What ComfortDelGro Taxi Drivers Wish You Know About Them


A chat with ComfortDelGro taxi driver

As a uber driver who accept more UberFLASH trips than uberX trips nowadays, it really puzzle me why most of the ComfortDelGro taxi drivers find that UberFLASH request not appealing to them.

In order for me to find out the reasons, I purposely flag a ComfortDelGro taxi at the airport to northeast side of Singapore.



But before I took a ride with ComfortDelGro, I intentionally check the price in Uber's rider app. 

The upfront fare shown was $17.

After I came out from Terminal 2, Changi Airport Arrival Hall at Door 8-9. I saw there are some taxi waiting just right at the roadside.

Therefore even without having to wait, I immediately flag for the taxi driver (ComfortDelGro). And on the way I asked him why most ComfortDelGro taxi drivers don't want to take uber request?

So his first reply was "this is a collaboration between ComfortDelGro company and Uber company, we (ComfortDelGro taxi drivers) don't like to take Uber request because:

  • We still have to pay commission to Uber (roughly about 10% I guess) for accepting UberFLASH request.

  • Uber's GPS system is not as reliable as our own experience (the GPS at times didn't tell us which side of the road the rider is at)

  • If we go by metered fare, it ease off our worries if we got stuck in the traffic due to peak hours, accident etc"
 Just right after his sharing and after a short while, we have arrived at our destination.

"How much is the total fare, Uncle? (In Singapore, we address them as Uncle instead of Sir)", I asked.

"Total is $21", he replied.

"Here is $22, keep the change Uncle. Thanks for driving me back!", I said

I was lucky enough to gain so much knowledge with a ComfortDelGro taxi driver who has about 38 years of experience.
True enough, now I could understand better why most of them rejected UberFLASH request. Imagine without boost or surge, $17 fare and after deducting 10% commission, they could only get $15.30 vs $21. That was about $6 difference!

Given yourself in their position, I believe you would behave this way too!
Location: Singapore

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