I REFER to the letter, 'Cabbies ignore taxi stand to wait for call bookings' (ST, Oct 9), by Mr Sherman Tan and wish to apologise to him for the unpleasant experience he had with our taxis.

Cabbies have been told to pick up the first passengers at a designated taxi stand when there is one unless a booking job had been confirmed. We are dismayed to learn of the alleged conduct of some of our drivers. Such abuse of the call-booking system is intolerable and we will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against cabbies who are found to be guilty of such behaviour.

This year, we conducted over 40 spot checks at popular night hot spots, including Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, as well as major shopping malls like Suntec City, and issued warning letters to more than 10 errant cabbies. If caught again, these cabbies could face termination of their hiring agreements.

In this case, we hope that Mr Tan can call our customer service hotline on 6552- 4525 with details of the incident, including taxi licence- plate numbers, or e-mail us at feedback@cdgtaxi.com.sg for our follow-up action.

We will continue to step up our enforcement checks islandwide to ensure our cabbies do not exploit the system and add to the demand-and-supply disequilibrium.

Tammy Tan (Ms)
Group Corporate Communications Officer
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited

This letter appeared in the ST forum on 11 October 2007