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Tempers flare as cab issues mar first day of S’pore Airshow

SINGAPORE — An arduous wait for taxis — stretching past the two-and-a-half hour mark for many — incurred the wrath of trade visitors and exhibitors on the first day of the Singapore Airshow yesterday, with some calling on organisers to allow taxi bookings for the next five days.

SINGAPORE — An arduous wait for taxis — stretching past the two-and-a-half hour mark for many — incurred the wrath of trade visitors and exhibitors on the first day of the Singapore Airshow yesterday, with some calling on organisers to allow taxi bookings for the next five days.

In a first for the biennial event, organiser Experia Events had forbidden taxi bookings to manage traffic congestion. Instead, visitors have to queue for a cab or hop onto shuttle buses ply the route between Changi Exhibition Centre — where the show is held — and the Singapore Expo and selected hotels.

Taxi rides from the venue are subject to a S$10 surcharge while shuttle bus rides cost S$8 each way. Bicycles and personal mobility devices (PMDs) are also prohibited, TODAY learnt, as some who arrived on them were turned away.

Among them was Mr Lim Kok Yong, project manager for DSO National Laboratories. “I was forced to turn back, had to park the PMD elsewhere then return again. But we weren’t notified of this,” he said, adding that he had cycled to the previous show in 2014. Mr Lim and his colleagues waited more than 1.5 hours for a taxi. “They disallowed bookings but now they have created another problem,” he said.

Organisers had set aside five lots for taxis to pull over, but only one or two were occupied at each point in time. Only at around 7pm yesterday — two hours after the show ended — did commuters see a steadier stream of taxis, mainly premium taxis such as Mercedes Cab and Chrysler Taxi Cab.

Staff on the ground were seen urging those in the taxi queue — many of them sweating in their suits and ties — to catch the shuttle buses. Buses run every 15 minutes, with the last bus leaving at 7pm. Asked why bicycles and PMDs were not allowed, they said: “We don’t have parking spaces for bicycles.”

One local exhibitor who declined to be named said the queue could be better managed with barricades. “There appears to be five or six different queues merged into one. It’s quite chaotic,” he said.

An exhibitor with a German pavilion who has regularly attended the airshow since the 1990s said yesterday’s taxi situation was the “most poorly managed” she has experienced. “Tomorrow, I don’t know. We probably have to call a helicopter in,” she joked.

Asked whether it would be making changes to its traffic arrangements, Experia, which called the problem “unforeseen delays”, said it was working with taxi companies to provide a constant supply of taxis during the event. It will also ensure restriction notices on bicycles and PMDs are displayed on site and on the event website.

The Singapore Airshow will open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. KELLY NG

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