[top photo: Just before 5pm on weekends, some taxis at at Changi Airport's Terminal 2 wait at the side or take their time to pull into the bays.]

By Maria Almenoar & Wee Jun Kai

SOME taxis are holding back from joining the queues at Changi Airport just before 5pm on weekends so that they can collect the higher surcharges which kick in after that time.

Taxi coordinators at each of the three main airport terminal taxi stands say they have noticed the flow of taxis slowing to a trickle between 4.45pm and 5pm.

Said a coordinator at Terminal 3, who did not want to be named: 'We wave at them to come forward but some just ignore us and stay put.'

There are two coordinators at each terminal directing taxis from a waiting line into vehicle bays in front of the queues.

From 5pm to midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, passengers pay an airport surcharge of $5. At other times, it is $3.

From 5pm to 8pm from Mondays to Saturdays, taxis also get a 35per cent peak-hour surcharge on top of the metered fare.

This means a fare of $9 after 5pm on a Friday or Saturday, plus the 35per cent surcharge and $5 airport surcharge, would become $17.15.

A Straits Times check at Terminal 2 yesterday found the queue, at least 20-deep at any time, moving smoothly until 4.55pm.

Suddenly, there were no taxis in the waiting bays and loud honking could be heard from the line of cabs, as a number of them slowed down and started taking their time to pull into the bays. They were overtaken by others, and by 5pm, the smooth flow of taxis was restored.

Cabby Abdul Karim, who has been plying the roads for almost a year, can understand why some cabbies do it.

'We wait in the line for an hour or more and it's a big gamble. Some passengers may want to do only a short distance so we really lose out. In these tough times, those few dollars make a difference,' he said, adding that he did not resort to such tactics.

Said Miss K. Shelva, 28, an Indian national who is here on holiday: 'We were the only ones in the queue, so we thought there'd be a taxi waiting for us but there was a slight delay.'

The largest cab company here, ComfortDelGro, said it had not received any complaint but added that it would monitor the situation so 'drivers do not pick and choose passengers'.

Those who are found guilty of doing so will be disciplined, spokesman Tammy Tan said.

Commuters have had problems with 'disappearing' taxis in the past. Many cabbies would not stop to pick up fares from 11.30pm to midnight, so that they could collect a 50 per cent surcharge on the metered fare which started after 12am.

Companies then introduced a tiered midnight surcharge to combat the problem. This solved the problem for a while but a change in the fare structure in December 2007 reverted to a 50 per cent surcharge after midnight.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it had deployed auxiliary police to patrol the taxi holding areas to deal with the problem.

mariaa@sph.com.sg

junkai@sph.com.sg

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