Chart of the Day: Taxi growth recovers amidst rental car declines

The growth of the rental car population dipped below zero in January 2018.

This chart from OCBC Investment Research shows that MoM growth in rental cars was more subdued while the rate of decline in taxi fleet size slowed down for the more significant taxi operators in Singapore.

“We saw encouraging taxi operating indicators pointing to a more stabilized environment,” said OCBC analyst Eugene Chua.

The growth of the rental car population dipped below 0 in January 2018, whilst the growth of ComfortDelGro cabs improved from below -3% in December to around -1.5% in January. The growth of Trans-Cabs’ population improved from -1.3% to nearly 0 in the same time period.

"In essence, this trend points to a more stabilised environment for the taxis and private-hire car (PHC) services,” Chua said.

Not too long ago in 2017, the “disruption” caused by ride-hailing services Uber and Grab drove a hard blow to CDG’s taxi fleet and profits. However, recent developments have also pointed to taxi businesses’ attempt to save themselves from the disruption, as exemplified by the proposed joint venture (JV) between CDG and Uber, which is still undergoing regulatory review.