Transportation Systems Analysis

This assignment delves into the analysis of different transportation systems. It includes research papers examining the societal costs and benefits of commuter bicycling, the perceptions of Latina commuter students regarding factors influencing their college persistence, risk perception associated with various modes of transport among Norwegian commuters, and a framework for determining commuter preferences along proposed bus rapid transit corridors. Additionally, it covers app-based ride services, quality attributes attracting car users to public transport, the influence of road markings on cyclist safety, carsharing and personal vehicle services, private vehicle ownership in Malaysia, automated mobility-on-demand systems, shared automated vehicles, public transport planning and operation, and feasibility studies for shared taxi services.

Running head: CASE STUDY
Case study
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the research....................................................................................................3
1.2 Problem statement..................................................................................................................3
1.3 Research objectives................................................................................................................3
1.4 Chapter overview...................................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................5
2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................5
2.1 Private hired vehicles in Singapore........................................................................................5
2.2 Perception of customers.........................................................................................................7
2.4 Benefits and drawbacks of private hired vehicles in Singapore..........................................10
2.5 Data collection methods.......................................................................................................12
2.6 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the research
The background of the research focuses on the perception of commuters regarding the
demands for privately hired vehicles in Singapore. The private hired cars have outnumbered the
taxis in Singapore, and this has happened due to the convenience and ease of transportation
provided by the private hired taxis, which are not provided by the local taxis in Singapore. The
customers wanted ease and convenience to move from one place to another, the taxis failed to
fulfill their needs and requirements as often the taxis were not found available, and even those
could not make the passenger reach the destination within time. The private hired cars are known
for the ease of transport and convenience provided to the customers, and these cars are available
too in large numbers (Firnkorn & Müller, 2015). This has provided enough flexibility and more
options for the passengers to travel and reach their destination on time. The research background
thus sheds limelight on the perception of commuters based on their demands for private hired
vehicles rather than the taxis available in Singapore.
1.2 Problem statement
The problem to be investigated here is the increasing demands for the private hired
vehicles than the taxis in Singapore and even the perception of commuters regarding these
private vehicles.
1.3 Research objectives
 To identify the various benefits obtained by introducing private hired vehicles in
Singapore

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 To evaluate the perception of commuters regarding their demands for private hired
vehicles in Singapore
 To assess the various ways by which the customers’ demands and choices for private
taxis in Singapore can be met
 To determine the various issues and problems related to the hiring of private vehicles in
Singapore
 To recommend necessary measures by which the perception of customers can be
improved regarding their demands for private hired vehicles in Singapore
Research questions
What could be the benefits of introducing the private hired vehicles in Singapore that were not
found in the regular taxis?
What is the perception of commuters based on their demands for private hired vehicles rather
than the taxis available in Singapore?
What could be the efficiency of running private hired vehicles in Singapore for ensuring
customer satisfaction?
What could be the major barriers that might prevent the commuters to demand for the private
vehicles in Singapore?
1.4 Chapter overview
The current dissertation presents the various important concepts regarding the perception
of commuters based on their demands for the private hired vehicles rather than the local taxis
that are available in Singapore. The introduction chapter discussed the background of the

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research and the rationale for the research, which presents the problem statement (Litman, 2014).
The objectives of the research were illustrated here as well, based on which, the questions of the
research had been set.
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.0 Introduction
For the past few years, the commuters in Singapore have experienced flexibility and
convenience to travel from one place to another with the introduction of private hired vehicles.
The chauffeur driven private hired cars have increased to more than 70 percent in the past few
years. Uber and Grab have been running nearly 50,000 private hired vehicles all over Singapore,
which has given stiff competition to the local taxis that were previously available in large
numbers in Singapore (Appu & PGDIB, 2016).
2.1 Private hired vehicles in Singapore
Based on the Land Transport Authority, private hired cars have increased largely, and
these have not only created ease of travel for the commuters but also have made them get many
flexible options during their travel that were not found in the local taxis. The local taxis were
found in fewer numbers, which created complexities for the commuters to travel quickly, but
with the introduction of the new private hired vehicles, they have managed to gain certain
benefits such as more options available, better accessibility and betters services provided to them
(Aziz et al., 2017). The private hired vehicles are now found at 56 percent more than the local
taxis available in Singapore. Though it has brought several benefits, still researcher as Park
Byung Joon stated that huge amounts of promotions and incentives have been managed to he
drivers and change the perception of customers by influencing them to purchase the services of

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the private hired vehicles rather than the local taxis that are found in Singapore. On the other
hand, responses provided by Dr. PARK tend to be positive, because he believed that the private
hiring is not a high tech industry and thus it is not an issue to create a car booking app and
develop a vast network to enhance the private hiring business with ease and effectiveness
(Belwala, Minhansb & Al-Balushia, 2013).
The transport researcher of the National University of Singapore named Lee Der Horng
denied the benefits drawn by the introduction of these private hired vehicles and believed that the
business market had been oversupplied and the vehicles have exceeded the criteria for the
business market as well. There have been 26,000 local taxis and nearly 50,000 private hired cars,
which not only has created a congested market but also has resulted in immense level of
competition, thereby harming the taxi industry to a huge extent. The operators of private hired
vehicles have believed that the business practices managed by these operators are unsustainable
and this has created a negative impact on the local taxi industry as well (Finn, 2012). Like Uber,
Grab has managed to purchase the SMRT's taxi business to ensure that the running local taxis are
more sustainable when compared to the private hired vehicles in the long run. There are other
statements as well, that showed that the taxis might be driven for more hours every week and
spend the maximum of time on the road whereas most of the private hired vehicles work as part
timers and have chosen the profession just for the sake of securely accessing the car that cannot
be afforded by them to manage. The number of rides provided and customer trips is also more
than the private hired vehicles, though there are fewer numbers of local taxis available on the
street of Singapore (Hars, 2015). There are enough scopes and opportunities for the growth of
private hire vehicles industry, and with time, it will continue to expand, become more
compelling and ensure evolution progress too in an effective manner. The commuters though

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believe that it is much easier to travel in private hired cars than the local taxis. There are
flexibility options in large numbers such as the time for the arrival of the private hired vehicle,
the actual fare and ratings can also be provided for the drivers based on how much effective they
have provided their services to the commuters. Once commuters use the private hired vehicles,
there are lesser chances that they will go back to the local taxis anymore and this is why there are
ample opportunities for the private vehicle industry to grow and effectively evolve with time
(Lee et al., 2015).
2.2 Perception of customers
According to the surveys presented by Public Transport Council, the private hire vehicles
industry and its services have been rated as higher than the local taxis available at Singapore.
This has happened because customers rate more satisfied with the kinds of services delivered by
these private hired vehicles than the local taxis. The scores added based on the ratings showed
that out of 10, 7.9 was the actual score for private hired vehicles whereas, for the local taxi, the
score was just 7.5 (Lee, 2017). The private hired vehicles services have fared better than the
local taxis regarding the convenience of booking, time for waiting, comfort for the rides,
knowledge of routes by the drivers, services delivered by the drivers, safety and all the necessary
data and information regarding the services delivered. The customers can also check out the time
that will be taken for the private hired car to reach the source location along with the assumption
of the total cost that will be incurred (Macmillan et al., 2014). The customers are also satisfied
regarding the safety provided for the various options available and efficiency of services too.
From the perspective of booking as well, the commuters have been satisfied with the way of
booking and ease of booking the private hired cars, as a result of which the ratings for private
hired cars are even higher than the local taxis. Thus, the private hired car services business has

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been stated as an effective point to point service provider of transportation services that fares
much above the regular taxis in Singapore (Mullings, 2015). To respond to the new private hired
vehicles services, the local taxi providers have raised the standards of their services and even
provided the commuters with more options to keep them satisfied and happy. The new private
hired vehicles have catered to the needs and preferences of customers, because of which the taxi
ridership has been reduced to a large extent as well. From various secondary sources, it has also
been found that the commuters are more inclined towards the private hired taxis rather than the
local taxis that are available (Nordfjærn et al., 2014).
The standards of services have been maintained, and the needs and preferences of
commuters have been fulfilled as well, which has created ease and convenience for the private
hire vehicles' providers in Singapore to create a sustainable place in the market with ease and
effectiveness. The local authorities have set the standards for the private hired vehicles and
drivers, which has resulted in managing the administration of licensing system effectively too.
This has further led to the variation in substantial regions and even focused on the criminal
activities and medical related issues that were faced earlier (Pandit & Das, 2013). This could
create a bad impact on business, and thus the private hired vehicles providers have maintained
the safety and health of commuters and even provided them with better quality services and other
transport related effective services to keep the commuters satisfied and present a positive image
among their minds as well.
The major attributes that were considered whole conducting the survey of customer
satisfaction had been the time of waiting, convenience while booking, safety and health,
information on the driver and services delivered, ride comfort and also the accessibility of the
taxi stands. The local taxis are needed to be called to enable the transportations service starting

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from the source to the destination while in case of private hired cabs, one can book the car with
the help of using the online booking app and even assume the amount of money that will be
required for the service delivered to the individual (Faezipour et al., 2012). This is quite
convenient for customers because they can book online and check out the cost of services as well
as gain comfort and relaxation while travelling in the private hired car, which may not be the
case for local taxis in Singapore (Redman et al., 2013).
2.3 Efficiency of the private hired taxi services for the commuters
In Singapore, there is a scarcity of land, and 12 percent of the lands have been taken into
consideration for the purpose of managing infrastructures and transportation through roads. The
population has been growing rapidly, and due to this, the number of vehicles has also increased,
thereby allowing for the optimisation of limited space or land for creating a better, safe,
effective, reliable and convenient transportation for making commuters visit places with ease and
effectiveness. In Singapore, autonomous buses and trains are used for covering long distances
and may not be beneficial for the passengers who want to cover a small distance (Shackel &
Parkin, 2014). The local taxis are though available still the drivers charge as much money as they
want and there are certain situations when the commuters have to wait for the vehicles for longer
time duration. The Smarty Nation Initiative has been implemented in Singapore for enabling
self-driving cars and allow the other private vehicles to provide good quality transportations
services at SCALE (Shaheen & Cohen, 2013).
In Singapore, the city scale testing of self-driving has been approved, and all the resources
have been utilised properly following the rules and regulations to manage an entire city scale
solution. The models of business have been tested too, and with modification and proven

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researches, it has been understood that the private hired vehicles are more preferable among the
customers than the local taxis. The new towns in Singapore have been designed in a new way to
reduce the parking lots and vehicles at the ground level (Shariff, 2012). The autonomous vehicles
would be able to make the commuters travel from one place to another, but with the self-driving
skills, the people have learned to earn themselves with their efforts and the commuters have been
provided with comfort travel with the introduction of the private hired vehicles.
Because of the high population density in Singapore, alongside the local taxis, the private
hired vehicles have created a place within the market to attract more customers and ensure that
the services are delivered to them properly (Spieser et al., 2014). A taxi driver has to pay more
rental than a private hire driver. It is also found that the private hire drivers take the most of the
money that they earn with very little, i.e., only 20 percent goes to the company while the normal
taxi drivers keep their earning after considering the rental and fuel. As a lot of money is saved
for the private hire drivers, they can easily spend their money on managing the betterment of
services to provide comfort and convenience to the customers as well as make them reach their
destination on time. Therefore, these are main reasons for which the customers' view have
remained positive towards the private hire car services, and they have chosen it more effective
than the normal taxi services delivered in Singapore (Stocker & Shaheen, 2016). The cost of
maintaining a private car for delivering transportations services to the commuters is quite low
when compared with the monthly rental cars. The surcharges are placed on the local taxis, which
are not placed on the private hire cars, as a result of which, customers can, at the same time, gain
comfort while travelling as well as get the services at a much lower price. According to an
economist at SIM University, the regulators of private hire vehicles transportations services have
been taking advantage of the third party apps to enhance the efficiency of the taxi market, though

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with the consideration of both the existing prices of services and business models used for
operating the private hire taxi business all over in Singapore (Wright & Nelson, 2014).
2.4 Barriers that prevented commuters from demanding and its impact on private hired
vehicles in Singapore
There are certain barriers that often prevent commuters to prefer the private hired vehicles over regular
taxis in Singapore such as high cost, which increases sometimes even during the peak hours of
availability. Though there are certain benefits, still few of the drivers believe that the earnings are
not attractive and there are no such long term prospects to become successful in the future. On
the other hand, based on the responses of a taxi driver named Alan Tang, the earnings for local
taxi providers have reduced due to the immense competition level that has been brought by the
private hired vehicles providers in Singapore (White, 2016). The charges become higher and the
private hired taxi drivers often demand huge money for travelling at longer distances. This is
often problematic for the local individuals, as they need something to travel that can make them
reach the destination on time as well as is cost effective. The private hired cars provide
convenience, comfort but due to the prices, the commuters often prefer not to go for these private
hired cars. The private hired cars are booked online, and many people may not be familiar with
the usage of apps and this in turn may create further complexities.
This is advantageous for any people because most of the drivers nowadays have taken up
driving as their profession and it has been found that the private hire vehicle drivers are more
flexible and effective because most of them work as part time workers in Singapore. The self-
employed units consisting of the private hire vehicle drivers have been supported by NTUC, and
the Director for strategy has also implemented the campaign of creating the labour movement
(Zhou, 2012). It is stated that the people who will join the association will be able to avail
various benefits members such as free insurance, sill and development training support along
with the gaining of benefits as a permanent member of the association. It is also important for
caring the private hire drivers and respect them with dignity so that the business grows with the
fulfilment of needs of the market and furthermore contribute to the growth in the economy with
ease and effectiveness. Certain discussions are done on the licensing and regulations to allow the

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private hire drivers present their feedbacks and opinions regarding the kinds of services delivered
by them along with the level of satisfaction among the customers (Rayle et al., 2014). There are
other disadvantages as well for choosing the private hire vehicle driving as a profession because
often the responses and feedbacks provided by the drivers remain unanswered and this has been
the case for both Grab and Uber. The company delivers a message that they are trying to see how
they can manage that to create a win-win situation, which is not beneficial for the drivers as well
as for the customers (Faezipour et al., 2012).
Though there are few drawbacks as well, still the benefits have outnumbered the
drawbacks, and the private hire vehicle services have been growing in Singapore without much
limitations to grow and expand consistently. The private hire vehicles scheme has provided
immense scopes to the customers to gain access to private transport facilities during the
weekends, holidays as well as during busy time on weekdays. It is a much safe and affordable
transportation service offered in Singapore, and it largely reduces congestions on roads, because
the drivers choose the fastest route to reach the destination within as much less time as it can.
Due to all these advantages, the perception of commuters has changed positively, and this has
also increased their demands for private hire vehicles in Singapore (Litman, 2014).
2.5 Data collection methods
The data has been collected by managing a meeting with the drivers and gain their
feedbacks and responses regarding the services delivered by them. Few of the customers were
also provided with survey questionnaires where they provided their feedbacks and opinions
based on the kinds of services they had experienced and whether the private hire car services had
managed to fulfill their demands and preferences or not. The data collection showed that the

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perception of commuters remained positive and they seemed to be quite satisfied with the
services delivered to them (Aziz et al., 2017).
2.6 Conceptual framework
The conceptual framework shows the flow of activities related to the research. It showed that the
services offered by the private hired vehicles company are easy to book online and can provide a
lot of comfort to the passengers than the regular taxis. This keeps the customers satisfied and
creates a positive mindset among them regarding their ability to purchase these private hired
vehicles while travelling from one place to another.
Conclusion
The dissertation covered the most important aspects related to the perception of
commuters in Singapore regarding their demands for private hired vehicles. The introduction
chapter included the background of research, research objectives, questions, problem statement

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and an overview of the entire chapter. The literature review discussed the private hired vehicles
efficiency in Singapore, the perception of commuters, the efficiency of the services leading to the
satisfaction of customers along with the advantages and disadvantages of the private hire
vehicles. A conceptual framework had been added too for determining the efficiency level
created by the impact of private hire services on the satisfaction of customers in Singapore.
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