I REFER to Mr Leo D'Cruz's letter 'Road safety' (Jan 28).

Changi Airport has designated taxi holding areas at each of its terminals. When the queue of taxis extends beyond the holding areas, auxiliary police officers are deployed to manage the queue and ensure the taxis do not obstruct traffic.

The speed limit nearer the airport is set lower at 50kmh. To remind road users to slow down and drive carefully in the vicinity of the airport, there are prominent LED signs on the lower speed limit.

During peak periods, there is a larger number of passengers taking taxis. To ensure that these passengers do not have to wait too long for a taxi, cabs have to be positioned at the airport prior to their arrival.

Mr D'Cruz's experience shows that we can still do better. We are currently working with taxi companies to implement a Taxi Management System to provide even more timely information to taxi drivers on the demand for taxis at the airport. We will also review the existing safety measures and look into ways to further improve airport road safety for drivers.

We thank Mr D'Cruz for his feedback and hope to serve him better the next time he uses Changi Airport.

Yeo Kia Thye
Director (Airport Operations)
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore

This forum letter was first published in The Straits Times on Feb 6, 2009.


For more The Straits Times stories, click here.

___________________

On Jan 28, Mr Leo D'Cruz's letter 'Road safety' was published in The Straits Times. He said:

'I was driving to Changi Airport Terminal 2 to fetch my daughter earlier this month when I almost crashed into a car which was trapped in the long line of taxis waiting for fares at the airport. The taxi queue stretched for almost 2km. There should be rules about how many taxis can form a line to pick up passengers at the airport. Also, do the running engines of these slow-moving taxis pollute the environment?'