All Taxi and Private-Hire Drivers Will Undergo Weekly Covid-19 Testing in Singapore
As the regulator of taxi services, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) sets and reviews the service standards to maintain taxi service quality and providesafety to commuters. Taxi companies like SMRT Taxis are required to meet service standards in the areas of taxi booking, safety and the conduct of their drivers. Recently, LTA announced that all taxi and private-hire drivers must undergo weekly Covid-19 testing in order to provide a safe commuting experience to Singaporeans amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Why Taxis Drivers Need Testing
Taxi and private-hire drivers need to drive to various locations and meet different people. This might increase the chances of getting coronavirus.They are a part of the front-line workers and need to be coronavirus-free in order to limit Covid cases in the country.
Taxi drivers are provided with self-test using antigen-rapid test (ART) kits. They can self-test themselves at their convenience, without having to go to their operators’ offices to undergo employer-supervised testing.
Explaining the need for COVID-19 testing for taxi drivers, LTA said: “As drivers are self-employed and have varied work schedules, operators needed more time to reach out to them to coordinate testing arrangements”.
Previously, the government of Singapore launched a subsidizedEmployer Supervised Self-Swab Scheme to help employers provide testing facilities to their workers. It includes parcel and food delivery workers, and public and private transport workers such as taxi and private-hire car drivers. Workers were required to undergo testing once a fortnight, which has been increased to once a week. Now, all taxi and private-hire drivers will undergo weekly Covid-19 testing using self-testing kits.
Taxi operators in Singapore are also working with the government to provide reliable taxi services while ensuring that the taxis are kept clean and safe. For instance, SMRT, a leading multi-modal transport operator in Singapore, worked with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to launch a programme to vaccinate all frontline workers include taxi drivers. It was launched ahead of the National Vaccination Programme. SMRT also developed Health Bot, an automated health declaration chatbot, to monitor the health of all its staff. The bot provided the operator with real-time updates on possible exposures and allowed us to respond quickly.
Commenting on the COVID-19 measures taken by the company, SMRT Chairman Seah Moon Ming said, “To cope with the COVID-19 crisis, we changed our work routines and habits to keep our staff, their families, and commuters safe. For staff, we swiftly implemented a suite of enhanced safety measures, which included encouraging them to be vaccinated early, and implementing split-team work arrangements while ensuring there were no cross deployments”.
He further added, “To protect commuters, we stepped up the cleaning of our trains, buses, stations, and interchanges. We also applied anti-microbial coating to high-touch surfaces”.
Conclusion
To safeguard commuter safety and interests while facilitating the continuity of taxi services, LTA announced mandatory Covid-19 testing for drivers from November 1, 2021. The government care for commuters as much as they want taxi drivers to be safe to drive. The government’s new announcement on weekly COVID-19 testing shows both transport operators and the government care for frontline workers so that they could continue to provide essential public transport services.
