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SINGAPORE: “I was surprised,” courier Simon Har said of his reaction on Tuesday (February 16) when he learned that tariffs on gasoline would be increased in Singapore with immediate effect.
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced during his budget speech that tariffs on gasoline would be raised by 10 cents per liter for intermediate gasoline and 15 cents for premium gasoline, as part of lawmakers’ strategy. to stimulate the behavior of light vehicles and address climate change. This is the first increase since 2015.
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The full-time delivery and transportation drivers CNA spoke to said that the increase in the gasoline rate means they will have to fork out an additional S $ 60 to S $ 100 per month in costs.
Har, who has been a courier with logistics provider Lalamove for about a year and a half, said he can generally raise at least S $ 100 in revenue per day.
After deducting commissions to the company and trips to the gas station, which he does every day, Har said he generally keeps between half and three-quarters of that amount.
Gasoline prices have also risen steadily over the past 12 months, Har said, consuming even more than the amount that can be taken home. The benchmark RBOB Gasoline index rose from a 21-year low of $ 0.41 last March to $ 1.79 on Wednesday, according to MarketWatch data.
Grab driver Raymond Leong said the news was too sudden.
“I can understand and appreciate the argument (of going green), but I felt too abrupt even with the refunds,” he said, comparing the immediate increase in tariffs on gasoline with the advance notice given for an imminent increase in property tax and services (GST).
“It’s really unfair,” said Leong, who estimates he takes home $ 120 to $ 240 a day as a full-time driver with Grab.
Heng had announced in his 2018 Budget speech that the GST would rise from the current 7% to 9% sometime between 2021 and 2025. He said in his last Budget speech on Tuesday that this will now only happen between 2022 and 2025.
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WAIT AND SEE
Transportation and delivery providers said they will monitor the impact of the price hike on their drivers.
Local ridesharing startup Ryde said it could adjust incentives for its drivers or increase its base rate starting in the second quarter, depending on the data it receives, founder and CEO Terence Zou said. The company, which has about 9,000 drivers, plans to keep its 10 percent commission rate “for the foreseeable future,” Zou said.
Grab said in a statement that it is “engaging all stakeholders to discuss the impact of this price increase on our drivers and delivery partners,” while Deliveroo said it is “looking to negotiate the best deals with fuel companies.” for its 9,000 passengers. .
Cyclists can also switch to other vehicles such as bicycles or deliver on foot, a Deliveroo spokesperson said, adding that the company will work with electric bicycle companies this year to offer discounts to its cyclists.
Foodpanda Singapore’s chief logistics officer Lim Zheng Gang said in a statement that more than a third of its fleet is currently made up of gasoline-free vehicles such as electric bikes and bicycles, and there are incentives to encourage cyclists to use these vehicles. ecological. walks.
Foodpanda also has a partnership with Esso to offer fuel discounts to its passengers, he added.
“Following the increase in gas rates, we will be communicating with cyclists to determine the effects of the hike and explore ways to manage higher gas rates if necessary.”
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Lalamove and Ninja Van declined to comment.
Logistics actor XDel, which has a fleet of 65 vehicles, estimates that changes in pump prices will increase its fuel costs by about S $ 5,000 per month, or about 1 percent of its monthly operating costs, said director of sales and marketing Eddie Lee.
The company owns, and pays for fuel, about a third of its vehicles. The rest of the vehicles are owned by the drivers, who are responsible for their own gasoline bills.
Mr. Lee said he hopes these drivers will ask for more money to cover higher gas costs. Your business will most likely absorb additional costs rather than increase shipping costs to remain competitive.
Mr. Lee said the gasoline price increases were not a surprise as the government had raised gasoline tariffs earlier to manage road traffic. “We just take it as part of running the business.”
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As for whether this would encourage the logistics and transportation industry to go electric, both Mr. Lee and the drivers said it would have to make economic sense first.
Charging points are still a rare sight, and even with increases in gas taxes, Har said, it still costs about S $ 10 more a day to rent an electric vehicle compared to gasoline-powered cars.
On the other hand, Zou said that he has already seen a 10 to 20 percent increase in hybrid vehicles in Ryde’s fleet in the past 12 months, and with this announcement, he expects the ratio to rise even further.
