Taxi-booking apps allow fare payment via Visa credit cards

SINGAPORE — Passengers can now pay taxi fares using Visa credit cards without incurring administrative charges, but only if they use third-party taxi-booking apps UberTAXI or Easy Taxi.

The option of paying via Visa credit cards for fares on ComfortDelGro and TransCab taxis was withdrawn in July last year after the two largest operators refused to waive an administrative fee imposed on passengers.

Then, the operators said the 10 per cent levy on fares paid using credit cards — which Visa said was a breach of contract terms — was to cover investments in and maintenance of payment terminals and systems, as well as to pay bank fees and telco charges. It was also used to compensate drivers before they received bank payments the next working day.

Reviving the payment option this month, the two apps said they were absorbing the administrative charges. UberTAXI said it would permanently cover the credit card processing fees, but Easy Taxi said only that it would waive the charge for now.

Ms Ooi Huey Tyng, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei, said the company was “supportive of all merchants that accept card payments without charging a surcharge or setting a minimum spending limit”.

TODAY understands Visa is maintaining its stance that consumers should not pay a surcharge for using their cards and that the company will engage the third-party apps in discussions should any impose such fees in future.

Another popular third-party taxi-booking app, GrabTaxi, has not yet included credit card payment in its service, but said it was in the midst of studying the options available before investing in any. “There is a number of emerging payment technologies that supplement more conventional credit card payments,” said Mr Lim Kell Jay, GrabTaxi general manager for Singapore.

Commuters whom TODAY spoke to welcomed the option to pay taxi fares via credit card. Ms Lee Xiaohui, 28, said it would allow her to book a taxi without worrying about whether it had a NETS machine — TransCab, for instance, does not accept this payment.

The fare for credit card payments are input by drivers into the UberTAXI and Easy Taxi apps and charged to a passenger’s credit card directly.

But as was the case in the past, cabbies will need to wait to receive payment, though taxi drivers do not seem to mind. Easy Taxi pays its drivers for credit card transactions on the second day via bank transfers, while UberTAXI does so on a weekly basis.

ComfortDelGro driver Daniel Ng said receiving payments belatedly was not a problem, though he has to pay for taxi rental daily.“I find that driving a taxi is something like a business. If you have a business, it doesn’t matter whether they pay you daily or weekly, as long as you have enough funds in your account,” he said.

Easy Taxi declined to comment on the proportion of fares paid via credit cards, but said Visa transactions made up nearly half of such payments.

Visa had previously said only 1 percent of rides on ComfortDelGro — which has the largest fleet here — were paid for with its cards.

Mr Mike Brown, regional general manager of Uber Technologies, said credit card payments were “clearly very popular with commuters in Singapore and we continue to see tremendous growth”.