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Dear Editor,

I am a taxi driver and would like to share with you the following.

I am paying $128 dollars per day for rent and around $60 for petrol, hence my cost is $188 nett per day.

I basically queue at the airport as it has become difficult to find passengers outside due to the likes of private-hire car drivers.

I start work at 4 am and on average collect $25 dollars per trip. The turnaround time is about 1.5 hours if lucky.

On average, I collect between $250 and $280 on weekends and $220 to $250 on weekdays.

Many people don’t realise that a taxi driver has no days off, sick leave or annual leave. We are working 15 to 16 hours daily with no family time.

Taxi rentals and petrol prices keep rising and the Government has only recently allowed airport surcharge to increase, but it is only till 30 June, after which we will be back to normal.

If the Government does away with the surcharge, I personally would not drive, and it’s my belief that taxis in Singapore will become extinct.

Dispak Kumar

The views represented are of the author and not necessarily of The Independent Singapore