This is one of the first things I noticed on arriving in Singapore -- the ride from the airport to city I would normally expect to pay $30-40 US dollars for, and yet it consistently costs no more than SGD $15-20 (I usually just round up to 20).
Yet I understand that gas is not cheap, and car taxes are ridiculously high here.
What is the explanation? Is it a public service helping to make up for where public transport does not serve well, or to make people like Singapore even more??
I used a taxi from SIN to Havelock Rd and the taxi trip cost me 24 SGD, and it was more than 10 yrs ago!
Most people including the hotel told me that the totally cost shouldn't be more than 20 SGD.
I saw the driver put some extra $$$ in on the meter and explained it was so sort of late surcharge (we arrived SIN around 11pm). On the way back, same thing happened (it was 6am in the morning), and the other taxi driver said that because we got on the taxi from a hotel then he put in some surcharge.
How do I know what they are allowed to charge?