposes.),” UOB Kay Hian said.

“We expect the group to receive 35m-36m taxi bookings in 2015, of which half would be made through its taxi booking app,” they added.