MOST cab rides will cost 30 cents more from next Thursday, after Singapore's largest taxi operator ComfortDelGro yesterday announced its decision to levy a fuel surcharge on all trips.

The first of its kind for the cab industry, the flat rate payable regardless of the distance travelled comes just months after fares went up in December.

Most of the other cab companies are expected to follow the lead of ComfortDelGro, which owns Comfort and CityCab taxis. The industry giant was reported three weeks ago by The Sunday Times to be considering such a move.

ComfortDelGro said yesterday the surcharge is to help cabbies mitigate the unrelenting rise in fuel prices.

It noted that diesel pump prices have risen by more than 50 per cent in the last six months alone - to about $1.83 a litre after discount.

Mr Yang Ban Seng, chief executive of ComfortDelGro's taxi business, said: 'In the past six months, we have been absorbing a large part of the increase in diesel costs.'

He pointed out that cabbies get diesel dispensed at company-run pumps at $1.19 a litre.

In the first quarter, ComfortDelGro declared that it incurred a $6.3 million loss on diesel sale because it has been selling diesel at sizeable discounts.

Mr Seng Han Thong, adviser to the Taxi Operators' Associations, supported the move. Mr Seng had said that taxi firms could not continue to subsidise fuel indefinitely.

'We call on other taxi companies to continue to help their drivers cope with rising diesel prices,' he said.

Assuming that each cabby gets about 30 customers a day, the 30-cent surcharge will raise his daily takings by $9, which ComfortDelGro said will help to offset his bigger fuel bill.

Even with subsidised diesel, ComfortDelGro drivers pay about a $15 more a day, based on an average consumption of about 45 litres a vehicle.

To commuters, the surcharge amounts to a 2.6 per cent rise in fare for an average 9.3km ride.

ComfortDelGro said it will remove the surcharge when diesel falls back to $1.19 - the market price of the fuel in December 2007.

Asked if it would raise the levy beyond 30 cents if diesel continues to climb, spokesman Tammy Tan said: 'We've not come to that. This is a very new thing to us.'

Smaller taxi operators are following ComfortDelGro's lead.

Mr Johnny Harjantho, managing director of Smart Taxis, said: 'We will most likely follow.'

Mr Lim Chong Boo, managing director of Premier Taxis, said his company is also likely to implement the surcharge 'after consulting with our drivers'.

The exception, at least for the moment, is Mr Neo Nam Heng, managing director of Prime Taxis, whose fleet of cabs runs entirely on natural gas, which is cheaper than diesel.

'We should consider the commuters' interests. Our drivers have to accept it too,' he said.

Cabby Tan Soon Huat, 49, who has been driving a Comfort cab for 14 years, said: 'I think the 30 cents surcharge is quite reasonable. I just hope commuters see it that way too.'

Others added that the rising diesel prices have wiped out much of the higher takings they were starting to get from the December fare hikes.

Regular taxi user Tang Swee Noi, 33, a teacher, said: 'Much that I am unhappy about it, I still have to take taxis, or I will have to wake up much earlier to go to work.

'We all know the fuel price is increasing so I don't think there's very much that taxi drivers can do. For now, it's still cheaper than getting a car.'

christan@sph.com.sg

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIM HENG LIANG