A Comfort taxi in Singapore starts at $4.60 to $5.50 the moment you sit down, depending on which car turns up, then adds $0.27 for every 400m you travel. On top of that the meter can be marked up by 25% during peak hours, 50% after midnight, and a flat $2 to $8 for certain pickup spots. Through 2026 there is also a temporary 1-cent meter bump and a 50-to-80-cent driver fee on app bookings. The headline number is one thing, but the surcharges are where most of your fare quietly comes from. This guide breaks down exactly what you pay, when, and the few decisions that move the bill the most.
Comfort (and its sister brand CityCab) is the taxi arm of ComfortDelGro, the largest taxi operator in Singapore. Every Comfort fare is built from three pieces: a flagdown charge for getting in, a distance charge for the kilometres you cover, and a waiting charge that ticks over when the car is stationary or crawling in traffic. Surcharges are then stacked on top of that running meter.
The flagdown depends entirely on which car the system sends you. A petrol-hybrid Toyota Prius or Hyundai Ioniq starts at $4.60. An electric taxi (Ioniq EV, Kona EV or BYD e6) or a 6-seater Sienta or Noah starts at $4.80. A premium Limousine cab starts at $5.50. You do not get to choose the cheaper car on a street hail, so a longer wait for a Prius rarely pays off.
After the first kilometre, a standard or 6-seater taxi charges $0.27 per 400m up to 10km, then $0.27 per 350m beyond 10km. Waiting time runs at the same $0.27 per 45 seconds. Limousine cabs run a higher meter at $0.39 per increment. These are the base rates before any surcharge.
| Taxi type | Flagdown (first 1km) |
|---|---|
| Toyota Prius / Hyundai Ioniq (hybrid) | $4.60 |
| Electric (Ioniq EV / Kona EV / BYD e6) | $4.80 |
| 6-seater (Toyota Sienta / Noah) | $4.80 |
| Limousine cab | $5.50 |
The meter is the part people understand least, partly because it counts in tiny increments. For a standard cab the unit is $0.27, and you are charged one unit for every 400m travelled (within the first 10km), or every 45 seconds the car is waiting or moving slowly. The two triggers do not double up: at any moment the meter is either counting distance or counting time, whichever is racking up faster.
A worked example makes it concrete. Say you travel 8km in a standard cab with no traffic and no surcharge. The first 1km is the $4.60 flagdown. The remaining 7km is 7,000m divided by 400m, which is 17.5 units, rounded up to 18 units at $0.27 each, so $4.86. Your fare is about $9.46 before any surcharge. The same 8km crawling through jams would cost more, because waiting time keeps adding units while the distance barely moves.
Beyond 10km the distance unit tightens from 400m to 350m, so longer trips get slightly pricier per kilometre. That is worth knowing if you are weighing a long cross-island taxi against the MRT, where a single fare is capped at $2.57 regardless of distance.
Through 2026 there is a temporary $0.01 increase to the distance-time rate on every metered trip, running from 24 March to 31 July 2026. It is small per trip but it is on the meter, not a one-off, so it scales with how far you go.
Surcharges are where the real money is, because the two time-based ones are a percentage of the whole metered fare, not a flat add-on. They are calculated on the meter reading before they are applied, so on a long trip they can add several dollars.
Peak period adds 25% of the metered fare. It applies on weekday mornings from 6am to 9:29am, weekends and public holidays from 10am to 1:59pm, and every day from 5pm to 11:59pm. Late night adds 50% of the metered fare, every day from midnight to 5:59am. So the most expensive time to take a Comfort cab is the small hours of the morning, when a $20 meter becomes $30 on the surcharge alone.
Location surcharges are flat dollar amounts tied to where you board, not where you go. The ones you are most likely to hit are the City Area (CBD) surcharge of $3 from 5pm to 11:59pm, and the Changi Airport surcharge of $8 from 5pm to 11:59pm or $6 at other times. Mandai wildlife parks add $5 from 1pm to 11:59pm. Marina Bay Cruise Centre, Resorts World Sentosa, Gardens by the Bay and Seletar Airport all carry the same split charge of $5 from 7am to 4:59pm and $3 at other times. Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal is a flat $3 and Singapore Expo a flat $2. These amounts are published on the ComfortDelGro fares page.
| Surcharge | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Peak period | 25% of metered fare | Weekdays 6–9:29am; Sat/Sun/PH 10am–1:59pm; daily 5pm–11:59pm |
| Late night | 50% of metered fare | Daily midnight–5:59am |
| City Area (CBD) | $3 | Daily 5pm–11:59pm |
| Changi Airport | $8 / $6 | $8 from 5pm–11:59pm, $6 other times |
| Mandai wildlife parks | $5 | Daily 1pm–11:59pm |
| Marina Bay Cruise Centre / Sentosa / Gardens by the Bay / Seletar | $5 / $3 | $5 from 7am–4:59pm, $3 other times |
| Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal | $3 | Per trip |
| Singapore Expo | $2 | Per trip |
| Extra passenger (5th onwards) | $9 | Per trip |
Hailing a Comfort cab off the street or from a taxi stand costs you the meter plus surcharges, with no booking charge. Booking through the CDG Zig app adds a booking fee, and the gap between the two is large enough to change your decision in many cases.
For a normal 4-seater, an immediate (current) booking is $3.30 during peak windows and $2.30 at all other times. An advance booking made at least 30 minutes ahead is a flat $8. A Limousine cab is $10 for a current booking and $18 in advance. On a short trip the booking fee can rival the meter itself, so if a cab is visible at a stand it is almost always cheaper to walk over and hail it. These fees are listed on the ComfortDelGro fares page.
There is also a platform fee folded into app bookings. From 1 January 2026 ComfortDelGro's platform fee ranges from $1 to $1.30 per booking, which it says helps cover CPF contributions and work injury insurance for platform workers under new MOM rules.
On top of all that, a temporary driver fee applies to fixed-fare and app bookings from 24 March to 31 July 2026: an extra $0.50 on fares below $15, and $0.80 on fares of $15 and above.
Two extra charges land at the very end of the ride, after the meter has stopped, and most people only notice them when the receipt comes through. Both are tied to how you pay, so they are fully avoidable.
Pay by credit or charge card and ComfortDelGro adds a 10% administrative charge on top of the total fare, with GST on top of that charge. On a $20 ride that is $2 plus GST, which is more than the flagdown. Pay by a digital wallet instead and the fee drops to a flat $0.30 (GST included), covering NETS, NETSPay, NETS FlashPay, DBS PayLah!, OCBC PayAnyone, UOB TMRW, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Cash carries no admin fee at all. For a regular taxi user, switching off the credit card and onto a wallet or cash is one of the easiest recurring savings on the whole fare.
The second one is ERP. Whatever the in-vehicle unit deducts as you pass under a gantry is passed straight to you and added to the fare at the end of the trip, on both metered rides and ComfortRIDE bookings. It is not a markup the operator sets, it is the road-pricing charge for the route and time you travel, so a CBD trip during a charged window simply costs more. There is no way around it short of changing your route or timing.
| Payment method | Admin fee on the fare |
|---|---|
| Cash | None |
| Digital wallet (NETS, PayLah!, Alipay, WeChat Pay and others) | $0.30 (GST included) |
| Credit / charge card | 10% of the fare, plus GST on the 10% |
| ERP (any payment method) | Passed through at cost, added at trip end |
You do not have to use the app. ComfortDelGro keeps three booking channels open, which matters on the days the app is laggy or your phone is low on battery.
The Zig by ComfortDelGro app is the default for most people, with current and advance bookings and a fixed-fare ComfortRIDE option. Phone booking on 6552 1111 reaches the dispatch hotline for an immediate or advance metered cab, and 6552 2828 is the line for limousine and MaxiCab. SMS booking works by texting 71222 in the operator's format if you would rather not install anything. One quiet advantage of the phone and SMS channels, and of street hails, is that the $1 to $1.30 platform fee only applies to app bookings through Zig and Kris+, so a dial-in booking skips it.
Whichever channel you pick, the meter and surcharges are identical. The only thing that changes between them is the booking fee and whether the platform fee applies, so the cheapest booking is the one with the fewest add-ons for the trip you are taking.
The honest comparison is rarely Comfort against Comfort. It is Comfort against a Grab or Gojek ride and against just taking the train. For young working adults watching a monthly transport line in their budget, the choice on any given trip matters more than the exact flagdown rate.
Comfort itself gives you two ways to ride. The metered cab is the classic option: transparent, but it punishes you in jams and during late-night surcharge windows because the meter keeps ticking when the car barely moves. ComfortRIDE is the fixed-fare product booked through the Zig app, where the price is locked in when you confirm the job and moves with demand rather than the meter. ERP still applies on top of a ComfortRIDE fare. The fixed fare is the calmer choice in heavy rain or stop-start traffic, since you have already seen the number; the meter often wins in free-flowing traffic outside surcharge hours.
Against Grab and Gojek, the meter is not really the comparison. Those apps quote a single demand-based fare upfront with no separate booking fee, while a metered Comfort cab can be cheaper off-peak in light traffic and pricier once a percentage surcharge or a booking fee stacks on. None of the three is reliably cheapest at every hour, which is why the practical move is to keep two apps installed and check the quote before you confirm. The figures below are the parts of a Comfort fare you can pin down in advance; a ride-hail quote you simply read off the screen.
Against public transport there is no contest on cost. A bus or train trip is capped at $2.57 per journey, and most commutes are well under that. A taxi makes financial sense for trips where time, luggage, group size or the lack of a direct route changes the maths, not as a default. Treating taxis as an occasional tool rather than a habit is the single biggest lever on your transport spend, and it pairs well with a simple monthly transport budget that you actually check. Letting convenience cabs creep into your daily routine is a textbook case of lifestyle inflation that quietly eats a budget, and the money lost to it is real opportunity cost against saving or investing the same dollars.
If you are mapping out the full cost of getting around, taxis sit alongside the much bigger decision of whether to own a car at all. The recurring costs of ownership dwarf occasional cab fares, which is worth modelling with our car cost calculator before you assume driving is cheaper. Our breakdown of the true cost of owning a car in Singapore puts those numbers side by side, and the broader habit of tracking what each trip costs sits within general money management.
| Option | How the price is set | Booking fee | Surge / surcharge risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comfort metered cab | Meter: $4.60+ flagdown then $0.27 per 400m | None on street hail; $2.30–$3.30 on app | Peak +25%, late night +50%, location flat fees |
| ComfortRIDE (fixed fare) | Quoted and locked when you confirm | Built into the quote | Quote moves with demand; ERP added at trip end |
| Grab / Gojek | Demand-based fare quoted upfront | Built into the quote | Surges with demand; no time-based surcharge |
| MRT / bus | Distance fare, capped per journey | None | $2.57 cap regardless of distance |
Since 25 September 2025 ComfortDelGro has run a fixed-fare service from Singapore to Johor Bahru, which is useful if you make the trip with luggage or a group and want to skip the queue at the causeway taxi stand. The fares are flat, not metered, so there is no surge or peak markup to worry about. With effect from 4 May 2026 ComfortDelGro revised the fare structure and expanded the drop-off coverage, so always confirm the quoted fare before you book.
Under the current rates published on the ComfortDelGro fares page, fixed fares to Johor start at $60 from the Ban San Street taxi stand near Rochor, $80 from other addresses in Singapore (excluding airports), and $120 from Changi or Seletar airport, for a standard 4-seater to Larkin or destinations up to 35km away. Six-seater and premium vehicles cost more, and trips beyond 35km add a top-up. Booking is by phone on the ComfortDelGro hotline at 6552 1111, for immediate pickup or up to 24 hours ahead.
Whether this beats other options depends on your group. Split four ways, the $60 fixed fare is competitive with a private-hire cross-border ride and far less stressful than changing taxis at the checkpoint. Solo, it is hard to justify over the bus or KTM train. If JB is a regular run for you, the wider money picture is in our Johor Bahru budget guide.
Most of a Comfort fare is within your control if you plan a few minutes ahead. The biggest savings come from avoiding the percentage surcharges, not from chasing a cheaper flagdown.
It depends on the car. A hybrid Prius or Ioniq starts at $4.60, an electric taxi or 6-seater starts at $4.80, and a Limousine cab starts at $5.50. The flagdown covers the first kilometre, after which the meter adds $0.27 per 400m for a standard cab.
From midnight to 5:59am every day, a 50% surcharge is added to the metered fare. It is calculated on the meter reading, so on a $20 trip the surcharge alone is $10. This is the most expensive time to take a taxi in Singapore.
Hailing is cheaper because there is no booking fee. A current 4-seater app booking adds $2.30 at off-peak times and $3.30 at peak, plus a platform fee of $1 to $1.30; an advance booking is a flat $8 and a Limousine cab is $10. If a cab is in sight at a stand, walking over to hail it almost always costs less.
From 24 March to 31 July 2026, ComfortDelGro adds a temporary driver fee on fixed-fare and app bookings: $0.50 on fares below $15 and $0.80 on fares of $15 and above. There is also a temporary $0.01 increase to the metered distance-time rate over the same period.
On top of the normal meter and any time-based surcharge, there is a Changi Airport surcharge of $8 from 5pm to 11:59pm or $6 at other times. So an airport trip is the meter plus that flat charge, plus the peak or late-night percentage if it applies.
Yes. ComfortDelGro runs a fixed-fare cross-border service to Johor. For a standard 4-seater the fares start at $60 from the Ban San Street stand, $80 from other Singapore addresses, and $120 from Changi or Seletar airport; 6-seater and premium vehicles cost more, and the fare structure was revised on 4 May 2026, so confirm the quote when you book. Book by phone on 6552 1111, immediately or up to 24 hours ahead.
After the first kilometre, a standard cab charges $0.27 for every 400m travelled up to 10km, then every 350m beyond 10km, or every 45 seconds of waiting. At any moment the meter counts whichever is faster, distance or time, which is why traffic jams push the fare up even when you are barely moving.
Yes. Credit and charge card payments carry a 10% administrative charge on top of the total fare, with GST added on that charge. Digital wallets such as NETS, DBS PayLah!, Alipay and WeChat Pay are charged a flat $0.30 (GST included) instead, and cash has no admin fee. For frequent riders, paying by wallet or cash rather than card is an easy recurring saving.
No, ERP is added on top. Whatever the in-vehicle unit deducts as the taxi passes under a gantry is passed straight to you and added to the fare at the end of the trip, on both metered rides and ComfortRIDE fixed-fare bookings. It reflects the road-pricing charge for your route and time, so a CBD trip during a charged window costs more than the meter alone.
You can call 6552 1111 for an immediate or advance metered cab, call 6552 2828 for a limousine or MaxiCab, or send an SMS booking to 71222 in the operator's format. Phone and SMS bookings skip the $1 to $1.30 platform fee that applies to app bookings through Zig and Kris+, though the booking fee and meter still apply.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.