Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary announced that the Government has worked closely with taxi operators, Private Hire Car (PHC) operators and driver associations to launch a $77 million Point-to-Point Support Package to help taxi and PHC drivers through this difficult period.
The Government recognises that there is an urgent need for targeted assistance to drivers and has worked closely with the National Taxi Association (NTA) and the National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA) to gather ground feedback on the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Government will commit $41 million to the package, with the remaining funds contributed by the operators, adding up to a total of $77 million.
The PPSP comprises two components for drivers. Firstly, there is a $73 million Special Relief Fund (SRF) to help active full-time taxi and PHC drivers defray business costs. Out of which, $41 million will be in Government contributions and $32 million in operator contributions.
From the SRF, about 400,000 eligible drivers will receive a special relief of up to $20 per vehicle per day for three months.
Eligible taxi hirers will automatically receive the Special Relief through their taxi operators starting from tomorrow (14 February 2020), with no need for applications. As for PHC drivers, eligible recipients will have to apply through their operators. PHC operators will provide application and disbursement details to their drivers within the next week.
Secondly, active drivers who do not qualify for the SRF, can still stand to benefit from the Government-NTUC Care Fund for needy drivers. The Government will contribute $2.7 million to this fund, while NTUC will also contribute in kind by administering the Government-NTUC Care Fund.
To ease the burden on taxi and PHC operators, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will waive three months of operator licence fees totalling about $1.3 million.
In addition, LTA will also delay the implementation of the upcoming Street-hail Service Operator Licence (SSOL) and Ride-hail Service Operator Licence (RSOL). The new P2P regulatory regime will take effect from September 2020 instead.
These measures will allow operators to focus their efforts on assisting drivers as well as addressing business and operational challenges during this period.
In a joint statement, NTA and NPHVA stated that the latest announcement from the Ministry of Transport and the operators is a much-welcomed move.
“We appreciate how the tripartite partners have been working very closely to deliver various assistance to our drivers. As drivers struggle with business costs and a drop in earnings, the SRF will provide some financial relief for them,” said the two associations.
NTA and NPHVA will also be working with NTUC to introduce a support package to help eligible union members who are drivers and are affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
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