Families may have to spend more if child seats made mandatory for taxis: Baey Yam Keng

SINGAPORE: Bigger families may have to hail more than one taxi if child seats are made mandatory, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Baey Yam Keng told Parliament on Thursday (Mar 4).

"This also may lead to some unhappiness among families with multiple young children, because they will need multiple taxis as there may not be sufficient child restraints in a single vehicle or a larger capacity taxi with the various seats," he said.

"So it means that higher costs will be incurred on families, and I don't think it is wise to impose this during this current economic situation."

Mr Baey was responding to a supplementary question by MP Louis Ng (PAP-Nee Soon) on why taxis are exempted from the requirement to have child seats for passengers under 1.35m in height.

"For private vehicles, if your child is not in a car seat you could go to jail for it. But somehow I find it strange that (in) the same car and model (that) now becomes a taxi, the safety considerations just disappear," Mr Ng said.

READ: Malaysian e-hailing drivers and users uncertain over Jan 1 mandatory child car seat ruling

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in 2017 that taxis are exempted as they can be hailed down on the street by passengers.

"Hence, it would not be reasonable to expect them to be equipped with booster seats and child restraints at all times, or to reject passengers with infants or children," the authority said then.

Mr Baey said on Thursday it is important to "strike a good balance" in every policy, noting that the Government came to its view after consulting with different stakeholders, including taxi drivers who have their own cost and operational considerations.

"Taxi operators did highlight the constraints because taxis need to satisfy a boot size requirement for luggage or things carried by passengers," he said.

"And if you add on the booster seat required, it may pose a challenge, especially for the new hybrid car models that tend to have a smaller boot."

READ: 1 in 2 children in car accidents not properly restrained: KKH study

Mr Baey acknowledged that there are more compact booster seats on the market now, but said it is not feasible for taxis to be "fully equipped with different permutations of child restraints" to cater to children who may board the taxi.

"This current exemption will facilitate taxis to offer street-hail services for commuters with young children, because the flag-board-and-go nature of street-hails will be slowed down when the taxi driver needs to fix up the booster seat when stopping alongside the road," he said.

Nevertheless, Mr Baey said parents have the option of using private-hire cars, which are not exempted from the requirement as they can be pre-booked with booster seats for an additional fee.

Mr Ng said he believes that in today's context, parents with young children will not do street-hails but instead pre-book taxis, as he sought to drive home his point.

"MOT (Ministry of Transport) will continue to monitor the situation," Mr Baey replied.

"While safety is important, we really also need to consider other implications, especially when it affects the livelihood of people.

"One option we could look at is maybe a ride-hail type of journey, but we will continue to consult and work with the different stakeholders as we look into this area."

LOW TAKE-UP OF BOOSTER SEATS IN SMRT TAXIS

Mr Baey also gave an update on a six-month pilot programme launched by SMRT in March last year to progressively equip its fleet of 2,800 taxis with booster seats for young children.

"Due to the 'circuit breaker', it was extended to December 2020," he said, noting that SMRT equipped about 1,750 taxis with booster seats.

"However, the utilisation rate for these seats were low, as there were very few requests for the booster seat from commuters."

Mr Baey said these SMRT taxis will continue to have booster seats, with SMRT providing further updates on their usage "soon".

"If there are other taxi companies who are keen to conduct such pilots, LTA will be glad to consider," he added.