Fare evasion for taxi & private hire car

Street-hail and ride-hail fare evasion framework

Fare evasion hurts the livelihood of street-hail and ride-hail drivers. To protect the interest of street-hail and ride-hail drivers, passengers who do not pay their street-hail and ride-hail fares will face composition fines of $200 for the first offence and $400 for the second offence.

This will be on top of the restitution payment made for the original unpaid fare. Repeat offenders who commit three or more offences, or who fail to make restitution payment, will be prosecuted in Court.

Learn more about fare evasion offences and fines.

Public education for street-hail and ride-hail passengers

By law, street-hail and ride-hail passengers are required to pay the chargeable fare at the end of their journeys. Passengers can pay by cash, credit card, NETS, or CEPAS stored-value cards, subject to the availability of such payment devices in the street-hail and ride-hail services (charges for cashless payment may apply).

Passengers are responsible for ensuring that they can pay for the journey before the trip begins. In other words, passengers need to ensure that they have enough cash, or that the street-hail and ride-hail service has the choice of cashless payment method they are using. When paying by card, passengers need to ensure that their cards are valid and/or have sufficient funds. If passengers intend to pay by cash in notes of large denominations, they should check if the street-hail or ride-hail driver has sufficient change before the journey begins.

If convicted, passengers who fail or refuse to pay their street-hail and ride-hail fares will face a fine of up to $1,000. In the case of a second or subsequent offence, they face a fine of up to $2,000 or a jail term of up to 6 months, or both.

Many taxis have decals to inform passengers of the penalties for evading fares.

Public education for street-hail and ride-hail drivers

Street-hail and ride-hail drivers are encouraged to lodge fare evasion reports if they encounter passengers who refuse to pay the fares. While the PTC and the Land Transport Authority administer and enforce the law against street-hail and ride-hail fare evasion, street-hail and ride-hail companies help their drivers to recover unpaid fares, for instance, by contacting the passengers. It is through these collective efforts that the authorities and street-hail and ride-hail companies protect street-hail and ride-hail drivers against fare evaders.