FEWER taxis are on the road as weaker demand because of higher fares and belt-tightening have combined to force many drivers to give up their cabs. Operators estimate the percentage of cabs not rented out to drivers to be more than 10 per cent for some firms.

'Same time last year, only 4 per cent of our fleet was not hired out,' said Mr Lim Chong Boo, managing director of Premier Taxis, which has about 2,300 cabs. 'Today, it's more than twice that.'

Last year, more than 90 per cent of Smart Automobile's 800 taxis were hired out, said managing director Johnny Harjantho. Now it is more like '80-plus to 90 per cent'. Publicly-listed SMRT Corp claimed that less than 10 per cent of its 3,000 cabs were not hired out, while ComfortDelGro Corp said its rate remained unchanged at 3 per cent.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.