Smart to give drivers of its Kia Carens taxis cash handouts over six months to help offset rising CNG prices and falling earnings
Alvin Lim, Straits Times 17 Aug 08;
Going green's fine, but show us the money. Our compressed natural gas (CNG) taxis are eating into our daily earnings.
That angry refrain came from a group of cabbies who are on a four-year contract to drive Smart Group's Kia Carens taxis which can run on CNG.
Their woes: In the past few months, not only were they in a fix having to drive all the way to just two CNG filling stations, but they were also hit by rising CNG prices.
The lure when they signed up was the promise of a $14,000 sum upon completion of their contracts.
But breaking the contract carried a penalty equivalent to 90 days of rental, or nearly $9,000. It would be waived only if the driver found a replacement to take over the lease.
Yesterday morning, 15 representatives of a group of more than 25 unhappy drivers went to Smart's headquarters in Tampines to meet managing director Johnny Harjantho.
The group wanted the company to allow them to return their CNG vehicles without any penalty, and to get back to driving diesel-powered taxis.
Among the reasons they gave were the hike in CNG prices, the lack of refuelling stations and long queues at the pumps.
There are only two CNG stations open to the taxi drivers: one in the west, in Jalan Buroh; and the other in the north, in Mandai.
The cabbies claimed that the Kia Carens' 2-litre engine does an average of only 180km on a full tank of CNG. While the vehicles are 'bi-fuel' and can run on petrol like most CNG cars here, the cabbies said it made no sense to switch to the more expensive petrol mode.
They had to rush back to Smart's refuelling station at Mandai up to four times daily when they ran low on CNG.
One cabby, Mr Willy Neo, 60, bemoaned the long queues in Mandai. He said he sometimes queued up for as long as an hour.
'Spending so much time at the CNG stations just isn't productive,' he said.
But the last straw was the continued earnings dip. Mr Thomas Tay, 32, who has been driving for three months, said that driving his CNG taxi for 16 hours a day gets him only $100 in net earnings.
He used to earn $150 for the same amount of time spent driving a diesel taxi.
'I should be earning more, not less, since CNG is supposed to be cheaper,' he said.
Contacted by The Sunday Times, Mr Harjantho said the company was also in a predicament.
But he had some good news: The company would give cash handouts of $100 monthly over the next six months to drivers of the Kia taxis.
He said Smart did not expect the rapid increase in CNG prices and overwhelming demand for its gas at the Mandai station when it began operations in February.
Smart's CNG drivers get a 12 per cent discount at the Mandai station.
Showing documents and records, he said the cost of buying CNG from the wholesaler had increased by 49 per cent. He added: 'There is a price to pay for going green...We are all doing our part to save the environment.'
It is understood the taxi drivers were unswayed.
'Everybody went green in order to save costs. It doesn't make sense now,' said one.
Another deadpanned: 'I can't afford to save the environment when I'm barely earning anything.'
Smart has a total of 800 taxis, of which 600 run on diesel and 200 on CNG. About 50 are Kia Carens CNG taxis.
Mr Harjantho said Smart had engaged its CNG kit installers to look into mechanical tweaks to improve the fuel consumption of the Kias.
He added that there were no complaints from drivers of other makes of CNG vehicles which Smart operates.
Mr Harjantho also said that Smart is working to improve the refuelling situation at its Mandai station. Two more pump operators have been added on weekends, and Smart plans to double the number of pumps from eight to 16 in the next two months.
A second station in Serangoon is expected to be completed in February next year.
Mr Harjantho said: 'We've come a long way with CNG. It's a shame to undo all the hard work that we've all put in.'
