The Government will set aside an additional $27 million to provide point-to-point drivers with an extra $10 per vehicle per day top-up through the COVID-19 Driver Relief Fund (CDRF) from 16 May 2021 to the end of June 2021.
This will bring the relief up to $25 per vehicle per day.
The announcement was made on 21 May 2021.
The additional $27 million to the CDRF is on top of the $188 million which the Government has already committed to the fund from January to June 2021.
In response, Yeo Wan Ling, who is the advisor to both National Taxi Association (NTA) and National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA), said that the associations were grateful for the quick and timely support from the Government, taxi and private hire platform operators.
Point-to-point drivers have seen a drop in ridership after the nation was put on heightened alert due to an increase in COVID-19 community cases.
Ms Yeo said: “The past week has been tough for our taxi and private hire driver brothers and sisters. With the tightened measures such as no dining out, work-from-home as the default and schools switching to home-based learning, the earnings of our drivers have been affected greatly.”
She added that the additional financial support to the end of June through the CDRF is a relief to drivers.
To provide additional support to drivers, both NTA and NPHVA have also renewed the short-term relief fund to provide financial support to members who have been issued with Quarantine Orders from the Ministry of Health.
Ms Yeo also encouraged drivers to use this lull period to go for training, and that the associations will be looking at training allowance support to help their members do so.
Meanwhile, the demand for deliveries has also increased during the Phase Two (Heightened Alert) period.
Addressing this, National Development Minister Desmond Lee announced in a Facebook post that the ministry will be extending the grace parking period for HDB and URA car parks to 20 minutes instead of 10 from 23 May 2021 onwards.
“This will give more time for delivery drivers and riders to park their vehicles and make their deliveries,” he said.
Mr Lee also announced that Enterprise Singapore will be extending the waiver of season parking for private-bus-season-parking holders at all Government-owned car parks. HDB and URA will continue to support this effort.
On the extension of the grace period at car parks, Ms Yeo said: “This will be especially helpful for our delivery riders. We hope this support can be given to our drivers and riders for as long as they need.”
