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Survey finds slight drop in satisfaction levels for private-hire cars in Singapore last year
Commuters in Singapore were slightly less satisfied with private-hire car services in 2018, a private survey conduced by Nexus Link has found.
In the annual Point-to-Point Transport Services Customer Satisfaction Survey (PCSS), private-hire car services saw a slight decline in score from 8.2 in 2017 to 7.9 in 2018.
But the proportion of commuters who rated these services 6 and above increased slightly from 98.7 per cent in 2017 to 98.8 per cent in 2018.
The findings of Nexus Link’s survey, published by the Public Transport Council (PTC) on Friday (Feb 22), also reveal a drop in satisfaction levels from 8.1 to 7.9 of all point-to-point transport services in 2018.
Despite that, commuter satisfaction with taxi services remained at the same level from 2017, with a score of 7.9.
According to PTC, the proportion of commuters who rated taxi services a score of 6 and above also increased from 98.5 per cent in 2017 to 99.6 per cent in 2018.
Commuters attributed the improvements seen in taxi services to measures rolled out to compete with private-hire cars, including the introduction of booking applications for taxi services.
The PCSS also found that more commuters have started to use booking apps offered by both taxi companies and third-party service providers over the past three years.
While respondents had no clear preference between taxis and PHCs, those polled indicated that pricing and availability were the most important factors in determining their decisions when choosing a point-to-point transport mode.
Commuters who ranked taxi services more favourably highlighted the ability to street-hail as the main reason for them choosing taxis. On the other hand, commuters who ranked private-hire cars more favourably cited greater availability as the main reason for their choice.
PTC chairman Richard Magnus said the high customer satisfaction across both modes “shows that Singapore has been able to achieve a balance between safeguarding commuter needs and encouraging the development of different service modes within the (point-to-point) transport services sector”.
“Such a balance will ultimately benefit commuters, who can expect better services and more choices with greater competition amongst service providers,” he said.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.sg/survey-finds-slight-drop-in-satisfaction-levels-for-private-hire-cars-in-singapore-last-year/