SINGAPORE – Singaporeans may soon come to associate ComfortDelGro with more than its quintessential blue and yellow taxis, as the transport provider broadens its business by expanding its pool of private-hire drivers and diversifying its services.
The firm has stepped up the transformation of its point-to-point taxi business by finding new ways to meet demand from consumers and businesses here and overseas, Cheng Siak Kian, chief executive of ComfortDelGro, told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview on Aug 14.
“The product that you will see is going to be beyond taxis,” said Cheng, who became CEO on Jan 1, 2023, after previously serving as the company’s group deputy CEO and CEO of bus and train operator SBS Transit, in which Comfort has a majority stake.
“What Singaporeans associate with (ComfortDelGro) in terms of taxis, that’s only one product.”
Cheng said customers could see shorter waiting times on its Zig app because its supply of drivers has grown.
While ComfortDelGro’s local taxi fleet fell 5 per cent from around 8,000 in the first half of 2025 to 7,600 in the first half of 2026, its network of private hire drivers, who can take on other jobs, grew by 27.9 per cent to over 4,000 over the same period.
This came on the back of a shift in preference, with drivers increasingly wanting to lease a private hire vehicle instead of a taxi.
“We are happy to rent (out private hire cars). What we really want is to meet the demand in Singapore, particularly during peak hours,” Cheng said.
“The more supply you have, the more you are able to fulfill the jobs that you can get.”
The firm has also started to offer larger taxis such as the Toyota Noah Hybrid 6-seater for those looking to travel in bigger groups.
In addition, it is enhancing technology on its app to offer fares that are attractive to both drivers and customers.
Cheng said the firm is also pivoting its point-to-point business to focus more on enterprise-level jobs, such as long-term contracts to take passengers with mobility challenges to appointments, and sending children to school.
He said: “It is mutually beneficial because we are able to negotiate very attractive rates (for clients) because it is a bulk buy. We also provide long-term job security for our drivers.”
Singapore’s largest taxi operator will also ramp up its other services, including non-emergency ambulances, buses and trains as “part and parcel of the network of multi-modal transport that we hope to provide more of going forward”.
Weaker profits
ComfortDelGro’s plans to accelerate its growth come on the back of weaker profits in its taxi and private hire business, as cost pressures mount and competition intensifies both at home and abroad.
The firm, which makes most of its revenue overseas, on Aug 14 reported that its net profit fell by 19.7 per cent to $85.1 million in the first half of 2026 from the same period a year earlier due to “earnings pressures in the point-to-point businesses amid competitive market conditions”.
The firm’s profits were also crimped by its move earlier this year to absorb part of the increase in fuel costs at in-house pumps to support local taxi drivers, which Cheng said was “the right thing to do”.
Revenue grew by 5.7 per cent year-on-year to $2.6 billion in the first half.
This was helped by Comfort’s public transport networks in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, which accounted for more than two-thirds of its total revenue.
Cheng noted that the firm has benefitted from public transport contracts, as many come with a clause which automatically adjusts what operators are paid when expenses like wages and fuel prices increase.
He said these contracts have given it confidence to maintain its interim dividend payout to shareholders at 3.91 cents per share.
ComfortDelGro said it spots more than $17 billion in opportunities within the public transport space over the next 18 months, including in the Middle East, in Dubai and Riyadh.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the situation may not be stable at this point in time, we believe that if you cast your eyes on the next two to three years, the situation will be quite different,” Cheng said.
“The Middle East is actually investing a lot in public infrastructure. Many of these take many years to build. This is where we are investing for the future,” he added.
The war in the oil-and-gas rich-region has disrupted international travel, affecting business-to-business demand in the UK, where it owns premium private hire, courier and black taxi provider Addison Lee.
ComfortDelGro, which is Singapore’s largest taxi operator, said drivers were increasingly choosing to lease private hire vehicles.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Growth in autonomous vehicles
Looking to the future, the firm aims to move 10 per cent of its global point-to-point fleet to autonomous vehicles (AVs) by 2030.
It is no stranger to the technology. In March 2025, it launched its first robotaxi programme in Guangzhou in China, partnering with Nasdaq-listed AV firm Pony AI.
It will establish a regional AV centre of excellence in Shenzhen in the coming months.
Over in Singapore, the firm started offering driverless shuttle rides in Punggol earlier this year.
“China is probably the next step that we want to go in terms of having more cars commercially, and be the first within all the countries we are operating in to possibly to go driverless fully, as they have done with other companies,” Cheng said.
He believes humans will continue to have roles to play, in jobs including safety operators, even as the rollout of AVs intensifies.
In the meantime, Cheng said there is more to be done in the months ahead to turn ComfortDelGro’s profits around.
“At this stage, we do expect to see some level of transition. Certainly we are not helped by the war that depressed demand more than we expected in the UK, for example,” he said.
“But we believe this is a temporary situation. As we continue to transform, we will be able to drive more demand and increase our revenue going forward.”
