Chart of the Day: Is there a shortage of taxis in Singapore?

There are 5.3 taxis per 1,000 people in the city.

Singapore has the largest taxi penetration rate among its global peer cities, according to latest statistics from Euromonitor.

The city-state’s taxi penetration rate stood at 5.3 cabs per 1000 people in 2012, much higher than 3.9 taxis per 1,000 people in Tokyo, 2.8 cabs per 1,000 people in London, 2.5 in Hong Kong, 1.6 in New York and 1.4 in Jakarta.

According to CIMB, this high taxi penetration rate makes it less difficult for commuters to get a taxi in Singapore than in other cities; this is also reflected by the high satisfaction rate of 96.2% in the Land Transport Authority’s Taxi Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted in 2015.

Euromonitor forecasts that taxi fleet growth will average at 1.9% every year from 2015 to 2018. LTA regulations introduced in 2013 limit the growth of the taxi population at 2% through 2015, with operators permitted to increase their fleet size by 1% every six months only if they are able to meet certain taxi availability standards.