PUBLISHED ONJuly 27, 2024 3:32 AMByKhoo Yi-HangShe paid the price for convenience and comfort - but she wasn't expecting that amount to be doubled.
A passenger claims she travelled from a hotel at Novena to Changi Airport Terminal 3 by taxi, but covered double the distance and paid twice the amount for her ride, according to her post on Facebook on Friday (July 26).
The passenger, Ennie Huynh, said she took a ComfortDelGro cab on Thursday morning, headed for the airport.
"I checked with the hotel, the journey is around 17.6km (via PIE) or 21.6km (via ECP)," she wrote.
However, the cab she boarded drove her 39.2km over a 40-minute drive.
A quick search on Google Maps shows that the trip should indeed be around 20km depending on the route, taking about 20 minutes.
"He charged me $37.75, almost double the time and amount that my other family member who took the same journey [paid]," Huynh said, also later adding in comments that her group had a total of eight people and had to hire two taxis to ferry them all.
A photograph of the receipt shows that the meter fare was $34.75, while the booking fee was $2.30 and the platform fee was $0.70.
Huynh added: "I was travelling with two young kids, and was very disappointed to know there is such a taxi driver in Singapore."
Netizens also expressed outrage at the price that Huynh had to pay to get to her destination, with many accusing the driver of intentionally jacking up the fee.
"Going up to airport should be less than coming down from Changi," one user claimed. "Quite evident cab driver picking up foreigner from [hotel] took longer route to jack up fare."
"Action must be taken against such errant cabbies," another user stated.
Some users also attempted to calculate the driver's route, finding it "impossible" for the cabby to have hit 39.2km without intentionally making a detour.
"That's not even peak hour," a user pointed out. "Impossible to amount to that.
"Even during peak hour, it's also not very likely to hit over $37, unless there's a very serious accident that causes intermittent traffic for a very long stretch."
Another user also expressed doubts: "It's ridiculous for an almost 40km journey from point A to B, hopefully this person is honest about this complaint."
They also added that Huynh may have requested a detour along the way, which may not reflect in the receipt.
Speaking with AsiaOne, Huynh shared that she's a tourist from Vietnam and that she's visited Singapore with her family many times before.
She recalled how she had been busy managing the children in the cab and only realised later in the trip that she was nowhere near the airport.
"The taxi was running on quiet streets, no cars, no people," she told AsiaOne. "I guessed that it was an industrial area."
She then confronted the driver, asking him why he had taken them there, and received a mumbled reply before the cabby detoured back to ECP.
By the time they arrived at the airport, she was shocked to see the price of the ride and the time she had wasted along the way, she said.
"I asked him why he [took a detour] but he just kept quiet," she recounted. "I was rushing for the flight so I just took the receipt to sort things out later."
Responding to queries from AsiaOne, ComfortDelGro said that they are aware of the allegations on social media regarding their cabby taking a longer route, resulting in an increased fare.
"ComfortDelGro is committed to fair and transparent pricing and deliberately overcharging passengers is not acceptable," the spokesperson said.
They also shared that the company is currently investigating the incident and will take appropriate disciplinary action should the cabby have breached service standards.
khooyihang@asiaone.com
