Comfort Delgro has announced their plans to roll out ComfortRIDE taxi service. ComfortRIDE is a fixed fare service that allows riders to pay a flat fare. The flat fare will be based on the demand at the time of booking.
In short, it is called Surge Pricing or Dynamic Pricing, whatever you want to call it.
Letter from CEO to Comfort Taxi Drivers
In a letter to Comfort Taxi Drivers, CDG Taxi CEO Ang Wei Neng explains the rationale of introducing ComfortRIDE to replace the Flat Fare option.
He highlighted that over the past two years, Comfort Delgro volume of taxi booking have shown that taxi demands continue to surpass taxi supply, especially during peak periods. Channel NewsAsia reported that volume of booking jobs has increased by 7.4 per cent and is still increasing.
They assured that surge pricing will be monitored. The surge will be “limited and not exponential”. Comfort Delgro did not mention what the limits will be.
Pilot testing of the new booking system will start on 15 May 2019. It will only be offered to a small group of passengers at the initial stage.
Comfort Taxis PLUS Private-Hire Cars for ComfortRIDE
There will be a 12-000 strong fleet of taxis and a fleet of private-hire cars operating in the new service.
It is the first move Comfort Delgro has taken to integrate private-hire cars in their system after their failed partnership with Uber in 2018. Opening up their app to private-hire car is another form of revenue stream for the taxi company.
This announcement comes shortly after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that they are reviewing the possibility of street-hails for private-hire cars.
